IMS Book Club

Each month, the IMS Book Club brings together authors and readers for a facilitated discussion on the featured dharma-book-of-the-month. Our book club offers participants a deeper experience and engagement with Theravada Buddhist teachings and practice through the lens of the selected book.

Essential Information:

  • The IMS Book Club is entirely free of charge.
  • All Book Club meetings will be held online  through the IMS Online Learning Center.
  • Each monthly Book Club event will feature a new book and one or more group meetings with the book’s author.
  • Beyond these basic guidelines, authors will be able to tailor their book club meetings as they see fit, so the structure of book club gatherings may vary from month to month.
  • Dana:  If you enjoy this free offering and would like to give to IMS, we will include donation links when we email the video recordings of each Book Club meeting to registered members after each session. Note: authors/teachers benefit from the promotion and sale of their books. If other teachers, or assistant teachers, help support a Book Club, IMS will compensate those teachers directly for their time.

Want to Join?

To join the IMS Book Club, simply register here. You will receive monthly invitations to sign up for the book-of-the-month discussions that interest you. Although there is no charge to join the book club, participants will need to secure their own copies of the books prior to the start of the monthly discussion group.

How Are Books Chosen? 

All titles featured in the IMS Book Club are selected by IMS staff and Guiding Teachers. Selections must align with IMS’s mission and values. Rooted in the Theravada Buddhist teachings of ethics, concentration, and wisdom, chosen titles will support the development of awareness and compassion.

2025 Schedule 

Yasodhara and the Buddha
By Vanessa R. Sasson

Last year, author Vanessa Sasson joined us to discuss her book, The Gathering: A Story of the First Buddhist Women, a retelling of the story of early Buddhist women and their quest to seek ordination. Now, Vanessa returns to discuss her first novel, Yasodhara and the Buddha—an evocative story of the Buddha from the perspective of a forgotten woman: Yasodhara, the Buddha’s wife.

Combining the spirit of fiction with the fabulism of Indian mythology and in-depth academic research, Vanessa writes with a strong feminist voice to bring Yasodhara’s narrative to life. Here, we encounter Yasodhara as a fiercely independent, passionate, and resilient individual. We witness her joys and sorrows, her expectations and frustrations, her fairy-tale wedding, and her overwhelming devastation at the departure of her beloved.

It is through her eyes that we witness Siddhattha’s slow transformation, from a sheltered prince to a deeply sensitive young man, revealing how he eventually renounces the throne, his wife, and newly born son to seek enlightenment.

“Sasson’s Yasodhara and the Buddha explores the emotional dimensions to the story of the Buddha while also making new connections in familiar material … to brilliant effect.” ―Times Literary Supplement

Vanessa R. Sasson is Professor of Religious Studies in the Liberal and Creative Arts Department of Marianopolis College, Canada. Her first novel was The Gathering: A Story of the First Buddhist Women. She is also the author and editor of a number of academic books, most notably a collection entitled Little Buddhas: Children and Childhood in Buddhist Texts and Traditions and Jewels, Jewelry, and Other Shiny Things in the Buddhist Imaginary. Her most recent academic book is the edited volume with Kristen Scheible, entitled The Buddha: A Storied Life.

Date: Wednesday, May 14, 7- 8:15 PM ET

Enroll Today

The Dhammapada
A Translation of the Buddhist Classic with Annotations
By Gil Fronsdal

The Dhammapada is the most widely read Buddhist scripture in existence, enjoyed by both Buddhists and non-Buddhists. This classic text of teaching verses from the earliest period of Buddhism in India conveys the philosophical and practical foundations of the Buddhist tradition. The text presents two distinct goals for leading a spiritual life: the first is attaining happiness in this life (or in future lives); the second goal is the achievement of spiritual liberation, freedom, absolute peace. Many of the key themes of the verses are presented in dichotomies or pairs, for example, grief and suffering versus joy; developing the mind instead of being negligent about one’s mental attitude and conduct; virtuous action versus misconduct; and being truthful versus being deceitful. The purpose of these contrasts is, very simply, to describe the difference between what leads to desirable outcomes and what does not.

This fresh new translation from Insight Mediation teacher and Pali translator Gil Fronsdal is both highly readable and scholarly authoritative. With extensive explanatory notes, this edition combines a rigorous attention to detail in bringing forth the original text with the translator’s personal knowledge of the Buddhist path. It is the first truly accurate and highly readable translation of this text to be published in English.

“The language is clear, precise, and inspiring, the phrasing spare and elegant, and the depth of these wisdom teachings apparent on every page. Highly recommended.”—Joseph Goldstein

Gil Fronsdal has practiced Zen and Insight Meditation since 1975 and has a PhD in Buddhist Studies from Stanford University. He has trained in both the Japanese Soto Zen tradition (San Francisco Zen Center with Suzuki Roshi) and the Insight Meditation school of Theravada Buddhism from Southeast Asia. Gil was trained as a Vipassana teacher by Jack Kornfield and is part of the Vipassana teachers’ collective at Spirit Rock Meditation Center. He was ordained as a Soto Zen priest at the San Francisco Zen Center, and in 1995 received Dharma Transmission from Mel Weitsman, the abbot of the Berkeley Zen Center. He has been the primary teacher for the Insight Meditation Center, in Redwood City, California, since 1990.

Date: Tuesday, July 8, 2025, 7- 8:15 PM ET

Enroll Today

Previous IMS Book Club Authors Include

  • Sharon Salzberg
  • Gregory Kramer
  • Rodney Smith
  • Joseph Goldstein
  • Sebene Selassie
  • Pamela Ayo Yetunde, Lama Dawa Tarchin Phillips, Kamilah Majied, Gyozan Royce Andrew Johnson
  • Judson Brewer
  • Narayan Helen Liebenson
  • Bhikkhu Bodhi
  • Pam Weiss
  • devon hase
  • nico hase
  • Lama Rod Owens
  • Chenxing Han
  • Mark Coleman
  • Kaira Jewel Lingo
  • George Mumford
  • Mark Epstein
  • Rhonda V. Magee
  • Martin Aylward
  • Dan Harris
  • Kate Johnson
  • Guy Armstrong
  • Oren Jay Sofer
  • Richard Shankman
  • Marisela B. Gomez
  • Thenmozhi Soundararajan
  • Jacoby Ballard
  • Allan Cooper
  • Christina Feldman
  • Rima Vesely-Flad
  • Amita Schmidt
  • Shaila Catherine
  • Valerie Brown
  • yung pueblo
  • John Teasdale
  • Kimberly Brown
  • Rev. Liên Shutt
  • Ruth King
  • Constance Casey
  • Kim Allen
  • Cindy Rasicot, Bhikkhuni Dhammananda
  • Anu Gupta
  • Vanessa R. Sasson
  • Toni Pressley-Sanon
  • Rebecca Bradshaw
  • Kōshin Paley Ellison
  • Faith Adiele
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