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 (
kammaṭṭhāna). In the
Theravada list of ten
pāramī (perfections), 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 (the ). In the description of meditative
samādhi, upekkhā is present in the third and fourth
jhāna. 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
cankers ("six-factored equanimity," based on the six
sense bases); (2) a
brahmavihārā; (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
investigation; (8) a "specific neutrality"; (9) "equanimity of jhana" ("impartiality towards even the highest bliss"); and, (10) "purifying equanimity" ("equanimity purified of all opposition").{{cite encyclopedia ==Contemporary exposition==