with Ven. Losang Gendun

Thirteen Saturday classes
September 5 – November 28, 2026
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.

The fourth year marks the culmination of the training—a deepening into the practices that the Tibetan tradition considers its most precious.

The year begins with the preliminary practices—not as mere ritual, but as profound methods for preparing body, speech, and mind. Understanding their psychology reveals how each one dissolves specific obstacles and cultivates the conditions for transformation.

Building on the shamatha and vipaśyanā of previous years, practitioners now encounter these practices within the context of Mahāmudrā—the Gelug tradition's direct approach to recognizing the nature of mind itself. Here, the view is not established first and then meditated upon; rather, through sustained practice, the nature of mind is recognized directly. This is finding the view on the basis of meditation.

Central to this year is learning to see how ordinary perception is produced by conceptuality—how the mind fabricates a solid world and a solid self, and the suffering this creates. Recognizing these patterns is the first step toward releasing them.

In their place, practitioners train in pure view through the Kriya Tantric practice of the six deities: perceiving oneself, others, and the world as expressions of awakened nature. This is not pretense or imagination, but a bringing of the result into the path—learning to see as a buddha sees. These practices work directly with the afflictive emotions—not suppressing them, but recognizing their pure nature and the innate wisdom they contain.

At the heart of tantric practice lies an ethical vision: the state of Vajradhara, being the mirror in which each being can recognize their true nature. This is not a distant goal, but the ultimate ground of practice—bodhicitta in its most refined form.

Aims

• Explore the psychology of the preliminary practices
• Practice shamatha and vipaśyanā in a Mahāmudrā context
• Train in pure view and visualization
• Shape a shared sacred world through ritual

• 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.
  Online access details will be shared closer to the course start date. Once the course begins, please allow up to one week to receive your access information.
• 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.