Paramita Center Southeast

Paramita Center Southeast the 14th Dalai Lama We offer meditations, teachings, retreats, initiations, and other activities.

Paramita Center Southeast - Meditation and Buddhist Philosophy in the Heart of the South sponsors teachings and events in meditation and philosophy in the Tibetan Buddhist Gelug tradition of H.H. Paramita Center Southeast - Meditation and Buddhist Philosophy in the Heart of the South

We are a US Center affiliated with the Paramita Centres of Québec, Toronto, France, and India. We teach meditation

and Buddhist philosophy in the Tibetan Buddhist Gelug tradition, as founded by the great teacher Je Tsongkhapa and today led by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. The Centre made its beginnings in Quebec in 2003, founded by Geshe Lobsang Samten. Since then many Centers have been established in Quebec province and in France. The Centre started its activities in Ontario in 2015 and opened a location in Toronto in 2019, welcoming everyone to study and practice Meditation and Buddha’s Teachings in English. We are opening a center in Chattanooga, Tennessee, to bring the Paramita Centre teachings to the US. The Center is directed by Lama Samten and one of his senior teachers, Tibetan monk Tenzin Gawa (Jason Simard). Lobsang Tharchin (Les Kertay), will teach classes in calm-abiding meditation and will organize other events through the Center.

The week opened with the second category of mental factors: the object-determining five. These arise only when the mind ...
06/14/2026

The week opened with the second category of mental factors: the object-determining five. These arise only when the mind is actively determining what an object is. Aspiration, conviction, attention, concentration, wisdom. Each names something the mind does while working out an object — the wishing to engage, the settling on what's there, the holding in mind of what's known, the staying with it, the looking that weighs.

Where the omnipresent five describe any moment of mind, these five describe the mind in deliberation. To notice them is not to add anything to deliberating. It is to begin seeing how deliberating is built.

Where in your day did the mind catch itself working something out?

*The Conditioned Mind: Buddhist Philosophy and Western Psychology on How We Think, Feel, and Suffer*A two-day urban retr...
06/12/2026

*The Conditioned Mind: Buddhist Philosophy and Western Psychology on How We Think, Feel, and Suffer*

A two-day urban retreat with Les Kertay (Lobsang Tharchin), co-sponsored by Paramita Center Southeast and Paramita Centre of Toronto and Ontario.

Saturday and Sunday, June 20–21, 2026 • 9:30 AM–4:30 PM ET both days.
In-person at Paramita Centre, Toronto, or via Zoom from anywhere.

One week out. Across four weeks the mental factors series has built the architecture — the knower, the categories of mental factors, the five present in every moment of mind, and this week the five at work when the mind is figuring something out. The retreat takes up the full architecture and asks where it leads: how Buddhist abhidharma and Western psychology each describe suffering, where their maps overlap, and what each tradition offers when the goal is not only relief but release.

Registration remains open and we welcome late registrations. Signing up this week helps us with materials and logistics.

Registration:
US students ($75 USD, Zoom or in-person): https://buddhismsoutheast.org/event/the-conditioned-mind-buddhist-philosophy-western-psychology-on-how-we-think-feel-suffer/
Canadian students ($95 CAD, Zoom or in-person): https://www.buddhistmeditationtoronto.org/events/the-conditioned-mind-views-from-buddhist-and-western-psychology

Questions: [email protected]

06/11/2026

The mental factors series continues. The omnipresent five describe any moment of mind; the object-determining five describe the mind actively determining its object — aspiration, conviction, attention, concentration, wisdom. These are the factors at work when you're deciding, examining, settling on something. Part 4 of the mental factors series, on the grid this week. Toronto retreat June 20–21.

06/09/2026

In the Abhidharma, the omnipresent five accompany any moment of mind. The object-determining five — aspiration, conviction, attention, concentration, and wisdom — only arise when the mind is actively determining what an object is. Right now, deciding whether to keep reading, all five are present: a wishing to engage, a settling on this, attention to the prior posts, focus on these words, the examining of what fits. The point is precision: when you can locate which factors are operating, you stop calling it all "thinking" and start to see how thinking is built. Part 4 of the mental factors series, leading toward June 20–21 in Toronto.

The week opened with the first category of mental factors: the omnipresent five, present in any moment of awareness. Con...
06/07/2026

The week opened with the first category of mental factors: the omnipresent five, present in any moment of awareness. Contact, mental engagement, feeling, discrimination, intention. Each names something happening right now, however quietly — the meeting with what's there, the turning toward it, the affective tone, the identifying, the inner movement toward response.

To notice these is not to add anything to the moment. It is to begin seeing what was already there.

Where in your day did one of the five come into focus?

06/06/2026

What it’s really like, and how NOT good at it I am. YET.

06/05/2026

*The Conditioned Mind: Buddhist Philosophy and Western Psychology on How We Think, Feel, and Suffer*

A two-day urban retreat with Les Kertay (Lobsang Tharchin), co-sponsored by Paramita Center Southeast and Paramita Centre of Toronto and Ontario.

Saturday and Sunday, June 20–21, 2026 • 9:30 AM–4:30 PM ET both days.
In-person at Paramita Centre, Toronto, or via Zoom from anywhere.

The mental factors series on Tuesdays has been building the philosophical ground for what we'll take up across two days in Toronto. This week we opened the first category — the five factors present in every moment of mind. The retreat works with the full architecture and where it leads: how Buddhist abhidharma and Western psychology each describe suffering, where their maps overlap, where they diverge in destination, and what each path actually offers.

Just over two weeks out. Registration closes ahead of the retreat.

Registration:
US students ($75 USD, Zoom or in-person): https://buddhismsoutheast.org/event/the-conditioned-mind-buddhist-philosophy-western-psychology-on-how-we-think-feel-suffer/
Canadian students ($95 CAD, Zoom or in-person): https://www.buddhistmeditationtoronto.org/events/the-conditioned-mind-views-from-buddhist-and-western-psychology

Questions: [email protected]

06/04/2026

In the Gelug abhidharma, experience isn't one thing happening; it's five things happening at once. The omnipresent five — feeling, discrimination, intention, engagement, contact — are present in every moment of mind. They aren't theoretical: as you read this, all five are present. The point of naming them isn't taxonomy. It's precision — when you can locate what's actually arising in a moment, you stop calling it all "me," "mine," or "it just happens." Part 3 of the mental factors series, on the grid this week. Join us in the comments: can you imagine how understanding the workings of the mind better might be helpful?

06/02/2026

In every moment of mind, five mental factors are present. The Gelug tradition calls them the omnipresent five: contact, mental engagement, feeling, discrimination, and intention. Each names something the mind is doing right now — the meeting with an object, the turning toward it, the affective tone, the identifying, the inner movement toward response. They are foundational because they explain how any moment of mind functions at all; without them, there is no experience to work with. Part 3 of the mental factors series, leading toward June 20–21 in Toronto.

Address

Chattanooga, TN

Telephone

+14236376606

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Paramita Center Southeast posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Practice

Send a message to Paramita Center Southeast:

Shortcuts

Share

Category