with Ven. Losang Gendun

Saturdays, September 6 – November 29, 2025
6:30am – 9:00am Pacific Time
online

Program Category: Dharma Education — Intermediate

The FPMT In-depth Meditation Training (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. 



Based in the Lamrim and in the Gelug tenets, the training progresses from foundational shamatha and insight to mahamudra and kriya tantra. It contextualizes Buddhist ideas in Western philosophy, psychology, and science. Each year forms a self-contained module that can be joined independently. Weekly guided meditations are combined with in-depth lectures and meditation training, prioritizing the needs and levels of practice of the participants. This is a course that serves the students, adjusting itself in accordance with their needs, developing with them.

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.

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. 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.

• 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 or drop in on a class by registering below.
• After registration, you will receive access to the Online Learning Center on The Buddha Project website. There you will find access to the Zoom sessions, the supporting materials, and recordings of past guided meditations and lectures.
• Depending on the interest of participants, these classes may be embedded in practice days, guided by experienced students, which will provide a supportive environment for joint practice and discussion.

• 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 the FPMT Discovering Buddhism course or the FPMT Basic Program or having obtained a similar level through other means.