In-Depth Meditation
Over four years the full range of traditional Buddhist methods is gradually introduced in ways suitable for a modern Western audience. While grounded in the theory and practice of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, aspects of the living tradition of Theravada practices form an integral part of the training. These traditional expositions are supplemented by modern explorations of topics such as the psychology of spiritual development, the arhat and bodhisattva ideals, the role of ritual, identity formation, metaphor in Yogacara, Buddhist epistemology, theory of narrative and so on.
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Join the training or access previous teachings
Year 1
IDMT
Foundation Vipassana
- Establish a stable daily meditation practice
- Develop calm and settle the mind through shamatha
- Investigate how the mind works—its patterns, obscurations, potential
- Cultivate loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity
Year 2
IDMT
Yogācāra and Jataka
- Deepen shamantha according to Asanga stages
- Cultivate appreciation, love, care, bodhicctta for all life
- Explore the hidden layers of the mind — the Buddhist unconscious
- Transforming ordinary mind into wisdom
Year 3
NOW
IDMT
Madhyamaka and Tathāgatagarbha
- Investigate emptiness through the Madhyamaka teachings of Nāgārjuna
- Practice shamatha, Vipaśyanā and bodhicitta according to Kamalashīla’s
- Experience the Buddha-nature that underlies confusion and conditioning
- Exchanging self and others: transforming problems into joy
Year 4
IDMT
Mahamudrā and Tantra
- Meditating on the empty nature of the mind
- Preliminary practices and relating to a teacher
- Transforming ordinary perception into pure view
- Ethical identity and the state of Vajradhara
Frequently Asked Questions
Weekly guided meditations are combined with in-depth lectures and meditation training, prioritising the needs and levels of practice of the participants. The sessions consist of an hour of meditation, an hour of lecture, and half an hour for Q&A.
Participating students additionally have the opportunity to deepen their practice through week and weekend retreats offered by the hosting centers.
Direct, personal experience through meditation. Guiding students along their meditative journey, both on and off the cushion. Engendering meditation practice and lifestyle to become mutually complementary.
IDMT is aimed at practitioners who have a firm foundation in Buddhist thought, and a profound wish to further their meditative practice.
In-Depth Meditation Training is suitable for participants from all walks of life. Grounded in the Gelug system of tenets and its vision of the Dharma, the course takes a non-sectarian stance. It contextualizes Buddhist ideas in Western philosophy, psychology, and science.
IDMT is most rewarding for practitioners who wish to make Buddhist values and goals an integral part of their lives
While experiencing the benefit of a supportive community, time on and off the cushion will be transformed into a path to enlightenment.
Four-year meditation training
In-Depth Meditation Training (IDMT) offers meditators long-term support to help them progress in their meditative practice. It provides the opportunity to experience a genuine taste of the nature of reality and bodhicitta.
IDMT was developed by Venerable Losang Gendun in dialogue with Lama Zopa Rinpoche, inspired by Rinpoche’s teaching that the true fulfilment of our precious human life is to generate the awakened mind, bodhicitta, and that a practitioner needs deep meditative practice to accomplish this.
Based in the Lamrim and in the Gelug tenets, the training progresses from foundational shamatha and insight to mahamudra and kriya tantra.
What you will learn
- Foundational Vipassana (insight meditation)
- Yogacara (Mind-Only School)
- Madhyamaka (Middle Way – Consequence School)
- Tathagatagarbha (exploring our buddha nature)
- Mahamudra (investigating the ultimate nature of the mind)
- Kriya Tantra (transforming everyday experiences into opportunities for spiritual growth and realization).