Join Year 4 of In-Depth Meditation Training

Join Year 4 Term 1 of In-Depth Meditation Training: Mahamudra and Kriya Tantra.

From Sep 5 to Nov 28. Saturdays 16.30 – 19.00 (Helsinki time), online, only in English.

Overview of Year 4 of IDMT

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. 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.

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.

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.

What is the IDMT program?

FPMT IDMT provides students with long term, in-depth support in their meditation. The weekly sessions, administered over Zoom, combine structured meditations (60min) with profound teachings (90min) and regular retreats in an international community of sincere practicioners.

The course especially offers:

• Practical focus: emphasis is on developing direct, personal experience with the topics covered through listening, reflecting and meditating.
• Structure for meditation practice: a way to maintain a contemplative life while leading a busy life, and support on how to use our meditation practices to help navigate everyday challenges.
• Supportive environment: being a part of a mutually supportive international community of dedicated practicioners.
• Access to extensive materials: all meditations, lectures and reading materials are available through an online portal for all registered students.

Here’s Ven. Gendun explaining what meditation is in the context of this course in his own words: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gz3slpaDb1U

Teachings take place on Saturdays at 16.30-19.00 (Helsinki time), online on Zoom.

Who is IDMT for?

This course is most beneficial to participants who wish to develop their meditative practice long-term, and who have a good basic understanding of Mahayana Buddhism.

New students are welcome to join! We have a local community of Finnish students who meet regularly in Helsinki.

Registration and cost

We recommend registering for the full term which is 195€ (13 sessions x 15€/session).

This is a suggested fee, as all Dharma is offered based on donations. If you cannot afford the recommended donation, please let us know in your registration and we can work it out.

More opportunities for studying

If you want to study more in addition to IDMT, we are also starting a new two-year Ngöndro Lamrim training in September. For those who are unsure if IDMT is too advanced, this training is an excellent preparation for when we restart IDMT again from year one in 2027.

Your teacher: Venerable Losang Gendun

Venerable Losang Gendun has spent nearly four decades in Buddhist practice, living as a fully ordained Bhikshu in the Tibetan tradition for the past twenty years. His training spans ten years of monastic study across France, India, Nepal, and Myanmar, and more than four years in solitary retreat in both Tibetan and Burmese Theravāda traditions. For the past eighteen years he has taught Buddhist philosophy, psychology, and meditation worldwide within the FPMT, serving the vision of H.H. the Dalai Lama and Lama Zopa Rinpoche. In 2023 he founded The Buddha Project, offering long-term guidance for serious meditators and fostering dialogue between Buddhist traditions, contemplative science, and the arts. Its core program is the four year FPMT In-Depth Meditation Training.

Venerable Gendun’s teachings stem from a deep understanding of the Dharma and vast personal experience that ranges the full gamut of practices aimed at achieving enlightenment for the sake of sentient beings. He teaches with an engaging combination of relatable, informative stories, profound teachings, and piercing insight flawlessly serving the students’ progress on the path.