Paramita Center Southeast

12/29/2025

A narrated video of what’s around me here in Dharmsala. Such lessons in the cycle of life, that there are more things than what we’re used to. And it reminds me just how much I take for granted.

12/28/2025

37 hours of travel and here in Dharmsala! Thank you Lobsang Choedak!

12/26/2025

The journey begins - Chattanooga - Atlanta - Paris - Delhi - Dharmsala for 3 weeks of Tibetan language intensive, then to the monastery for retreat. So grateful for the opportunity!

12/20/2025

11/21/2025

🧘‍♂️🧘‍♀️🧘Here is a way to meditate on detachment:
🙇‍♀️🙇🙇‍♂️ " With a fully focused state-of-mind, let’s do three breathing cycles as we
concentrate on exhaling. While we naturally exhale, we imagine that
attachment, seen as a thin shaft of dark red light, is evacuated through our right
nostril. This will purify the blocks where the wind in relation to attachment dwells. Once these three breathing cycles completed, let’s concentrate for three breathing cycles on inhaling, while imagining that our left nostril inhales a
clear red light of detachment."

🥰🥰 Have a wonderful day everyone

10/31/2025

Friday preparation: Tomorrow we begin.

For those registered for the Calm Abiding class: Come with genuine curiosity, real questions from your practice experience, and willingness to train systematically.

Wear comfortable clothes. Bring an open mind, a notebook if that helps you learn, and the text.

Everything else—cushions, chairs, materials, guidance—we provide.

For those still considering: Last opportunity to join this intensive. Next offering likely not until spring.

Saturday, 1:00 PM: https://bit.ly/48zbzbq

The classical texts teach that properly prepared students learn most effectively. Not striving, not grasping—just showing up ready to train.

10/30/2025

Thursday invitation: Saturday we begin four weeks of systematic calm abiding training.

The past two weeks you've seen posts explaining Stage 1, the obstacles to practice, conditions that support development, and why lineage-based instruction matters. These aren't random topics—they're the foundation we'll explore in depth starting Saturday.

If you attended Jason's teachings and/or these posts have resonated, that's the signal worth paying attention to. Not manufactured urgency, but recognition that systematic training is what converts inspiration into transformation.

Small group. Both in-person and online available. Traditional Gelug methods. Starting November 1.

Register: https://bit.ly/48zbzbq

Sometimes - maybe always - the right teaching appears exactly when you're ready to receive it. That's

10/29/2025

Karma clarification: One of the most misunderstood concepts in Buddhism.

Karma isn't cosmic punishment. It isn't the universe keeping score. It isn't destiny or fate you're powerless to change.

Karma is the Sanskrit word for 'action.' The teaching is simply this: actions have consequences. Virtuous actions create conditions for happiness. Non-virtuous actions create conditions for suffering.

Four key principles from classical texts:

Infallibility: The relationship between cause and effect is reliable. A virtuous cause produces happiness; a non-virtuous cause produces suffering. Like planting seeds—you get what you plant.

Increase: Small actions, when not purified or dedicated, can produce large effects. A minor harmful act can create significant suffering if left unaddressed. Similarly, small virtuous acts, when properly dedicated, can produce great benefit.

You can't experience what you haven't created: to understand your present, look to the past seeds you planted. To understand where you're going, pay attention to the seeds you plant today.

Actions don't disappear: Once performed, an action will eventually produce its result unless purified (for negative karma) or undermined (for positive karma). This can take lifetimes, but causality doesn't simply fade.

This isn't fatalism. It's the opposite—radical responsibility. Every action matters. Every choice shapes future conditions. And because we're always creating new karma, we're never trapped by past actions alone.

The subtleties of karma are profound—traditional texts say only fully enlightened beings completely understand them. But the basics provide a framework for ethical living and understanding why circumstances vary so greatly between individuals.

10/28/2025

Why does lineage matter in Buddhist training?

Think of learning a musical instrument. You could figure it out alone through trial and error over many years. Or you could study with someone who learned from an accomplished teacher, who learned from their teacher, back through generations of masters.

The second path avoids potential dead ends. You learn not just techniques but the subtle adjustments that make techniques work. You inherit understanding refined through centuries.

Buddhist meditation lineage functions similarly. The Gelug tradition of Tibetan Buddhism traces back through unbroken transmission to the great Indian masters who received teachings from Buddha Shakyamuni's disciples.

This doesn't mean blindly accepting authority. Traditional Buddhist training emphasizes testing teachings against your own experience. But you test sophisticated methods, not guesses or assumptions.

These November teachings represeent the lineage that passed from Buddha Shakyamuni through the Nalanda tradition, to Atisha, to Je Tsongkhapa, all the way to His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Lama Samten. At the Paramita Centers, we teach the same methods with the same commitment to authentic transmission.

Details: https://bit.ly/48zbzbq

10/27/2025

5 days until the November Calm Abiding Meditation class begins.

The class offers the opportunity to build systematic practice foundation in the practice of meditation as taught by the Tibetan Buddhist masters.

Four Saturday afternoons exploring calm abiding meditation: the preliminaries, conditions, nine stages, obstacles, and traditional antidotes. Not philosophy about meditation—actual training in concentration techniques refined over centuries.
Small group maintains quality instruction. Both in-person and online options. Classes recorded for flexibility.

Starting Saturday, November 1: https://bit.ly/48zbzbq

For those who attended, the momentum from Jason's teachings creates ideal conditions for beginning systematic practice.

10/26/2025

Meditation isn't relaxation.

Yes, calm abiding practice often produces relaxation as a side effect. But that's not its purpose. The goal is training attention—developing the ability to place the mind on an object and sustain focus despite distractions.

This is why meditation can feel effortful, even uncomfortable initially. You're building mental muscle. Like physical exercise, the process requires effort - joyful effort, but effort nonetheless.

Relaxation techniques (progressive muscle relaxation, listening to calming sounds) aim for immediate stress reduction. Valuable, but different.

Meditation trains the mind's capacity for sustained attention, mental stability, and clear seeing. These qualities then support everything else—better decisions, deeper relationships, reduced reactivity, genuine insight. Ultimately, enlightenment.

The classical texts are clear: this training requires proper instruction in systematic methods. Not just 'sit and breathe.'

November intensive provides that foundation: https://bit.ly/48zbzbq