As one of the brahmaviharas 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.
Many passages in the Pali Canon and post-canonical commentaries identify upekkhā as an important aspect of spiritual development.
In the Theravada list of ten pāramī (perfections), upekkha is the last-identified bodhisatta practice, and in the Seven Factors of Awakening (bojjhanga), it is the ultimate characteristic to develop.
[2] In the development of meditative concentration, upekkhā arises as the quintessential factor of material absorption, present in the third and fourth jhāna, states: Bhikkhu Bodhi, an American monk, wrote: The real meaning of [upekkha] is equanimity, not indifference in the sense of unconcern for others.
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.