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'Upekṣā' (Sanskrit; Devanagari: ) or 'Upekkhā' (Pāli), is the Buddhist concept of equanimity. The Tibetan equivalent is ''btang.sñoms''. This is a purifying mental state cultivated through meditation on the Buddhist path to wisdom and enlightenment.

Contents

Canonical contexts

Contemporary exposition

See also

References

Sources

External links

Canonical contexts

In Buddhism, ''upekkha'' is one of the four Brahmavihara (sublime states), which are purifying mental states capable of counteracting the defilements of lust, avarice and ignorance.
As one of the traditional kammatthana, it is an object worthy of mental cultivation through meditation. Moreover, through meditative concentration on a variety of objects, ''upekkha'' arises as the quintessential factor of material absorption (''jhana'').
In the Theravada list of ten "perfections" (''parami''), ''upekkha'' is the last-identified bodhisatta practice.

Contemporary exposition

American Buddhist monk Bhikkhu Bodhi wrote:
:“The real meaning of upekkha is equanimity, not indifference in the sense of unconcern for others. As a spiritual virtue, upekkha means equanimity in the face of the fluctuations of worldly fortune. It is evenness of mind, unshakeable freedom of mind, a state of inner equipoise that cannot be upset by gain and loss, honor and dishonor, praise and blame, pleasure and pain. ''Upekkha'' is freedom from all points of self-reference; it is indifference only to the demands of the ego-self with its craving for pleasure and position, not to the well-being of one's fellow human beings. True equanimity is the pinnacle of the four social attitudes that the Buddhist texts call the 'divine abodes': boundless loving-kindness, compassion, altruistic joy, and equanimity. The last does not override and negate the preceding three, but perfects and consummates them.”^[1]

See also

★ Brahma-viharas (divine abodes)

★ Jhana (mental absorption)

★ Paramita (practices of perfections)

References

1. Bodhi (1998).

Sources

★ Bodhi, Bhikkhu (1995, 1998). ''Toward a Threshold of Understanding'' (BPS Newsletter cover essays nos. 30 & 31). Retrieved 15 Jan. 2007 from "Access to Insight" at http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/bodhi/bps-essay_30.html.

External links

★ Equanimity (''upekkha'') by the Venerable Nyanaponika Thera.

★ Dharma Dictionary - RangjungYesheWiki - Btang Snyoms/Upeksa