New FPMT Pilot Program!
Exploring Buddhism:
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Exploring Buddhism is a new program currently being developed by FPMT to serve as a bridge between Discovering Buddhism and The Basic Program. It is designed to help students of Buddhism delve more deeply into a broad array of topics that form a solid foundation for furthering one’s study and practice. The program will initially be run as a pilot program in FPMT centers to further test and refine the curriculum.
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Syllabus
Purpose: To show students how they can make progress on the path by supporting their practice of study, contemplation, and meditation with the practices of accumulation of merit and purification of negative karma. This module covers these subjects: 1. Common Prayers To teach students how and why to do various kinds of prayers, including the following:
2. Common Sutra Practices To teach students how and why to do various kinds of sutra practices, including the following:
3. Common Tantra Practices To teach students how and why to do various kinds of tantra practices, including the following:
Please note that, while this module does contain general instruction on the above tantric pujas, students are not expected to have received a highest yoga tantra initiation, nor will they be taught the meaning of the pujas in terms of tantric practice. |
Materials List
Please obtain these materials prior to the beginning of the module as it would be helpful if you could review the various practices mentioned below to see where you might have any questions. General Prayers
Practice Texts
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Ven. Lozang Yönten is an American-born Tibetan Buddhist nun in the Gelug Tibetan tradition who was ordained in 2003. Her (merely labeled) pronouns are she/her and she is a fully ordained Bhikshuni/Gelongma in the Dharmaguptaka tradition.
Buddhist since her teenage years, Ven. Yönten moved to Chenrezig Institute in QLD, Australia when she was 19 and studied intensively under Khensur Rinpoche Geshe Tashi Tsering (Lharampa Geshe from Sera Je Monastery and former Abbot of Gyü-me Tantric College) for seven years, completing their Buddhist Studies Program (including FPMT’s Basic Program as well as other advanced topics) and retreats. She then continued to study, retreat and offer service at Dharma Centers in India and Taiwan as well as Australia and New Zealand, becoming an In-Depth Registered Teacher within the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT) in 2012. Ven. Yönten was then the Resident Teacher of Kunsang Yeshe Retreat Centre in the Blue Mountains of NSW, Australia from 2012 – 2015 and then at Mahamudra Centre for Universal Unity in New Zealand until 2018. She continues to offer classes and retreats at both Centres annually (unless there is a global pandemic). Ven. Yönten also offers Buddhist classes 4–5 months a year in Israel. With FPMT’s Shantideva Study Group and also, from a secular perspective, for a seven-year postgraduate program called Human Spirit which is a Buddhist Psychoanalytic Training Program. |
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Don Handrick is a touring teacher for the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), sharing the Dharma with centers and study groups in North America and other parts of the world, both in-person and online.
Don's study of Buddhism began in 1993 after reading The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying by Sogyal Rinpoche. Over the next two years he practiced with Sogyal Rinpoche's organization, until he began attending classes in 1996 with Venerable Robina Courtin at Tse Chen Ling in San Francisco. Don left the Bay Area in 1998 to attend the FPMT's Masters Program of Buddhist Studies in Sutra and Tantra, a seven-year residential study program conducted at Lama Tzong Khapa Institute in Tuscany, Italy, taught by the scholar and kind Spiritual Friend, Geshe Jampa Gyatso. He successfully completed all five subjects of this program in 2004, receiving an FPMT final certificate with high honors. |
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This program is being jointly offered by:
- Dharmakaya Center (Reno, NV)
- Gendun Drubpa Buddhist Centre (BC, Canada)
- Ocean of Compassion Buddhist Center
Our ability to continue offering these teachings is dependent on the generosity of donors. We appreciate any donation and support for this class. Thank you!
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Support Ocean of Compassion Buddhist Center
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Support Lozang Yönten directly
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Support Don Handrick directly
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Registration: $15 per class or $100 for the entire module (eight classes). Members of a certain level get courses for free (see the membership program for details). Registration is required to receive your online access information.
Your generous donations are essential for the continuation of programs like this. No one turned away due to lack of funds.
Your generous donations are essential for the continuation of programs like this. No one turned away due to lack of funds.