NEW: Meditation & Buddhist Philosophy – Online & Live

Study & Practice Program

First part: 3 months

Complete program: 2 years

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*** Information Meeting: An information Meeting about this Program will happen on June 8th. You can join this Free Information Meeting to learn more about the program. ***

 

Following the great success of this Study & Practice Online Program that was held several times in French since 2021 and which reached several hundred participants, we are pleased to offer the Paramita Centre online program for the first time in English.

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All classes will be held live via Zoom. We STRONGLY encourage students to join the program LIVE. The energy it radiates helps fuel motivation and interest. However, the classes will be recorded, and you will be to listen to them later if you can't attend live. It is even possible to join in person at the Centre in Toronto if you wish. The recordings will also available for you to keep and to listen again.

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This course is open to all and is suitable for complete beginners as well as seasoned practitioners. The entire course will be given by teachers of Paramita Centre. The main teacher for the program will be Tenzin Gawa (Jason), Buddhist Monk ordained by H.H. Dalaï-Lama in 2014 & 2018 and student of Geshe Lobsang Samten since 2002. Tenzin Gawa is teaching actively since 2006 in Quebec, Ontario and all Canada, in France and many countries in Europe, and in U.S.A. He also leads groups for pilgrimages and retreats in India and other Asian countries every year since 2005.

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Session One – Introductory Program: Mind, Emotions, Meditation & Buddhist Philosophy – 45 hours

 

Every Monday and Wednesday, from 1:00 PM to 2:30 PM & 

Once a month, Saturday morning from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM

Dates: Sept 15th to Dec 3rd, plus one Saturday in September, October and November (dates to be decided)

Participation for the Session One (45 hours) is 350$ CAN

 

This first session will include 3 parts:

 

1. Mind and Emotions (Foundations of Buddhist Psychology) - 15 hours

The Buddha explains that the nature of the mind is clear and luminous, without any impurities. The temporary disturbing emotions that obscure this nature are distinct from it and can be eliminated. In this section, we will explore the world of our emotions, our minds, and the happiness and well-being we can all find in our daily lives.

Text for this lesson: Happiness from Day to Day.

 

2. Meditation (Introduction to Calm Abiding: How to Bring Calm to Our Mind) - 15 hours

There are several types of meditation. Here, we will explore and practice fundamental meditation, the starting point for our inner peace: meditation for calm abiding (shamatha). We will discuss preparations for meditation, the conditions conducive to calm abiding, posture, breathing, and obstacles to calm abiding and how to overcome them, among other things. We will also study this traditional image.

Study text: How to Meditate.

 

3. The Path to Happiness by Stages (Lamrim: Complete Teachings of Buddhist Philosophy) - 15 hours

This section will be an introduction to all the topics that will be covered in more detail in the second part (see below).

Study text: The Essence of the Path to Enlightenment.

 

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Main part of the program – Sessions 2, 3 & 4

 

These are the topics to be covered in Sessions Two, Three and Four. Exact timings, dates and schedule will be provided later.

 

Session Two: The Buddhist Path to Happiness, Step by Step (Deepening Lamrim: 3 Levels of Happiness, Steps to Achieving It) – 100 hours​

In this part, we will study Lamrim in detail, which includes all the topics presented by the Buddha, which makes it possible to achieve three categories of happiness: temporary happiness, ultimate happiness of Nirvana, and ultimate happiness of Enlightenment.​

The topics that will be covered include: the precious of human life, impermanence, protection (refuge), karma, the Four Noble Truths, love, compassion, the Mind of Enlightenment, the paramitas, calm abiding, and special insight (shamatha and vipashyana), among others.​

Text: The Essence of the Path to Enlightenment

 

Session Three: Buddhist Psychology & Buddhist Philosophy and Vision – 75 hours

​In this section, we will study the mind and all the mental factors that accompany the mind in more detail. This provides a deep understanding of how our mind functions. We will then examine in more detail how the inner path to happiness is constructed through the development of the five paths. Several philosophical elements that help us understand reality will then be discussed, according to the views of various Buddhist thinkers from four main Buddhist philosophical systems.

We will also study the 12 interdependent links to better understand how we spiral into samsara under the power of karma and delusions, as well as how to free ourselves from them.

We will also examine the 10 paramitas (transcendent qualities) that lead us to Buddhahood and how to cultivate them.

Text: Interdependence, Psychology & Philosophy in the Buddhist Path

 

Session Four: Calm-abiding, Special Insight and Death, Bardo & Rebirth – 50 hours

​Deepening Calm Abiding: We will study in much greater detail the fundamental practice that allows us to achieve calm abiding (shamatha), supported here by the qualities of mind mentioned in the Lamrim.

Teachings on Special Insight (Vipashyana): Since the root of samsara and all our suffering is the false belief in an autonomous self, the Buddha's principal teaching is the one that frees us from it: special insight. Here, we will learn how to practice analytical meditation, which realizes emptiness, the absence of inherent existence, which liberates.

Death, Bardo, and Birth: We will study in detail these three fundamental processes that occur naturally and, when purified, produce the Three Kayas of a Buddha.

Texts:  1) How to Meditate, 2) Transcending Death