Upekṣā
is the Buddhist concept of equanimity. As one of the brahmaviharas or "virtues of the "Brahma realm", it is one of the wholesome Mental [factors |mental factors] cultivated on the Buddhist path to nirvāna through the practice of jhāna.
Pali literature
Many passages in the Pali Canon and post-canonical commentaries identify upekkhā as an important aspect of spiritual development. It is one of the Four Sublime States of Brahmavihara, which purify mental states capable of counteracting the defilements of lust, aversion, and ignorance. As a Brahmavihara, it is also one of the forty traditionally identified subjects of Buddhist meditation. In the Theravada list of ten pāramī, is the last-identified bodhisatta practice, and in the Seven Factors of Awakening, it is the ultimate characteristic to develop.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.
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: the destruction of the cankers ; a brahmavihārā; a bojjhaṅgā; as arising from a balancing of energy; a "formation" arising from concentration or insight; a vedanā ; arising from insight from investigation; a "specific neutrality"; "equanimity of jhana" ; and, "purifying equanimity".