ON-LINE PROGRAM: CERTIFICATION

The FPMT issues two types of certificates in relation to the home study or on-line Masters Program:

• a completion card that indicates that a home study student has fulfilled all the requirements in relation to an individual subject








• a final Masters Certificate that indicates that a home study student has successfully completed
- all five subjects
- the final comprehensive exam
- a one-month lam-rim retreat









Since the residential Masters Program was created by Lama Zopa Rinpoche and the FPMT Education Department to provide the FPMT centers with qualified lay and ordained teachers, in order to receive a Completion Card in an individual subject residential students must meet criteria that include regular attendance at classes and retreats, participation in the weekly community service or karma yoga, and an acceptable level of conduct as evaluated by the MP staff. On the other hand, since the on-line program is mainly offered to provide people who are unable to attend the full-time residential program with the opportunity for a personal, deep, and systematic study of the teachings of Tibetan Mahayana Buddhism, home study students who wish to receive a Completion Card are required to:

• have an average passing grade of 50% on all the exams related to a particular subject (these are done on an honor system)

• fulfill the meditation requirement of two half-hour sessions per week (this is also done on an honor system)

• have conduct that accords with Buddhist ethics, in particular, abstention from killing, stealing, lying, sexual misconduct (adultery), and intoxicants

• practice awareness of positive and negative mental states and in particular be developing the practice of patience and concern for others


A final FPMT Masters Certificate in Home Studies will be issued by the FPMT Education Department to those students who have successfully completed the requirements for a home study completion card in all five subjects, have passed the final comprehensive exam, and have done a one-month lam-rim retreat either during the Masters Program or after its completion.

While neither the completion card or the final certificate qualifies a home study participant to be a certified FPMT teacher, it is entirely possible that someone who has excelled in the home study program will be able to teach the Masters Program subjects.