Courses and Classes
We offer a variety of classes and workshops suitable for students of all levels. The teachings are colour coded to make finding a class that suits your level of understanding easy.
Beginner Classes
Beginner classes are suitable for anyone – regardless of their experience with Buddhism. All of our beginner courses have no pre-requisites or assumed knowledge. They are also a great refresher for people who may be experienced meditators or Buddhist practitioners.
Also visit our events page and you can filter events that are suitable for beginners.
Whether we are religious or not, we all want to make the most of our life and not be caught wasting time on distractions.
Discover how to make every moment of the day more meaningful and how to transform our mundane activities into the path to lasting happiness.
The next scheduled class is below.
Key Buddhist topics to help us live with an open heart and a clear mind (how to meditate, our potential for Buddhahood, faith based on logic and experience, death and reincarnation, karma and compassion)
This course includes hands-on practice in sitting comfortably, setting up an altar and a developing a daily practice.
The next scheduled class is below.
Intermediate Classes
Intermediate classes are designed for people who have some understanding of the fundamental principles of Buddhism. Anyone is welcome to come along, though there may be some assumed understanding of basic concepts.
Discovering Buddhism is a cornerstone programme of the FPMT organisation.
Designed by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, the Discovering Buddhism course is a 14 module deep-dive into the fundamental teachings of Tibetan Buddhism. Each module includes:
- A weekly class with one of our teachers, which include a mix of meditation and teaching
- Readings, resources and other practices to experience between classes
- A retreat day on a weekend to experience the teachings more deeply and revise your understanding.
You can also view detailed information about the course and its modules.
Advanced Classes
Advanced classes are for people who want to explore Buddhist philosophy more deeply. Often these classes will focus on a particular topic and explore it in-depth. Our resident teacher, Geshe Samten, has an ongoing teaching program that is open for all to attend. This is a rare opportunity to receive teachings from a highly qualified Tibetan teacher.
These courses offer a rare opportunity to study specific topics or texts with an experienced teacher in small groups – if you have the time, grab the opportunity! These courses are for students who already have a fairly stable understanding of the core concepts within Tibetan Buddhist Philosophy.
In this class, Geshe la will focus on the famous wisdom chapter (chapter 9) of Shantideva’s classic text ”Engaging in the Bodhisattva Deeds” on Bodhicitta and the six perfections. This chapter is a detailed and profound exposition on emptiness, ultimate reality according to Buddhism.
The dialogue takes place between the Madhyamaka school, represented by the author Shantideva, and various other Buddhist and non‐Buddhist schools.
This is an advanced level course on Buddhist philosophy.
Audio recordings of Basic Program subjects taught by Geshe Samten are available on the VI website on our Resources page.
Nagarjuna is renowned for his penetrating analysis of reality. In the Precious Garland Nagarjuna describes the cause & effect sequences for the development of happiness within ordinary life, as well as the practices of wisdom, realizing emptiness & compassion that lead to enlightenment.
He describes a Buddha’s qualities & offers encouraging advice on the effectiveness of practices that reveal the vast attributes of Buddha-hood.
The Precious Garland includes a detailed analysis of attachment to sensual objects as a preparation for realization of the profound truth that, when realized, makes attachment impossible.
