RESIDENTIAL STUDY PROGRAM: CERTIFICATION

The FPMT issues two types of certificates in relation to the residential Masters Program:

• a completion card that indicates that a full-time student has fulfilled all the requirements in relation to an individual subject








• a final Masters Certificate that indicates that a full-time student has successfully completed
- all five subjects,
- the final comprehensive exam, and
- a total of one year of retreat









While the Masters Program offers a unique opportunity for a personal, deep, and systematic study of the teachings of Tibetan Mahayana Buddhism, it was created by Lama Zopa Rinpoche and the FPMT Education Department mainly to provide the FPMT centers with qualified lay and ordained teachers of sutra and tantra. This was the first program developed by the FPMT to have criteria established by Lama Zopa Rinpoche together with the FPMT Education Department that reflects the centers’ need for native teachers who are qualified to teach, both in terms of their academic knowledge and their exemplary conduct.

The issuance of a completion card by the FPMT Education Department is intended to indicate that the student is capable of teaching that specific subject. Therefore, in order to obtain certification in the individual subjects as well as the final Masters Certificate, which covers all five subjects, there are a number of requirements. In general, these entail that students meet criteria for attending classes and retreats, writing and passing examinations, participating in key elements of the program, and doing a daily self-evaluation regarding episodes of anger with a view to improving their practice of patience.

The specific criteria for the completion card in an individual subject include:

• an average mark of 50 and above on the exams related to a particular subject

• minimum attendance of 75% at teachings and weekly meditation sessions (exceptions granted for illness and family duties that require a limited period of absence)

• a daily self-evaluation and successfully passing the patience requirement (anger, intended as generating a mind of ill-will, less than 20 times a month for a minimum of 5 months a year)

• full participation in karma yoga (requests for a temporary exemption can be submitted to the committee consisting of ILTK director, the MP coordinator, and a student representative for review)

• an acceptable level of conduct as evaluated by the MP staff


A final Masters Certificate is issued by the FPMT Education Department to those students who have successfully completed all the requirements for a completion card in all five subjects, have passed the final comprehensive exam, and have done a total of one year of retreat (whether by doing the three one-month retreats offered during the program together with a final nine-month retreat or by doing a final one-year retreat).

While it is possible to join the program for one’s own personal spiritual development without intending to become a certified teacher of the Masters Program subjects, all residential students are expected to regularly attend classes and retreats and to write all exams in that they are intended to stimulate an in-depth review and study of the material.