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 hereYou 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.

2024 Schedule 

This Fresh Existence
Heart Teachings from Bhikkhuni Dhammananda
By Cindy Rasicot

A TV personality, academic, and author, Bhikkhuni Dhammananda defied convention to become the first woman fully ordained in the Thai Theravada Buddhist tradition. She shattered gender barriers and inspired a new era of equality and compassion. Her student, American author Cindy Rasicot, tells her story, and shares Bhikkhuni Dhammananda’s gentle wisdom and direct insights about how to live a more compassionate life.

“I look to Venerable Dhammananda and her great community…as a revolutionary force for good for the future of Buddhism in the world. Her story, her life, and her courage are an example to all of us of what it means to speak truth to power, to stand in integrity, and to manifest unconditional wisdom and compassion.” —Roshi Joan Halifax, from the Foreword

“Venerable Dhammananda’s story is one of courage, patience, and most of all compassion. Tracing her journey from scholar and TV personality to one of the first ordained nuns in modern-day Thailand, Rasicot’s account of Venerable Dhammananda’s life paints an inspiring picture of the woman responsible for reviving the bhikkhuni order in Thailand.” —Sharon Salzberg

Date: Wednesday, September 11, 7-8:15 PM ET

Enroll Today

Breaking Bias
Where Stereotypes and Prejudices Come From–and the Science-Backed Method to Unravel Them

By Anu Gupta
with Sharon Salzberg

On Tuesday evening, September 17, Anu Gupta will be joined in conversation with Sharon Salzberg as he discusses his new book, Breaking Bias: Where Stereotypes and Prejudices Come From—and the Science-Backed Method to Unravel Them.”

In Breaking Bias, Anu draws from two decades of original research and training experience to explain how anyone can become more aware of and unlearn conscious and unconscious biases. At this event, Anu will share how we can transform bias in our daily lives and within ourselves—especially beliefs and perceptions we may hold about ourselves and others. Sharon will offer ways that we can use mindfulness and lovingkindness as we challenge ingrained assumptions.

Blending ancient Buddhist wisdom with modern scientific evidence, Anu’s book takes readers on a deep-time journey to explore human identities and identity-based biases. Anu makes the timely case that breaking bias is the key to unlocking multiple crises in our world—from racism, sexism, classism, and other -isms to burnout, loneliness, and climate change.

Breaking Bias also offers Anu’s PRISM toolkit—a science-backed, somatically informed set of contemplative tools—to help us dismantle learned bias within ourselves and in the world around us, moment by moment, with probing questions and writing prompts that invite us to put these tools to use right from the start.

Date: Tuesday, September 17, 7-8:15 PM ET

Enroll Today

The Gathering
A Story of the First Buddhist Women
By Vanessa R. Sasson

Sasson’s new book is a retelling of the story of the women’s request for ordination. Inspired by the Therigatha and building on years of research and experience in the field, Sasson follows Vimala, Patachara, Bhadda Kundalakesa, and many others as they walk through the forest to request full access to the tradition.

The Buddha’s response to this request is famously complicated; he eventually accepts women into the Order, but specific and controversial conditions are attached. Sasson invites us to think about who these first Buddhist women might have been, what they might have hoped to achieve, and what these conditions might have meant to them thereafter. By shaping her research into a story, Sasson invites readers to imagine a world that continues to inspire and complicate Buddhist narrative to this day.

“Dr. Sasson has once again gifted us with a tale that brings early Buddhist women to life. Animating her well-researched evidence with an evocative imagination and vivid prose, she helps us feel their suffering, understand their diverse motivations, respect their wise insights, and be inspired by their resilient strength.”—Paula K. R. Arai, Ph.D., author of Women Living Zen

“Just as the Gathering women help one another imagine new pathways that at first seem inconceivable, Sasson helps us to glimpse new possibilities as we reckon with the realities of our time, acknowledging that there is no easy path forward. After all, a monastery “is for those who are not awakened yet,” as Vimala comes to realize. “It is a place for the aspiring, for those who hope they can do more with themselves than ordinary life permits.” In this way, Sasson’s novel encourages us to aspire for something greater—for ourselves, for our communities, and for the future of Buddhism.”—Tricycle

Date: Wednesday, October 9,  7-8:15 PM ET

Enroll Today

Lifting as They Climb
Black Women Buddhists & Collective Liberation
By Toni Pressley-Sanon

The lives and writings of six leading Black Buddhist women—Jan Willis, bell hooks, Zenju Earthlyn Manuel, angel Kyodo williams, Spring Washam, and Faith Adiele—reveal new expressions of Buddhism rooted in ancestry, love, and collective liberation.

Lifting as They Climb is a love letter of freedom and self-expression from six Black women Buddhist teachers, conveyed through the voice of author Toni Pressley-Sanon, one of the innumerable people who have benefitted from their wisdom. She explores their remarkable lives and undertakes deep readings of their work, weaving them into the broader tapestry of the African diaspora and the historical struggle for Black liberation.

“Toni spotlights the transformative stories of remarkable black women who have embraced Buddhism, weaving together spirituality and collective liberation. A compelling exploration of their journeys, this book celebrates the intersection of personal growth and societal change. Toni’s work is an inspiring tribute to the resilience and profound impact of these women.” —Devin Berry

“Each of these wise, awake Black Buddhist teachers is my teacher. Together, they shine a light that reveals the constricting and deluded lens of the dominant White culture, a healing light that celebrates the potential for all to embody infinite, loving awareness. This collection of writings is an essential weave in our precious, ever-evolving dharma.” —Tara Brach

Date: Wednesday, November 13,  7-8:15 PM ET

Enroll Today

Down to Earth Dharma
Insight Meditation to Awaken the Heart
By Rebecca Bradshaw

With deeply thoughtful, lyrical prose, this book invites readers to engage with the world from a unique perspective that encourages feeling, intuitive understanding, embodiment, interdependence, and sacredness. Weaving together classical Theravada Buddhist teachings and mindfulness practices, the book teaches us when and how to channel our receptive and active orientations—sometimes called the feminine and masculine paradigms—to feel more at home in ourselves and the world.

Rebecca Bradshaw, a respected Buddhist teacher in the Insight Meditation community, offers teachings that are simple yet require us to explore aspects of ourselves that go against much of our social conditioning that values goal-oriented busyness, productivity, independence, outgoing energy, and other “active” qualities. When overemphasized, this orientation can cause destructive emotions and behaviors, but we can counter them by embracing more receptive qualities. The receptive or feminine paradigm takes us deeper into the heart of the classical Buddhist teachings, leading to openness and freedom of the heart-mind.

Bradshaw illustrates her own resistance to letting go of her strong active orientation with relatable stories, like her efforts to be a perfect meditator. Drawing on our connectedness to nature, she offers guidance for grounded practices, including:
• useless gazing,
• getting lost,
• sense-based reality,
• practicing in the wildness,
• accepting uncertainty, and more.

These Buddhist teachings are as comforting as they are thought-provoking. Bradshaw’s debut book helps us let go and nurture our ability to receive, listen, embrace vulnerability, and just be. We learn to heal the imbalances within ourselves and in our relationships to all beings and the natural world.

Date: Thursday, December 5, 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