Meditation is not a tool or technique and yet it can be a gateway into the deeper dimensions of learning. Contained in this personal narrative are the revelations of a graduate student in international education as she carries out cross-cultural empowerment fieldwork with Cambodian women refugees on the Thai-Cambodian border. After a disorienting rejection by a Cambodian-American colleague she discovers the value of Buddhist meditation practice in navigating the difficult terrain of her attachment to a belief system based on theories about oppression and her attitude toward engagement in participatory educational methods. In the moment-to-moment awareness of meditation practice is revealed the constructed nature of the egoic self and the ways in which belief structures are solidified, defended, and let go. The implications of the contemplative journey for transformative and integrative learning are investigated in the light of insight gleaned from this experience.