Six Mondays
November 2–December 7
6:00–7:30 pm
Buddhism is primarily a study of mind and a system for training the mind. It is spiritual in nature, not religious. Its goal is self-knowledge, not salvation; freedom, not heaven. It relies on reason and analysis, contemplation and meditation, to transform knowledge about something into knowledge that surpasses understanding.
― Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, Rebel Buddha, p20
Discovering Oneself is the second class in the Nalandabodhi Introduction to Meditation series. Anyone with an interest in learning to meditate is welcome to join.
Who
This class is geared toward beginning meditators and those who can benefit from a review of the basics of calm abiding (shamatha) meditation.
Since the course has only six classes which are designed to build on one another, we recommend that new students only join during the first and second classes.
When
Monday evenings, 6:00–7:30 pm, November 2–December 7, 2026
What
This course is designed to help beginners establish an ongoing meditation practice, and will include meditation instruction, guided meditations, short videos, and discussion. We will be using Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche’s book, Rebel Buddha, as a guideline for the study of some basic Buddhist tenets and the practice of meditation.
Rebel Buddha can be purchased at the Nalanda Store at Nalanda West.
Where
onsite at Nalanda West in the Vajra Spot
Questions?
Please contact event coordinator Yonat Tor if you have questions about this class or if you would like to volunteer to help support this class.
Facilitator
Karunika Diane Biray Gregorio (she/they) has been meditating since 1994. She’s queer, unschooling her neurodivergent kid with her co-parent, living in an intentional cohousing community, and caring for her elderly mother. She doesn’t meditate because things are calm. She meditates so she can keep showing up for the people who need her to, and to live a full and meaningful life, not just survive. Diane has had the good fortune to be a student of Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, author of Rebel Buddha and founder of Nalandabodhi, for over two decades, and was appointed a meditation teacher there in 2020. She also has a Ph.D. from Harvard and leads the work of Emotional Rescue, which teaches people the resilience skills a lot of them wish someone had shown them before their last burnout.
The “Karunika” title: In 2021, Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, with the support of the Nalandabodhi Acharyas, Lamas, and Mitras (the most senior group of designated teachers in Nalandabodhi), appointed over eighty long-time students to serve in a newly created supporting teacher’s role to assist in guiding our sangha members and to help share with the general public Nalandabodhi’s unique approach to spirituality. The Sanskrit term “Karunika” means “one who has compassion.” Possessing a wide range of backgrounds and sets of individual expertise, as well as formidable experience in the study and practice of the Buddhadharma, the Karunikas offer programs on themes connected to the paths of study, meditation, and mindful activity and on the “five fields of knowledge”: healing, the arts, language and communication, logic and epistemology, and the inner science of mind.
Date/Time
Date(s) - Mon., November 16, 2026
6:00 pm - 7:30 pm
Location Nalandabodhi Seattle @ Nalanda West
