During his visit to Chattanooga, Lobsang Samten—a Tibetan-born monk who runs Buddhist teaching centers in Canada—spent time at the Tennessee River. Photo courtesy of Dr. Les Kertay.
When University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Adjunct Psychology Professor Les Kertay lost a son 48 hours after childbirth in the 1990s, he turned to Buddhist teachings to endure.
“It is the absolute worst thing that ever happened to me, but in a way it made my life immeasurably better because I never ask myself what’s important. I mean, once you’ve had that experience, what’s important in your life? And for me at that point, it really became family and my other kids,” said Kertay, who—with wife, Maddie—has six children.
Through the teachings of Buddha, there are four “noble truths:” Life is full of suffering, there is a cause of this suffering, it is possible to stop suffering, and there is a way to extinguish suffering.
Kertay, with the blessing of Lobsang Samten—a Tibetan-born monk who runs Buddhist teaching centers in Canada—recently launched the Paramita Center Southeast in Chattanooga, a nonprofit Buddhist meditation center for all believers, Buddhist and non-Buddhists alike.
Dr. Les Kertay (photo by Angela Foster)
The philosophy would benefit everyone, including his students, said Kertay—who joined UTC’s adjunct faculty ranks in 2005.
Starting June 18 and every Thursday, Kertay will lead participants in meditation and spirituality at the Center Space studio in the St. Andrews Center, located at 1918 Union Ave. in Chattanooga’s Highland Park neighborhood. He is looking for a permanent location.
In the mid-1980s, Kertay (who later would earn his doctoral degree from Georgia State University in Atlanta) met His Holiness the Dalai Lama during a conference at Emory University. Kertay crashed a reception line and found himself face to face with the lama—and stammered that he was honored but didn’t know what to say. The Dalai Lama touched Kertay’s hands, smiled and said, “I don’t either.”
“It was this incredible moment of humanity and humility,” said Kertay, who teaches abnormal psychology, now called psychopathology, to UTC undergraduates. “He was just so kind.
“That was a very powerful moment for me because he absolutely was exactly who I thought he was—very, very spiritual and yet absolutely down to Earth.”
Kertay met Lama Samten and his right-hand monk, Jason Simard, over a Zoom meeting during the pandemic and became interested in establishing a Chattanooga satellite facility of Paramita.
“Buddhist principles speak about peace and non-violence, compassion, love and wisdom,” said Simard, who recently visited Chattanooga with Lama Samten and carries their message throughout Canada and Europe, particularly France. “We don’t make limits or borders to say, ‘Oh, this is for Buddhists or some kind of people,’ but it’s for everyone. So everybody who has interest can benefit from this teaching.”
Jason Simard (photo by Angela Foster)
Kertay, who moved to Chattanooga in 1997 to join a psychiatric group as a psychologist downtown, grew up in the Chicago suburbs in the 1950s and ‘60s and became a nonviolent protester against the Vietnam War while in high school. He earned his undergraduate degree from Western Michigan University and master’s and Ph.D. degrees from Georgia State.
His interest in a Chattanooga meditation center sprang up during the pandemic when he said he believed he had learned all there was to learn in private practice and yearned for new knowledge. In addition to teaching at UTC, Kertay is a semiretired consultant.
He started out teaching UTC graduate students but prefers the undergrads. “There’s something about that age student that keeps me on my toes. I really enjoy it. As you undoubtedly know, nobody does adjunct work for money.”
Kertay spent part of the pandemic meeting Lama Samten and Simard in Canada and going to retreats to learn how to teach Buddhist philosophy.
“My aim is to build a center here for Tibetan Buddhist teachings and to offer events,” Kertay said, “and I want to bring that philosophy and those teachings here.
“You absolutely don’t have to be a Buddhist to learn to meditate and to have that be helpful to you.”
He echoes the Dalai Lama’s tenet not to use Buddhism to become a better Buddhist but to use it to become a better person.
“Obviously, I think being Buddhist is a good thing for me. I don’t want everybody to become a Buddhist, though,” Kertay said. “I want everybody to learn a way, to find a way to be happier and to be kinder to one another. That’s really important to me.”
For more information on classes, meditations in the park and other events, visit www.buddhismsoutheast.org.
Lobsang Samten, left, and Dr. Les Kertay (photo credit: Jason Simard)
