IDMT Year Two: Entering the School of the Yogins, Term 2

with Ven. Losang Gendun

Also open to new students.

Ven. Gendun will teach most of February and March live at our center in Amsterdam. At other times, we'll open the center for joint online viewing.

Unlocking the Mysteries of the Mind: A Journey with Yogācāra
 

In a world that often dismisses its significance, the mind remains mysteriously at the heart of what we call life. Founded by the brothers Vasubandhu and Asanga, the Buddhist Yogācāra school focusses on the mind as ‘forerunner of all things’, the creator of our experience, and the story teller that narrates our existence. We could therefore also innovatively call it Perception Only School. Yogācāra’s analysis of how the mind constructs our reality, can help us relieve the constraints of the ego, habitual patterns and reactive emotions, to experience greater ease, possibility, and freedom in every moment.

In this second year of the IDMT, we will emphasize the lived experience of meditation, both on and off the cushion. Guided by the Buddha’s third turning of the Wheel of Dharma, we will begin by training in the successive stages of shamatha, followed by a deeper journey into insight meditation.

We will explore how concepts can blind and alienate us by adding an imaginary layer to our interdependent world. Using spiritual developmental models such as the 37 Factors of Awakening (or Aids to Enlightenment), and the 10 Perfections, we will learn how to live more freely in daily life. We will also explore the role of narratives, the philosophy of language, and how to cultivate great compassion for all living beings to help heal our conflicted world.

From February onwards, we’ll focus mainly on exploring the 37 Aids to Enlightenment and some of the Jataka Tales, the impressive stories of the Buddha's past lives. These are inspiring, extraordinary stories that give us a personal view on and understanding of the bodhisattva and the various ways of interconnecting with his companions on the Path throughout lifetimes, thus storytelling our way towards Awakening.

Introduction of the IDMT training

Meditation is essential for personal transformation and a crucial complement to Buddhist studies.

This 4-year online course provides students with long term, in-depth support in their meditative development. This weekly course will offer:

• Authentic traditional instructions, in contemporary language, aimed at providing a comprehensive set of meditation tools for students to transform their knowledge of the Dharma into personal experience.
• Traditional and modern theories on supplementary topics such as models of healthy psychological and spiritual development, ritual, narrative, ethics, and social engagement.
• An international community of meditators, online and live.

To complement the IDMT course we will also offer:

• Meditation Retreats – week & weekend retreats on vipassana, compassion, and mahamudra, offered both at the centers and online.
• Yogi Bootcamp - an intensive, guided, 1-year meditation training with weekly personal interviews (call) for a small group of international students.
• Practice days guided by Ven. Gendun and experienced students of Ven. Gendun
• Weekly reflection sessions, led by experienced students
• Weekends with the opportunity to receive Refuge / Lay Vows (Feb. 8-9), Aspiring Bodhisattva Vows (June 14-15) and Engaging Bodhisattva Vows (Nov. 8-9).

For more information about the content of the course, download the course description (PDF) here.

This course is a collaboration between 5 FPMT Buddhist centers: Shantideva Center New York (US), Jamyang Buddhist Centre Leeds (UK), Institut Vajrayogini in Marzens (FR), Yeshin Norbu Stockholm (SW) and Maitreya Instituut (NL) and therefore the course will be attended by an international group of Buddhist practitioners.

If you’re enrolling later on in the course, it is possible to request access to recordings of previous classes.

Venerable Losang Gendun

Venerable Losang Gendun has dedicated nearly four decades to practicing Buddhism and has served as a Bhikshu (Buddhist monk) in the Tibetan tradition for the past 18 years. Prior to his ordination, he worked in diverse fields such as palliative care, technology, refugee organizations, and commercial management. His extensive training includes ten years of studying Buddhist philosophy and practice in monasteries across France, India, Nepal, and Myanmar. Additionally, he spent over four years in retreat, immersing himself in Tibetan sutra and tantra, as well as the Burmese Theravada Forest Tradition.

For the last 15 years, Ven. Gendun has been a dedicated teacher, sharing his knowledge of Buddhist philosophy, psychology, and meditation worldwide. He serves the aspirations of H.H. the Dalai Lama and Lama Zopa Rinpoche as part of the FPMT (Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition). Ven. Gendun is also a member of Mind & Life Europe, a multidisciplinary laboratory that brings together researchers and contemplative practitioners to explore the nature of experience.

Beyond his Buddhist affiliations, Ven. Gendun serves as an interreligious canon at the Peace Cathedral in Tbilisi, Georgia, and feels at home at a Mevlavi Sufi dargah in Istanbul. In 2023, he founded The Buddha Project, which engages in long-term guidance for Buddhist meditators, scientific research, art projects, and intercontemplative social engagement. For more information on The Buddha Project, please see: www.thebuddhaproject.org.

If you want to hear Ven. Genduns story in his own voice, listen to the Wisdom Podcast.

Student’s interests & profile

• An interest in deepening your knowledge about and your practice in (Buddhist) meditation
• Previous experience in a form of meditation either in retreats or other courses
• A basic understanding of Mahayana Buddhism is a prerequisite, you do not need to be a (Mahayana) Buddhist 

Practical details

• Study Terms: Year Two will have 3 terms. Term 2 runs from February 1 to April 12, 2025 (total 11 classes).
• Day & time: The In-Depth Meditation Training will run weekly on Saturdays from 15.30 to 18.00 hrs. CET, consisting of about 1 hour of guided meditation and 1,5 hours of teachings.
• Language: English, with simultaneous French translation
• Online / onsite: Most of the classes in February and March are taught live at our centre. Part of the year Ven. Gendun will teach onsite at our center, rest of the year it will be offered online via Zoom. The center will usually open to follow the online class together. 
• Registration:
  • You can register either for a couple of classes (to try it out) or for a whole term (total 11 classes). You can enter the preferred number of classes in the 'shopping basket'.
  • Last-minute registration? Please also send an email to amsterdam@maitreya.nl after your registration through the website.
• Practice days: we'll at times organize Dutch language practice days or afternoons, led by experienced students.
• Access to the TBP Learning Platform:  
  • Video & Audio recordings of the teachings & meditations
  • AI-generated transcripts of the teachings in English
  • Condensed meditation scripts

Donation

Dāna (generosity) is one of the cornerstones of the Buddhist path. By virtue of their generosity, the Buddha and the ordained sangha offer us the teachings, and in exchange, the lay community supports Dharma centers and the monastic community. This interdependence is essential for us to share the Dharma and continue our work to benefit all sentient beings. With your donation we support our teachers in their cost of living and we uphold our dharma center, which is managed entirely by volunteers.

The suggested donation for this class is €15 per class. For students and people with low income, the suggested donation is €10 per class. Please send an email to amsterdam@maitreya.nl if you'd like to make use of this option.

The donation amount should never be an obstacle to your access to the Dharma! Please contact us if it might be an obstacle for you

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