This four year course is designed so that students can join at any time and immediately benefit. Each class includes 60 minutes of guided meditation followed by 90 minutes of lecture, including Q&A. Over 200 students from around the globe come together each week for this transformative program!
To register for the FPMT Ngöndro Lamrim Training click here.
Year 4, Term 1: 13 Saturdays
September 5–November 28
From 6:30 to 9:00 a.m. Pacific Time
Year 4: The Vajra Ground: Mahāmudrā and Kriyā Tantra
In this culminating fourth year of our journey, our path turns inward to the mind itself—its empty, luminous nature—and outward to the transformative methods of tantra, where the naturally pure nature of our perception is recognized as the very ground of awakening.
As always, the year will start with generating the mind of awakening, using evocative instructions ranging from Langri Thangpa to Nāgārjuna and Lord Buddha in the famous Bodhisattvapiṭaka. This mind generation we’ll cultivate through the four immeasurable thoughts and the support of calm abiding.
Illuminated by the life stories of the masters of the Gelug Mahāmudrā lineage and beyond, we’ll explore its roots in the history of the early Indian Mahāsiddhas, such as Saraha and Tilopa, through the Kagyü master Gampopa’s and Je Tsongkhapa’s Mañjuśrī lineage up to Paṇchen Losang Chökyi Gyaltsen’s Highway of the Conquerors and its perspective on this practice. In Sūtra Mahāmudrā we will practice resting attention in the empty nature of awareness, recognizing its clarity and openness as inseparable.
Kriyā Tantra offers a complementary method. Rather than suppress the ordinary, narrow self-narrative that we impose on ourselves and our world, it substitutes for it an extraordinary perspective of pure view. Occasionally, by way of introduction, we’ll also taste practices from the higher tantras—glimpsing how afflictive emotions can be met as innate wisdom, and how the dissolution of the death process opens onto the innate mind of clear light. The structured practices of generation and recitation become a rehearsal for transformation, training perception to meet appearances as pure.
These methods rest on a relationship. We will therefore examine the practice of guru devotion candidly—both as the means by which the lineage’s realization is transmitted and as a practice with real pitfalls, requiring discernment as much as trust. Through the GandenLha Gyāma, the Yoga of the inseparability of guru and Avalokiteśvara, and supporting sādhanas, devotion is approached not as deference but as the ethical road toward the state of Vajradhara: the full integration of wisdom and method.
This final year is an invitation to let realization ripen into a way of being. Grounded in bodhicitta and the four immeasurables, sustained by the preliminary practices, and held by the strength of community, we learn to meet the mind without grasping and to meet the world as pure appearance. Our aim is not to accumulate practices, but to bring the path to maturity—wisdom and compassion no longer cultivated separately, but lived as one.
Term dates
- Term 1: Sept 5 – Nov. 28: 13 classes in total
- Term 2: Feb. 6 – April 10: 10 classes in total
- Term 3: April 24 – June 26: 10 classes in total
FPMT In-Depth Meditation Training (IDMT)
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.
Who might want to participate
This course is beneficial for practitioners who want to further develop their meditative practice, by receiving in-depth meditation instructions and by getting a deeper understanding of the (philosophical and psychological) foundations of meditation. It will provide a complement for those who study Buddhism, to investigate and verify experientially the various subjects taught by the Buddha.
To participate, you will need a basic understanding of Mahayana Buddhism, although the course will introduce many of the foundational topics. A basic understanding can mean having completed FPMT’s Discovering Buddhism course or the FPMT Basic Program or having obtained a similar level through other means.
How to participate
The course consists of weekly online sessions of a 60-minute guided meditation, a 90-minute lecture with ample opportunity for Q&A.
Sign up for a whole semester (recommended) or drop in on a per class basis.
After registration, you will immediately receive an email with the Zoom link to access the classes.
A few days later you will be sent an email from The Buddha Project with access to the Online Learning Center on The Buddha Project website. Here you will find access to the Zoom sessions, the supporting materials, and recordings of past guided meditations and lectures. Please allow a few days for this to happen.
Registration /Schedule
Suggested: $17 per session/ $221 for the entire term (13 Saturdays)
Ordained Sangha are invited to join at no cost.
Schedule: 60 minutes of meditation and 90 minutes for lecture and Q&A.
The sessions are recorded by The Buddha Project. By registering for this event, you are agreeing to give your consent to this process. To protect your privacy, we recommend being conscious about any personal information you share during the sessions. To further enhance anonymity, you may want to consider turning off video or naming yourself using abbreviations.
After registering, the system automatically sends a confirmation and/or a receipt email that contains the Zoom meeting link and/or other instructions. If you don’t immediately receive the system email(s) or you have any other questions, please contact us at office@vajrapani.org.
You will receive login information for The Buddha Project within 3 days to one week of your registration date.
Financial Aid/ Scholarships
We want to make retreats and dharma courses available to everyone. With this in mind, we will gladly work out a payment plan with you if needed. Please email us at office@vajrapani.org to explore ways we can help you.
Our utmost goal is to help as many beings as possible to have the gift of the dharma.
