The Berkeley Circle
UPCOMING EVENT
Cultivating a Nobel Way of Living
Date : Oct 3, 2026 | Time : 9.00 AM – 5.30 PM PDT | Location : Dharma College (In-Person Event)
Dharma Teaching, Meditation & Stillness with Venerable Ajahn Pasanno
An afternoon of Dharma reflection, meditation and the cultivation of stillness with Venerable Ajahn Pasanno, a highly respected senior teacher in the Thai Forest tradition and longtime guiding elder associated with Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery.
Past Events
Equanimity: The Quiet Virtue
In a world of constant change, uncertainty, and emotional intensity, how do we remain fully engaged with life without being overwhelmed by it?
Date : Sep 18, 2026
Margaret Cullen
Dr. Roger N. Walsh
The Next Frontier Is Inner Space
What Neuroscience Reveals about Consciousness, Meditation, and Human Flourishing
Date : Aug 21, 2026
Jay Sanguinetti
Sanjay Manchanda
What Is the Mind?
A Dialogue Between Neuroscience and Buddhist Insight
Date : July 3, 2026
David E. Presti
Khenpo Choying Dorjee
Mission of the Berkeley Circle
The Berkeley Circle is designed as an intimate gathering of no more than 45 participants. By keeping the circle small, we create the conditions for genuine dialogue, meaningful exchange, and the depth of reflection that large audiences cannot easily sustain. These evenings are not simply lectures, but living conversations at the crossroads of science, innovation, and wisdom.
The Berkeley Circle is an invitation-only forum hosted by Dharma College in our historic downtown Berkeley building. Conceived as a living space for sustained inquiry and dialogue, the Circle brings together invited voices from contemplative traditions, science, philosophy, the arts, and public life to explore the deeper questions shaping our time.
Created with the support of an initial grant from the Lenz Foundation, the Berkeley Circle was born from a recognition that knowledge alone is no longer enough. We live in a world of accelerating technological change, social fragmentation, ecological uncertainty, and profound questions around consciousness, ethics, and human meaning. The Circle exists to cultivate something equally necessary: wisdom, discernment, reflection, and the capacity to meet complexity with clarity and care.
Rather than a lecture series or academic panel, the Berkeley Circle is a practice of dialogue. Participants gather in an intimate setting to think together, listen deeply, question assumptions, and explore how contemplative insight, scientific understanding, ethical responsibility, and lived experience can inform the future of culture and human life.
Rooted in Dharma College’s commitment to wisdom as a living curriculum, the Circle extends the college’s larger mission of integrating contemplative practice into everyday life. Through conversation, reflection, and shared inquiry, we hope these gatherings become places where genuine encounter can occur and where new understanding can emerge in service of a more compassionate and awake world.
The Purpose of the Berkeley Circle
The Berkeley Circle was created to cultivate thoughtful dialogue across disciplines and lived experience, bringing contemplative insight into conversation with the pressing questions of our time.
Its mission is to:
- Foster meaningful exchange between contemplative traditions, science, philosophy, the arts, and public life
- Create a trusted environment for deep listening, reflection, and inquiry
- Explore wisdom as a practical and developable human capacity
- Encourage forms of knowledge grounded in responsibility, compassion, and care
- Support conversations that can positively inform culture, education, leadership, and community life
The Berkeley Circle is not a lecture series, but an ongoing practice of dialogue where invited participants gather as equals in a shared commitment to inquiry and understanding.
As the Circle evolves, Dharma College welcomes collaboration with patrons and partners who value contemplative inquiry, ethical reflection, and the cultivation of wisdom alongside innovation.
Our hope is that these gatherings generate insights and relationships that extend beyond the room and into the wider world.