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.
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.
2026 Book Club Schedule
Thursday, September 24, 7-8:15 PM ET
Tracing the Untraceable Buddha
The Vipassana Meditator’s Journey to Englightment
For this special IMS Book Club conversation about Uffe Damborg’s new book, Tracing the Untraceable Buddha, Uffe will be joined by IMS co-founder Joseph Goldstein. Joseph and Uffe first met in Bangkok in 1966, when Joseph was serving in the Peace Corps and Uffe was working as a freelance reporter for a Danish newspaper. They quickly became friends through their shared interest in Buddhism. After their time in Thailand, both eventually made their way to Bodh Gaya, India, where they met Anagarika Munindra, who became an important teacher for them both.
Nearly six decades later, the two friends will come together to reflect on the teachings at the heart of Uffe’s book and their enduring relevance for practitioners today. Joseph also wrote the foreword to the book.
Join us for a conversation with Uffe Damborg and Joseph Goldstein, followed by Q&A with participants.
Tuesday, October 13, 7-8:15 PM ET
With a Single Breath
The Complete Path of Mindfulness
In With a Single Breath, Melvin McLeod, editor-at-large of Lion’s Roar and cofounder of Mindful magazine, presents mindfulness not simply as a meditation technique but as a complete path of practice, organized around five essential elements: meditation, insight, love and compassion, ethics, and community. Drawing on more than 40 years of practice, he explores how these elements can work together to deepen awareness, strengthen connection, and bring mindfulness into every dimension of life.
The book also includes more than 50 practices from leading mindfulness teachers, offering readers both a broad vision of the path and practical ways to live it.
Join us for a conversation with Melvin McLeod about the book, followed by Q&A with participants.
Wednesday, November 18, 3-4:15 PM ET
At Peace, Filled with Joy
Buddhist Wisdom from the Dhammapada
In At Peace, Filled with Joy, Zen teacher Cuong Lu draws on 57 verses from the Dhammapada to explore how suffering itself can become a path to insight, compassion, and joy. Rather than avoiding life’s difficulties, he brings ancient Buddhist teachings into contemporary life through accessible commentary, reflective exercises, and practical applications.
The result is both a meditation companion and a guide to meeting difficult experiences with greater awareness, understanding, and peace.
Join us for a conversation with Cuong Lu about the book, followed by Q&A with participants.
Tuesday, December 8, 7-8:15 PM ET
After Anger
What Buddhism Can Teach Us About Our Culture of Rage
In After Anger, Amod Sandhya Lele challenges the widespread assumption that anger is necessary to confront injustice, making the case instead for mindful serenity as a more skillful response to suffering and conflict. Drawing on Buddhist teachings, Western philosophy, psychology, and stories ranging from the “Mahābhārata” to his own experience, he explores why serenity need not mean withdrawal from the world.
Instead, he asks how inner peace can support both individual well-being and meaningful engagement with questions of justice and social change.
Join us for a conversation with Amod Sandhya Lele about the book, followed by Q&A with participants.
Previous IMS Book Club authors include:
Faith Adiel
Kim Allen
Guy Armstrong
Martin Aylward
Jacoby Ballard
Bhikkhu Bodhi
Rebecca Bradshaw
Judson Brewer
Valerie Brown
Kimberly Brown
Shaila Catherine
Constance Casey
Mark Coleman
Allan Cooper
Lama Dawa
Bhikkhuni
Dhammananda
Mark Epstein
Christina Feldman
Gil Fronsdal
Joseph Goldstein
Marisela B. Gomez
Anu Gupta
Dan Harris
Devon Hase
Nico Hase
Chenxing Han
Kate Johnson
Gyozan Royce
Andrew Johnson
Ruth King
Gregory Kramer
Kaira Jewel Lingo
Narayan Helen Liebenson
Rhonda V. Magee
Kamilah Majied
George Mumford
Mirka Knaster
Lama Rod Owens
Kōshin Paley Ellison
Tarchin Phillips
Yung Pueblo
Toni Pressley-Sanon
Cindy Rasicot
Sebene Selassie
Rev. Liên Shutt
Richard Shankman
Amita Schmidt
Rodney Smith
Oren Jay Sofer
Thenmozhi Soundararajan
Vanessa R. Sasson
Sharon Salzberg
John Teasdale
Rima Vesely-Flad
Pam Weiss
Pamela Ayo Yetunde
