The books are Buddhist. You don't need to be.
Each month, the Buddhist Prague Book Club brings together readers for an open-ended discussion of the featured book of the month. We invite participants to explore popular nonfiction focusing on Buddhism and its intersection with culture and modern challenges. These works are all accessible to a general readership, emphasizing personal journeys, social justice, and transformative experiences, rather than academic analysis or self-help.
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All are welcome!
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2025 Schedule
Lotus Girl
My Life at the Crossroads of Buddhism and America
by Helen Tworkov
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From the woman who helped introduce Buddhism to the West and founded Tricycle magazine comes a brilliant memoir of forging one’s own path. Growing up amidst New York’s Abstract Expressionist scene, Helen Tworkov questioned Western norms early on. Her worldview shifted profoundly after seeing the iconic image of Thich Quang Duc, the monk who self-immolated in protest. This led her to travel through Japan, Cambodia, India, and Tibetan refugee camps in Nepal. Set against the cultural upheaval of the 1960s, Tworkov’s memoir intertwines personal experiences with encounters with figures like the Dalai Lama and Pema Chödrön. Blending insight and revelation, it explores the intersection of Buddhist wisdom and American values, offering a profound look at transformation and the search for truth.​
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​Date: March 2025
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Cave in the Snow
A Western Woman's Quest for Enlightenment
by Vicki Mackenzie
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The story of Tenzin Palmo, an Englishwoman from London’s East End, who spent 12 years alone in a cave 13,000 feet up in the Himalayas, becoming a world-renowned spiritual leader and advocate for women's right to achieve enlightenment. Diane Perry, as she was known before, discovered Buddhism at 18 and, at 20, traveled to India, where she entered a monastery as the only woman among hundreds of monks. She fought against the prejudice excluding women from spiritual enlightenment. In 1976, she secluded herself in a remote cave, enduring extreme conditions for 12 years. In 1988, she emerged with a determination to revive the Togdenma lineage, a forgotten female spiritual tradition.
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​Date: April 2025​
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Brothers in the Beloved Community
The Friendship of Thich Nhat Hanh and Martin Luther King Jr.
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by Marc Andrus
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Brothers in the Beloved Community reveals the powerful, untold story of the friendship between Martin Luther King Jr. and Thich Nhat Hanh, two iconic figures who profoundly influenced each other and the world. In 1967, after Thich Nhat Hanh’s letter advocating for peace in Vietnam, the two met and became close allies in the peace movement. Their bond deepened as they shared a vision of the Beloved Community – a world of peace and unity. Dr. King even nominated Nhat Hanh for the Nobel Peace Prize. This book explores how their friendship transcended cultural and religious differences, with Nhat Hanh continuing King’s legacy of peace after his assassination.
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Date: May 2025​​
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In Love with the World
A Monk's Journey Through the Bardos of Living and Dying
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by Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche
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At thirty-six, Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, a renowned Tibetan Buddhist master and abbot of three monasteries, left his monastery in India to undertake a four-year wandering retreat, shedding his titles and roles to explore the depths of his being. Initially unprepared for the harsh realities of life as a mendicant, he struggled with discomfort, attachment, and illness. After falling deathly ill from food poisoning, he faced his mortality head-on, testing the limits of his meditation training. In this candid memoir, Mingyur Rinpoche shares the profound lessons he learned from his near-death experience and offers meditation practices to transform the fear of dying into a life of joy and freedom.
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Date: August 2025​​
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The Buddhist on Death Row
How One Man Found Light in the Darkest Place
by David Sheff
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The #1 New York Times bestselling author of Beautiful Boy explores the transformation of Jarvis Jay Masters who has become one of America’s most inspiring Buddhist practitioners while locked in a cell on death row.
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Jarvis Jay Masters’s life journey is a profound tale of transformation. Born into a turbulent home in Long Beach, California, he endured abuse, foster care, and a descent into crime that led to his imprisonment at San Quentin, where he was convicted of a guard’s murder and placed on death row in 1990. In solitary confinement, desperation led him to meditation, sparking a gradual shift from rage to compassion. Embracing Buddhist principles, Masters became a source of wisdom and peace, preventing violence in prison, mentoring youth, and inspiring others, including renowned Buddhists worldwide. Despite his circumstances, he offers profound insights into finding light amid suffering.​​
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Date: September 2025
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Eat the Buddha
Life and Death in a Tibetan Town
by Barbara Demick
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Award-winning journalist Barbara Demick takes readers to Ngaba, a Tibetan town eleven thousand feet above sea level and one of the most inaccessible places in China. In Eat the Buddha, she weaves decades of Tibetan and Chinese history with the personal stories of Ngaba’s residents: a princess devastated by the Cultural Revolution, a nomad turned radical, a businessman torn between love and loyalty, a defiant poet, and a schoolgirl caught between family and the promise of Chinese wealth. Through their lives, Demick explores the enduring Tibetan struggle to preserve culture, faith, and language under the shadow of Chinese oppression, offering a nuanced and unflinching portrait of a people navigating resistance and survival in the modern world.
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​Date: October 2025
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