FPMT In-Depth Meditation Training
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We are excited to partner with the Buddha Project and many other FPMT centers worldwide to offer this wonderful, ongoing course with Venerable Losang Gendun. The IDMT was developed in dialogue with Lama Zopa Rinpoche, inspired by his conviction that the true fulfillment of our precious human life lies in generating the awakened mind, bodhicitta—and that accomplishing this requires deep meditative practice.
Suitable for students who have a thorough understanding of the Dharma, the course will be most rewarding for practitioners wishing to make Buddhist values and goals an integral part of their lives. With the benefit of a supportive community, meditation practice and lifestyle become mutually complementary; time on and off the cushion will be transformed into a path to enlightenment. All recordings of the teachings, guided meditations, and study material are offered on The Buddha Project website so that registered students can access the materials at their own pace. Each year of the IDMT can be followed independently. |
Suggested Offering:
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Year 3, Term 1
The Radiant Ground: Emptiness and Buddha Nature This year’s journey will weave together the profound view of Madhyamaka, as presented by Nāgārjuna and his successors, with the compassionate vision of Tathāgatagarbha, the Buddha-nature teachings that reveal our deepest potential for awakening. Far from abstract philosophy, these teachings offer a radical reorientation of how we perceive ourselves and the world—pointing us beyond habitual grasping to a space of clarity, openness, and profound compassion. |
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Having cultivated the foundational practices of shamatha and vipashyana in the first year and explored Yogācāra’s profound psychology of ignorance and awakening in the second, we now turn to the very heart of Tibetan Buddhism: the nature of emptiness and the luminous potential that resides within every living being.
Guiding us in this exploration will be core texts from India and Tibet. Nāgārjuna’s Mūlamadhyamakakārikā will serve as a central pillar, systematically dismantling the illusions of inherent existence. In dialogue with this, we’ll study Kamalashīla’s Stages of Meditation, a practical and accessible map for cultivating deep meditative insight grounded in the view of emptiness. Balancing the radical freedom of Madhyamaka, we will encounter the warmth and encouragement of Maitreya’s Ratnagotravibhāga, a poetic illumination of the Buddha-nature within all beings. These teachings remind us that beyond confusion and conditioning, there is a basic goodness that has never been lost.
To ground these profound insights in daily life, we will also study the beloved text of Geshe Chekawa Yeshe Dorje, The Seven Points of Mind Training. With its pithy slogans and deeply practical tone, it offers tools for transforming adversity and cultivating bodhicitta on and off the cushion.
Throughout the year, our study and practice will be enriched by meditative teachings from both the Pāli and Sanskrit sūtra traditions, inviting a direct and experiential understanding of emptiness—not as a concept, but as a liberating shift in perception.
This year is an invitation to let the view of emptiness infuse your practice—not as abstract philosophy, but as living experience: clear, liberating, and rooted in compassion. Our aim is not to gather concepts, but to transform how we see and relate to the world. Through study, reflection, and meditation, we learn to meet life with less grasping, more openness—and a heart that naturally responds with wisdom and care, held by the strength of community.
Guiding us in this exploration will be core texts from India and Tibet. Nāgārjuna’s Mūlamadhyamakakārikā will serve as a central pillar, systematically dismantling the illusions of inherent existence. In dialogue with this, we’ll study Kamalashīla’s Stages of Meditation, a practical and accessible map for cultivating deep meditative insight grounded in the view of emptiness. Balancing the radical freedom of Madhyamaka, we will encounter the warmth and encouragement of Maitreya’s Ratnagotravibhāga, a poetic illumination of the Buddha-nature within all beings. These teachings remind us that beyond confusion and conditioning, there is a basic goodness that has never been lost.
To ground these profound insights in daily life, we will also study the beloved text of Geshe Chekawa Yeshe Dorje, The Seven Points of Mind Training. With its pithy slogans and deeply practical tone, it offers tools for transforming adversity and cultivating bodhicitta on and off the cushion.
Throughout the year, our study and practice will be enriched by meditative teachings from both the Pāli and Sanskrit sūtra traditions, inviting a direct and experiential understanding of emptiness—not as a concept, but as a liberating shift in perception.
This year is an invitation to let the view of emptiness infuse your practice—not as abstract philosophy, but as living experience: clear, liberating, and rooted in compassion. Our aim is not to gather concepts, but to transform how we see and relate to the world. Through study, reflection, and meditation, we learn to meet life with less grasping, more openness—and a heart that naturally responds with wisdom and care, held by the strength of community.
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How to participate:
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Who might want to participate:
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About Venerable Losang Gendun:
Venerable Losang Gendun’s spiritual journey started with a Trappist monk in the early 1970s, who exemplified the fruits of a long life dedicated to simplicity, contemplation, and the care for others. It was the meeting with the abbot of a Dutch Theravada monastery a decade later though that provided Ven Gendun’s path with new direction and proper foundation.
Venerable Losang Gendun has dedicated nearly four decades to practicing Buddhism and has served as a Bhikshu in the Tibetan tradition for the past 19 years. Prior to his ordination, he worked in diverse fields such as palliative care, technology, refugee organizations, and management. His extensive training includes many years of study. Read more about Ven. Gendun.
Venerable Losang Gendun’s spiritual journey started with a Trappist monk in the early 1970s, who exemplified the fruits of a long life dedicated to simplicity, contemplation, and the care for others. It was the meeting with the abbot of a Dutch Theravada monastery a decade later though that provided Ven Gendun’s path with new direction and proper foundation.
Venerable Losang Gendun has dedicated nearly four decades to practicing Buddhism and has served as a Bhikshu in the Tibetan tradition for the past 19 years. Prior to his ordination, he worked in diverse fields such as palliative care, technology, refugee organizations, and management. His extensive training includes many years of study. Read more about Ven. Gendun.
Registration:
Advanced registration is required. Suggested donation is $16 for a single class. Full course registration is $208 and gives access to the entire term and recordings. (Recommended)
We offer all Dharma teachings and center events on a “dana” basis. This means we’re grateful for your generosity but there is no required cost to attend and no one is turned away for lack of funds. Suggested donation amounts are provided, and we welcome you to offer what you can to help us sustain our programming and make the dharma and events like this possible. And of course, ordained sangha (ordained nuns and monks) are always welcome free of charge.
If you're not donating at this time but would like to attend, please email [email protected]. Thank you!
Advanced registration is required. Suggested donation is $16 for a single class. Full course registration is $208 and gives access to the entire term and recordings. (Recommended)
We offer all Dharma teachings and center events on a “dana” basis. This means we’re grateful for your generosity but there is no required cost to attend and no one is turned away for lack of funds. Suggested donation amounts are provided, and we welcome you to offer what you can to help us sustain our programming and make the dharma and events like this possible. And of course, ordained sangha (ordained nuns and monks) are always welcome free of charge.
If you're not donating at this time but would like to attend, please email [email protected]. Thank you!