FPMT Education Courses and Programs

We offer a vast range of education courses and programs, fulfilling the needs of beginners to advanced practitioners. All FPMT education courses and programs embody FPMT Wisdom Culture.

Introductory Courses | Foundational Programs | In-Depth Programs | Maitripa College
Translator and Interpreter Training | Becoming an FPMT Registered Teacher

 

Introductory Courses

New to Buddhism? Want to see what Buddhism is all about or just use its teachings to improve your daily life? FPMT’s introductory courses are short courses that allow students to try out different meditation techniques, learn the basics of Tibetan Buddhism, and explore essential advice for the time of death and for making life meaningful.

Buddhist Meditation 101

What You Learn: The Buddhist Meditation 101 course presents: Basic meditation techniques for complete beginners. The meaning and purpose of meditation in a Tibetan Buddhist context. What mind is and how it works. How to use meditation to lessen destructive emotions and develop positive ones to become a kinder and wiser human being.

Duration: Five to ten sessions.

How to Participate: Find Buddhist Meditation 101 as part of the Online Learning Center. Alternatively, check whether the course is offered at your closest FPMT center.

Buddhism in a Nutshell

What You Learn: The Buddhism in a Nutshell course presents: Basic Buddhist philosophy and principles within a Tibetan Buddhist context for complete beginners. The four noble truths and the path to enlightenment through developing wisdom and compassion. Simple meditation instructions are also provided.

Duration: Five to ten sessions.

How to Participate: Find Buddhism in a Nutshell as part of the Online Learning Center. Alternatively, check whether the course is offered at your closest FPMT center.

Heart Advice for Death & Dying

What You Learn: In the Heart Advice for Death and Dying course, you will be introduced to the following: How to overcome the fear of thinking and talking about death. Awareness of the reality of your own and others’ death helps you live life in a more meaningful way. Methods to help yourself and others face death peacefully and even joyfully.

Duration: Five sessions.

How to Participate: Find Heart Advice for Death and Dying as part of the Online Learning Center. Alternatively, check whether the course is offered at your closest FPMT center.

 

Foundational Programs

The Foundational FPMT Education Programs present the opportunities to engage in a deeply experiential tradition of study and practice, based on the teachings of the Buddha that were further systematized and elaborated on by great teachers of Tibet, such as Lama Tsongkhapa, and passed from teacher to student up to this present day. They are suitable for those who wish to go deeper in their learning and exploration of Buddhist concepts and practices in their daily life.

Discovering Buddhism

What You Learn: The Discovering Buddhism program offers an experiential taste of teachings and practices in the Tibetan Mahayana Buddhist tradition based on the lamrim, the stages of the path to enlightenment. It includes guided meditations and intensive practice days to integrate the teachings and make life most meaningful.

Duration: Thirteen modules over two years and a fourteenth module of personal integration practices.

How to Participate: The program is offered in at FPMT centers worldwide and online. Find Discovering Buddhism Online as part of the Online Learning Center in English and French. Module 2, “How to Meditate” is available free to the public. Alternatively, check whether the course is offered at your closest FPMT center.

Living in the Path

What You Learn: The Living in the Path program features quintessential lamrim teachings from Lama Zopa Rinpoche taken from various teaching events from 2009 onward. Meditations, mindfulness practices, and service practices drawn from the teachings make it easy to integrate them into daily life.

Duration: Currently, twenty modules.

How to Participate: Find Living in the Path as part of the Online Learning Center. The majority of modules are free to the public. Alternatively, check whether the course is offered at your closest FPMT center.

Exploring Buddhism

What You Learn: The Exploring Buddhism program is a topical exploration of Buddhist philosophy and practices for developing deeper understanding of main Buddhist concepts and their relationship to practice and realization. Essential preparation for approaching in-depth philosophical study of the FPMT Basic Program.

Duration: Currently, seven modules.

How to Participate: Check out the on-site and/or online courses at these participating FPMT centers.

 

In-Depth Programs

The In-Depth FPMT Education Programs are designed for students who are ready to commit themselves to long-term study and practice. They offer a structured approach to Dharma education over a prolonged period of time. With their distinctive feature of being text-based, taught by geshes or senior Western teachers with a background of extensive textual study, they introduce students to the abundance of philosophical detail that characterizes Lama Tsongkhapa’s Gelugpa tradition.

FPMT Basic Program

What You Learn: The FPMT Basic Program is a comprehensive, practice-oriented transmission of the Buddhadharma designed by Lama Zopa Rinpoche for committed students who are ready to progress beyond foundational level study and practice.

Duration: Nine main and three supplementary subjects over five years.

How to Participate: The program is offered in a variety of formats, residential and non-residential, in FPMT centers worldwide. Alternatively, it is also available as BP Online as part of the FPMT Online Learning Center.

FPMT Masters Program

What You Learn: The FPMT Masters Program provides an intensive, full-time study of Buddhist sutra and tantra, based on the unique vision of Lama Thubten Yeshe and developed with the help of the late Geshe Jampa Gyatso. Inspired by the Geshe Studies in traditional Gelug monastic universities, it provides serious students of Lama Tsongkhapa’s tradition greater depth of study and practice and the opportunity to become qualified FPMT teachers.

Duration: Six years of study with integrated practice, training, and service components, and one year of retreat.

How to Participate: The FPMT Masters Program is currently offered at Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa, in Italy, and Nalanda Monastery, in France.

 

Maitripa College

Maitripa College offers a Master of Arts in Buddhist Studies, a Master of Divinity Degree, Continuing Education courses, and community programming. Founded upon the three pillars of scholarship, meditation, and service, its contemplative learning curriculum combines modern academic and traditional Tibetan Buddhist disciplines.

Master of Arts in Buddhist Studies (MA)

What You Learn: The MA degree offers a superior, integrated education in Buddhist Studies. It is designed for students seeking an in-depth and critical understanding of Buddhist thought in the context of both traditional and academic scholarship. The degree couples meditative experience of the path and Buddhist principles into active service in partnership with a core philosophical curriculum designed to ground the student in Buddhist principles, logic, philosophical arguments, and meditative techniques. The curriculum was designed by Yangsi Rinpoche with the support of Lama Zopa Rinpoche, and serves as the foundation for establishing a fully accredited Buddhist university in the United States.

Duration: Two to three years (44 credits).

Language Requirement: 6 credits (can be fulfilled by the Classical Tibetan Language Intensive offered each summer).

How to Participate: Maitripa College is located in Portland, Oregon, United States.

Masters of Divinity (MDiv)

What You Learn: Maitripa College offers a robust, 72 credit Master of Divinity (MDiv) degree under the direction of Yangsi Rinpoche, Geshe Lharampa. The MDiv is a professional degree focused on a Buddhist approach to cultivating intellectual, spiritual, and professional skills in order to work as an agent of positive change in the world.

The Maitripa College MDiv degree attends to the personal, scholarly, and pastoral competencies required for chaplaincy or spiritual leadership through innovative coursework, personal spiritual formation, and opportunities for internship or clinical pastoral education unit and an action-research final project. The Maitripa College MDiv degree is the only Buddhist chaplaincy training program in North America recognized by the Association of Professional Chaplains as fulfilling both the theological educational and Endorsement criteria for graduates who wish to become national Board Certification Chaplains.

Duration: Three to five years (72 credits).

Language Requirement: None.

How to Participate: Maitripa College is located in Portland, Oregon, United States.

 

Translator and Interpreter Training

The Lotsawa Rinchen Zangpo Translator Programme is a 4-year Tibetan language training program aimed at providing native speaker interpreters for FPMT centers worldwide. The program consists of two years of classroom study in Dharamsala, India, followed by two years of training at an FPMT center as an interpreter for the resident geshe.

Lotsawa Rinchen Zangpo Translator Program

What You Learn: Classical and colloquial Tibetan.

Duration: Four years; two years of intensive classroom study in Dharamsala, India, followed by two years training in a Dharma center as an interpreter for a Tibetan geshe.

How to Participate: The Lotsawa Rinchen Zangpo Translator Program is located in Dharamsala, India.

 

Becoming an FPMT Registered Teacher

Students who complete an FPMT foundational or in-depth education program are eligible to apply for teacher registration. FPMT registered teachers can offer introductory courses, foundational programs, and in-depth programs or subjects in FPMT centers, study groups, projects, and services around the world. Contact FPMT Teacher Services for more details.