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() is the Buddhist concept of equanimity. As one of the or "virtues of the "Brahma realm" (brahmaloka), it is one of the wholesome mental factors ((kuśala cetasika) cultivated on the Buddhist path to nirvāna through the practice of jhāna.
To practice is to be unwavering or to stay neutral in the face of the eight vicissitudes of life which are otherwise known as the eight directions of worldly winds or eight worldly conditions: loss and gain, good-repute and ill-repute, praise and censure, and sorrow and happiness (the ).
In the development of meditative concentration, upekkhā arises as the quintessential factor of material absorption, present in the third and fourth jhāna states.
In post-canonical text, the "far enemies" of upekkhā are greed and resentment driven by desire and anger, which are mind-states that are in obvious opposition. The "near enemy", the quality which superficially resembles upekkhā but which subtly opposes it, is indifference or apathy.
Buddhaghosa identifies ten canonical contexts for upekkhā: (1) the destruction of the Asava ("six-factored equanimity," based on the six sense bases); (2) a Brahmavihara; (3) a bojjhaṅgā; (4) as arising from a balancing of energy; (5) a "formation" arising from concentration or insight; (6) a vedanā (that is, a synonym for "profitable" adukkham-asukhā); (7) arising from insight from Dhamma vicaya; (8) a "specific neutrality"; (9) "equanimity of jhana" ("impartiality towards even the highest bliss"); and, (10) "purifying equanimity" ("equanimity purified of all opposition").Buddhaghosa, op cit., IV, 156-182, pp. 156-160.
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