By CARA BUCKLEY


Every week on the Bowery, dozens of people, usually young and artfully scruffy, climb three creaky flights of stairs off this formerly gritty stretch of downtown Manhattan, a block from where CBGB, the hallowed hall of punk, once stood. Often shrouded in hooded sweatshirts, inked with tattoos and studded with piercings, they look ready for a serious rock show, and perhaps some alcohol or drugs. But in a softly lighted loft, in earshot of the traffic’s roar, they instead find a spot on the floor, close their eyes and take long, deep breaths.

Called Dharma Punx, the gathering is part of a nationwide Buddhism-based meditation network.

“O.K., tonight’s class is about how to forgive impossible-to-forgive people,’’Josh Korda, the leader of the New York City group, said at a recent session.“So this is good in case you’ve been angry at anyone ever in your life. If you haven’t, just listen in.’’

Perched on a ledge behind Mr.Korda, who was kneeling at the front, was a small white statue of a seated Buddha - with a mohawk. It is a curious combination; punk is typically seen as an expression of aggression, whereas Buddhism espouses compassion. But Mr.Korda and his friend Noah Levine, who started Dharma Punx, say both movements are rooted in dissatisfaction with the way things are, a desire to live in the present and a thirst for peace of mind.

Mr.Korda, who is 48 and tattooed from his knuckles to his jawbone, began leading the Dharma Punx gatherings three years ago. Participants are typically in their 20s and 30s, on the young side compared with many meditation groups.

Mr.Korda freely uses curse words and makes frequent references to his favorite bands, like the Suicidal Tendencies or the Cro-Mags, a seminal hard-core group. Dharma Punx regulars appreciate that there is no preaching, no proselytizing, no chanting and no mention of dogma.

“I can’t stand meditation classes where they charge you $10 to walk in the door - plus, I don’t like candles,’’said Harper Jackson, who works for an auction house and lives in Manhattan. The sessions, he said, have “no drama, and I can pay what I want.’’

Dharma Punx began with Mr.Levine, 37, whose 2003 book, also called“Dharma Punx,’’chronicled his recovery from heroin, crack and alcohol addiction through Buddhist meditation. Mr.Levine began meditating at 17, when he was in a juvenile detention center in California for stealing to support his drug habit.

“Even though I was in jail, it was better than the fear that the future held, or the chains that the past held,’’said Mr.Levine, who lives in Los Angeles.“That mindfulness was a release.’’

Many people said the class is an escape from the chronic competitiveness that New York sows. Lexi Salkin, a 26-year-old hairdresser and artist who lives in Brooklyn, said she was intrigued by Mr.Korda’s message that there is “not a finite amount of joy in the world.’’

“That if someone else is doing well it doesn’t mean that you’re doing worse, that it doesn’t mean that something is being taken away from you,”she said.