Ngondro Lamrim
Over a period of two years, the Ngöndro Lamrim Training offers 16 months of training in the common and uncommon preliminary practices. The training is designed to generate the motivation that supports the development of calm abiding, special insight, and tantra. By cultivating the inner qualities needed to ease unskillful patterns of mind that are the cause of hindrances on the path, it facilitates deep transformation.
Join the training through an FPMT center
Sign upInterested to follow previous recordings of the training? Get access by donating through our website directly. Select the The Buddha Project Foundation option on the Donate page. Have questions? Read the F.A.Q.
Year 1
NOW
NLRT
Definite Emergence and Mind of Awakening
- Prepare the mind for śamatha, vipaśyanā, and tantra
- Explore renunciation and bodhicitta, the first two Principles of the Path
- Develop genuine urgency through Lamrim contemplation
- Cultivate the aspiration to Awakening for all beings
Year 2
NLRT
Wisdom, Merit, Purification and Guru Yoga
- Cultivate the wisdom realizing emptiness
- Accumulate merit and purify karma through mandala offerings and Vajrasattva
- Unpack and reframe guru devotion for a Western context
- Make ritual practice personal and alive
Frequently Asked Questions
Over the first eleven months the common foundations, renunciation, bodhicitta, and the view of emptiness, are explored based on the Lamrim. For the remaining five months the focus is on the uncommon practices, Vajrasattva purification, mandala offerings, and guru yoga. Weekly sessions each introduce a new topic that examines different ways to meditate and why, in combination with a guided meditation.
The training helps establish a consistent daily meditative practice in supports of its overall aim: to engage in contemplative meditation in a way that genuinely transforms the mind’s outlook on the world and gives one’s life a new direction. Students gain a deep understanding of how to accumulate merit and purify unskillful karma while cultivating a healthy relationship with the Three Jewels and their teacher. The emphasis is on learning to meditate in a personally tailored way, in accordance with one’s psychological makeup and life conditions.
The NLRT teaching sessions are prerecorded. Each week, a 90-minute teaching together with a guided meditation are uploaded. On four other days, advanced students contribute additional guided meditations. The teacher, Venerable Gendun, offers regular online Q&A sessions. For those who have already studied the Lamrim or the FPMT Basic Program, the training also offers specialized opportunities to learn how to guide others in meditation.
The training is designed for students with a solid grounding in the Lamrim or an equivalent Dharma background — particularly for those seeking structured support in their practice, for those preparing for śamatha, vipaśyanā, and especially tantra, or for those encountering challenges in their meditative practice. While not a prerequisite, the training forms an excellent preparation for the FPMT In-Depth Meditation Training.
The training will be offered annually. The first training runs from mid-September 2026 to end of June 2028. Each year is divided in three Terms. Registration is per Term and through the nearest FPMT Partner Center. After registration, you will get access to the materials through The Buddha Project learning platform. NLRT Year One, Term 1: September 17 – November 26 (11 classes in total, suggested donation is 110 Euro for the whole term, through the Partner Centers).
Summary
The Lamrim — “Stages of the Path” in Tibetan — is a systematic presentation of the entire Buddhist path to Awakening, written by the great Tibetan master Je Tsongkhapa in the 14th and early 15th century, based on writings of the Indian master Atisha. It arranges every essential teaching of the Buddha into a single, coherent, graduated sequence tailored to your mind, exactly as it is right now. Its true power lies not in study alone, but in practice. Each teaching is carefully arranged to meet the mind where it is and guide it—step by step—toward genuine change. The uncommon preliminary practices (ngöndro) are powerful methods to purify the mind and prepare it for lasting transformation.
2-year meditation training
- Definite Emergence and Mind of Awakening
- Wisdom, Merit, Purification and Guru Yoga