August 10, 2020

IMS Book Club

Introducing the 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 early Buddhist teachings and practice through the lens of the selected book.

The IMS Book Club launches on October 2, featuring Sharon Salzberg’s new book, Real Change: Mindfulness to Heal Ourselves and Our World.

Essential Information:

  • The IMS Book Club is entirely free of charge.
  • All Book Club meetings will be held online  via Union and Zoom.
  • Each monthly Book Club event will feature a new book and three group discussions of one-hour each, including at least one session with the author. 
  • Featured authors will lead at least one of the three group discussions. If the author/teacher does not participate in all three sessions, an insight teacher from IMS will moderate those discussions in place of the author.
  • Discussion questions will be offered to participants in advance of each meeting session so that everyone has a chance to consider if and how they want to contribute to the discussion.
  • 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.

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 early Buddhist teachings of ethics, concentration, and wisdom, chosen titles will support the development of awareness and compassion.

2020 Schedule 

 

October

Real Change
Mindfulness to Heal Ourselves and the World

By Sharon Salzberg

 

From IMS co-founder Sharon Salzberg, one of the world’s leading experts in meditation, comes a roadmap for engaging in challenging times with clarity, calm, and heartfulness.

Real Change guides us to embody the fundamental principles of mindfulness and lovingkindness meditation to create a better world for both ourselves and others.

Dates: October 2, 9, and 23, at 7 PM ET

For more information and to register for each meeting date, click here.

November

You Belong 
A Call for Connection 
By Sebene Selassie 

 

You are not separate. You never were. You never will be.

In You Belong, much-admired meditation expert Sebene Selassie reveals that accepting our belonging is the key to facing the many challenges currently impacting our world. Using ancient philosophy, multidisciplinary research, exquisite storytelling, and razor sharp wit, she leads us in an exploration of all the ways we separate (and thus suffer) and offers a guide back to belonging.

Dates: November 10, 17, and 24, at 7 PM ET.

For more information and to register for each meeting date, click here.

December

Touching the Infinite
A New Perspective on the Buddha’s Four Foundations of Mindfulness
By Rodney Smith 

 

Awakening manifests through the application of mindfulness to four areas: body, feelings, mind, and dharmas. Buddhists of all the traditions share this principle found in the Satipatthana Sutta, which has been expounded upon since the time of the Buddha himself.

In Touching the Infinite, Rodney Smith challenges us to hold this teaching up against our own experience, and in doing so to discover the inherent interconnection of all Four Foundations. They are revealed to be a sequential path leading the practitioner from the world of form to the joyous perception of the formless.

Dates: December 2, 16, and 30, at 7 PM ET.

For more information and to register for each meeting date, click here.