Book Club: Radical Acceptance, Embracing Your Life With the Heart of A Buddha

Hello our Dharma friends,
Hope this message finds you well. As one of the most active Buddhism groups online, we often get so many questions such as the following:

How to be accepting of our fate specially when bad things happen?
How to surrender to our fate? Or do I need to constantly strive to change it?
I'm trying to be kind to myself but why is it not easy?
I suffer feeling I’m constantly struggling; why do we live life?

Compassion in Buddhism means removing suffering and enabling joyfulness. When Siddhartha Gautama reached the enlightenment of a Buddha, he taught us the 4 Noble Truths, the first of which is life is suffering. But he also taught the second Noble Truth, which is there is a cause to suffering. And the third Noble Truth: the cessation of suffering & the 4th Noble Truth: the way to the cessation of suffering.

To the extent we understand the root cause of our sufferings, we can gain confidence in living life and supporting others as well. That adds to our joyfulness and vitality in life!

In our meetups, we talk about the 4 Noble Truths and in this book club gathering, we'd like to go over how karmic seeds we knowingly and unknowingly plant, which cause our sufferings. Then a way to resolve those karmic entanglements come to our view: we move from a state of resistance to a state of embracement.

We're going to read Tara Brach's book Radical Acceptance, Embracing Your Life with a Heart of a Buddha and have discussions about it. From page 9, "When I touched genuine peace and openheartedness, my inner critic continued to assess my level of purity. I mistrusted myself for the ways I tried to be positive when underneath I felt lonely or afraid."

Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life With the Heart of a Buddha https://a.co/d/7zgKXe6

How does self-judgement, fear of inadequacy, or rejection impact your experiences?
Radical Acceptance offers a pathway to inner freedom through personal stories and case histories along with a fresh interpretation of Buddhist tales.
March 2025: Pages 1-35 Awakening from the Trance
April 2025: Pages 36-65 The Sacred Pause
May 2025: NO BOOK CLUB GATHERING IN MAY
June 2025: Pages 66-98 Coming Home to Our Body
July 2025: Pages 99-121 Radical Acceptance of Pain
August 2025: Pages 122-153 Radical Acceptance of Desire
September 2025: Pages 154-185 Opening Our Hearts in the Face of Fear
October 2025: NO BOOK CLUB GATHERING IN OCTOBER
November 2025: Pages 186-212 Awakening Compassion for Ourselves
December 2025: Pages 213-243 Widening the Circles of Compassion
January 2026: Pages 243-263 Widening the Circles continued
February 2026: Pages 264-292 Recognizing Our Basic Goodness
March 2026: Pages 293-324 Awakening Together
April 2026: Pages 324-350 Realizing Our True Nature

Our classes are free for the first 5 sessions. After 5 sessions, if you see the value in joining, please consider offering a contribution.
Our classes & sangha are sustained completely by the dana gratitude contributions of people like you!

Dana gratitude donations for our classes are gratefully accepted on Venmo @Bita-Enayati

If you don't have Venmo, please email me at **bitadharma22@gmail.com**
so you can offer your contribution through PayPal or Zelle
Suggested donation for the event is $5 - $20.

For one on one sessions by offering a contribution, please email me a bit about your spiritual journey so far at bitadharma22@gmail.com
One on one sessions help us understand our karmic entanglements and move past the hurt of traumas. It does take time to see the big picture but good things come to people who wait.

Our zoom password is 426646

Thank you for reading until the end and hope to see you soon! Please don't be discouraged by the few RSVPs on this page as friends join us from other venues as well. Stay kind.