• Season three of 'The White Lotus' explores themes of identity and spirituality in Thailand.
• Creator Mike White is interested in Buddhist principles, which influenced the character's arcs this season.
• Greg's storyline continues from season two, hinting at karmic consequences for his past actions.

Identity is a prison. That's the operating thesis of season three of Mike White's hit HBO satire "The White Lotus." To be on the nose for this season's Thailand-set exploration of privilege and hijinks, the line is uttered by a Buddhist monk in the premiere episode.

White has used each season's location and its meaning in the American consciousness to draw out the mess of interpersonal relationships among the hotel's staff and guests. In the first season, the colonial afterlife of Hawaii set the scene for exploring wealthy, predominantly white tourists' extractive relationships with the locals who serve them. The romance of Italy in season two formed the backdrop for the passions, affairs, familial and marital drama of the group who visited Sicily.

In season three, the spirituality of Thailand rattles the cages of identity The White Lotus' Western tourists lock themselves in. It's a location that allows the show to examine Eastern spirituality and satirize the way Western tourists appropriate it for their own self-help vacations.

"They're all in some kind of hurt," White said of his Thailand White Lotus visitors in an interview with Time. The dramatic irony is that the suffering they've come to cleanse themselves of is caused by the very thing that allowed them to be there in the first place — the exorbitant wealth and privilege they wield.

That irony likely isn't lost on White, who takes special pleasure in making sure his characters — even the lovable ones — get what's coming to them. You could call it karma, which just so happens to be a key principle of Buddhism, Thailand's dominant religion.

So who's due for some karmic repayment this season? Here's how the major tenets of Buddhist philosophy could offer some clues.

Prisons of identity

White has personal experience with Thailand and Buddhism.

"I had a Buddhist self-help phase when I had a nervous breakdown in my 30s," he told Time in January. "I use Buddhist concepts as a way to sort of organize my ideas."

Time in Buddhist philosophy doesn't work the same as time in Western philosophy. In the West, time is linear. Our lives have a fixed start date — birth — and end date — death.

In Buddhism, time is circular. Life is a cycle of death and rebirth. Identity isn't as fixed within a cycle of reincarnation, since you could be reborn into a higher or lower caste in the next life, depending on the karma you make in this one.

To be caught up in the material circumstances of the present creates the "prison of identity" discussed on the show. Each group of Western tourists is struggling with the prisons of their own identities in some way or another.

For the Southern Ratliff family, particularly the parents, pill-popping Victoria (Parker Posey) and stressed Duke dad Tim (Jason Isaacs), their identities are defined by having good values and by being successful. All that is about to come crashing down, though, since Tim's office is being scrutinized by the feds for a money laundering scheme he participated in years ago.

Rick (Walton Goggins) is clearly tormented by the prison of his own identity, which has led him on a heavily implied revenge tour to Thailand to track down the person responsible for his father's death. The fixation on his father, his origin story, and the emptiness it's left him with is what the Buddhists would call attachment (derogatory) — the kind that only causes you suffering.

The trio of women on a girls' trip are trapped by the competition they've built up with one another. They're constantly vying for power over one another, to be seen as the most successful of the three. "It's not a midlife crisis; it's a victory lap," Southern housewife Kate (Leslie Bibb) insists in episode one.

Karmic repayment

"The White Lotus" is ostensibly an anthology, but if you've seen more than one season, you know that isn't exactly true. In Italy, Tanya McQuoid (Jennifer Coolidge) was the throughline from the first season in Hawaii, and you could say she met her karmic end in the Mediterranean for the false promises she made Belinda (Natasha Rothwell) in Hawaii.

In Thailand, Greg (Jon Gries) is the throughline from the previous season. When we encounter him on Koh Samui, he's assumed an alias "Gary" and denies having ever been to the White Lotus in Hawaii, where he met Tanya and Belinda. If you think of each season as one cycle of reincarnation, then Thailand is Greg's next life after the one he left in Italy, which effectively concluded with Tanya's death.

Of course, the audience knows all about the bad karma Greg stirred up in Sicily by organizing his wife's hit. Since the episode four teaser shows Belinda closing in on Greg with a little bit of internet sleuthing, it's fair to expect his old life to come flooding back.

In Buddhism, you can't enter a new life without balancing the karma, good and bad, that you've made in your previous one. Greg, responsible for the demise of Tanya at the end of last season, still managed to escape unscathed.

It's fair to expect he'll be getting some cosmic payback at the end of this one, whether it comes in the form of a snake bite, a poisoned seed, or a watery demise on the resort grounds. If Thailand has anything to teach him, it's that you can't start over without a little karmic justice.

• I'm an experienced skier who has been to more than a dozen ski resorts around the world.
• I often see beginners make mistakes like holding up lines, tailgating, and zooming down slopes.
• Wearing proper gear and being aware of your surroundings can enhance your skiing experience.

As an unathletic kid, I dreaded "going skiing" because it really meant slogging through ski school while my parents hit the slopes.

I started ski school before I started actual school, and for years, I was much better in the classroom than on the slopes.

Now, as a (much more athletic) adult skier with years of experience, I've been lucky enough to travel beyond my home base in Lake Tahoe to ski resorts in Utah, Colorado, the Canadian Rockies, and the French Alps.

Ski resorts have an etiquette system that can be difficult to grasp, and I've seen beginners make the same mistakes over and over, no matter where I am.

If you're a newcomer at a ski resort but you don't want to seem like one, here are some mistakes to avoid:

Holding up the line

If you're traveling in a group, wait until everyone is present before you all enter the chairlift line together. Don't try to save a spot for your friend — it's rude to other parties who are ready to get on the lift.

If you need to make boot or gear adjustments, do these before you get in line. Don't block the line's entrance.

At most resorts, lift lines funnel from many lanes into one main artery that feeds the chairlift. If there's no lift operator queueing groups, you have to merge lanes by alternating groups. Be mindful of when it's your turn and when you should let someone else go ahead.

Tailgating

It's annoying when someone steps on the back of your shoe while you're walking. However, it's even worse when someone does that to you while you have big metal slats hooked to your 8-pound boots.

When you're queueing up for the lift, leave just enough space between the tips of your skis and the next person's.

You wouldn't drive bumper-to-bumper, and you don't need to ski like that either.

Poorly planning your dismount from the lift

Good lift etiquette continues at the top of the hill on the dismount.

Coordinate with others on your chair to figure out which direction you're going when you get off. This can help you avoid a collision if you need to cross paths with another person on your chair.

Once you get off the chair, keep moving so the people behind you have a clear runway to exit.

Not staying in your lane

Once you advance past beginner techniques like "pizza" and "french fry," you need to make more parallel turns to ski down a hill safely.

Avoid zooming straight down the trail, which is how you can lose control.

On busier trails, it's safest to make your turns in a chosen section of the slope. Stick to one side of the trail rather than using its entire width to leave enough room for other skiers.

Picking a bad mid-mountain rest stop

Whatever you do, don't stop in the middle of the trail — that's like parking in the center lane of a highway.

Just like you would on a freeway, pull onto the shoulder instead. When you know you need to hit a stop, get to the side of the trail so the other skiers won't have to swerve around you.

Then, when you're ready to get back on the slopes, look uphill for anyone making their way down toward you. I usually wait for a break in the traffic — when there are very few skiers uphill of me — before I hop back on the trail.

In general, downhill skiers have the right of way because they can't see you coming behind them. It's your responsibility as the uphill skier to ensure you won't crash into them.

Not wearing the right outfit and gear

There are no fashion faux pas in skiing, but I would caution against those tight designer ski suits some people like to wear. They feel impractical for a sport that involves a fair amount of falling and bending over.

On the slopes, you should also wear bright colors and avoid wearing white. This can help other skiers see you coming, thus avoiding unnecessary collisions.

I also swear by wearing helmets. Most of the times I've taken bad falls have been on flat ground — it's easy for even the most experienced skier to catch an edge and lose their balance.