The fourth and culminating brahmavihara: even mindedness toward all beings regardless of whether they are friend, stranger or enemy, holding the other three divine abodes steady rather than replacing them. Commentarial literature is explicit that this is not indifference or detachment from caring, but impartiality that has already passed through loving-kindness, compassion and sympathetic joy without collapsing into favoritism.
Facts
Origins
Place of OriginNorth India, in the earliest recorded teaching; systematized in Sri Lanka by Buddhaghosa. 1 Origin of the NamePali upekkha, from upa (toward) and ikkhati (to look), to look on evenly; the Sanskrit cognate is upeksha. 1 Attributed Author / CompilerTaught throughout the Pali Canon as the fourth and highest of the brahmaviharas; systematized in Buddhaghosa's fifth century Visuddhimagga, chapter nine, as their completion. 2 Disputed
Origin PeriodTaught within the earliest strata of the Pali Canon, whose own compilation and dating remain debated among scholars, ranging from oral transmission at or near the Buddha's own lifetime through committal to writing centuries afterward; fixed as the fourth brahmavihara in Buddhaghosa's fifth century CE Visuddhimagga. 2 Status
Status Within the TraditionStandard teaching, not formally defined 1 Doctrinal Status DetailFourth and completing brahmavihara; the Visuddhimagga names both attachment and aversion as its far enemies, the two poles it stands between, and cold indifference as its near enemy. 2 Attestation
Meaning in the Attesting SourceEven mindedness toward all beings regardless of relation, the fourth brahmavihara, holding the other three steady rather than replacing them. 1 Connections
Attested In
Source Visuddhimagga (The Path of Purification)Buddhaghosa
Belongs to Tradition
Source The Princeton Dictionary of BuddhismRobert E. Buswell Jr. and Donald S. Lopez Jr.
In Language
Opposes
The Visuddhimagga names attachment as one of equanimity's two far enemies, the poles it stands between; Raga, attachment, already catalogued among the three poisons, is the atlas's existing entry for that disposition.
Source Visuddhimagga (The Path of Purification)Buddhaghosa
Related To
Mudita, Virtues The four brahmaviharas, taught as one graduated set in the Visuddhimagga; equanimity is their completion.
Source Visuddhimagga (The Path of Purification)Buddhaghosa
Sources
1. The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism
Robert E. Buswell Jr. and Donald S. Lopez Jr., Princeton University Press, 2014View the Source 2. Visuddhimagga (The Path of Purification)
Buddhaghosa
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