Robert Thurman

From Buddhist Encyclopedia

Robert Alexander Farrar Thurman (born August 4, 1941) is an American Buddhist writer and academic. He is the Je Tsong Khapa Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies at Columbia University. He also is the co-founder and president of Tibet House New York and currently holds the first endowed chair in this field of study in the United States. Thurman was born in New York City to Elizabeth Dean Farrar, a stage actress, and Beverly Reid Thurman, Jr., an Associated Press editor and U.N. translator.<ref>http://www.wargs.com/other/thurman.html</ref> Thurman is the father of five children including the actor|actress Uma Thurman. He is the grandfather of New York artist Dash Snow.

Ideas

Dr. Thurman is highly-regarded for his lucid, dynamic translations and explanations of Buddhist religious and philosophical material, particularly that pertaining to the Gelukpa (dge-lugs-pa) school of Tibetan Buddhism and its founder, Je Tsong Khapa including Tsong Khapa's Speech of Gold: Reason and Enlightenment in the Central Philosophy of Tibet, The Tibetan Book of the Dead, Essential Tibetan Buddhism, and his most recent, Inner Revolution: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Real Happiness.

At the age of 24, he became the first American monk of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. A close friend of Tenzin Gyatso, The 14th Dalai Lama, he has served as occasional translator to the 14th Dalai Lama. He has lectured all over the world.

Works

• The Central Philosophy of Tibet: A Study and Translation of Jey Tsong Khapa's 'Essence of True Eloquence' (Princeton Library of Asian Translations, Princeton University Press, 1991)
• The Tibetan Book of the Dead (Bantam Doubleday Dell, 1994)
• Wisdom and Compassion: The Sacred Art of Tibet H. Abrams, 1996)
• Tibetan Buddhism (HarperSanFrancisco, 1996, ISBN 0-7881-6757-X)
• Mandala: The Architecture of Enlightenment (Shambhala Publications, 1997)
• Worlds of Transformation: Tibetan Art of Wisdom and Compassion (Harry N. Abrams, 1999)
• Inner Revolution: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Real Happiness (Penguin, 1999)
• Circling the Sacred Mountain: A Spiritual Adventure Through the Himalayas co-authored with Tad Wise (Bantam Doubleday Dell, 1999)
• Infinite Life: Seven Virtues for Living Well (Riverhead Books, 2004, ISBN 1-57322-267-4)
• The Jewel Tree of Tibet: The Enlightenment Engine of Tibetan Buddhism (Free Press, Simon Schuster, 2005)
• Anger (Oxford University Press, 2005, ISBN 0-19-516975-1)
• The Holy Teaching of Vimalakirti: A Mahayana Scripture (Pennsylvania State University Press, 2000 ISBN 0-271-01209-9)

Multimedia

The Bob Thurman Podcast

Thurman, Robert (1999). Robert A.F. Thurman on Buddhism. DVD. ASIN B00005Y721.

Thurman, Robert (2002). Robert Thurman on Tibet. DVD. ASIN B00005Y722.

See also

• List of Entertainers Related to Academics

External links

• Bob Thurman Authorized web site
• The Bob Thurman Podcast
• Thurman Web Site
• Video of an energetic talk about Buddhism and education at Columbia
• Thurman's Interview with the Dalai Lama in Mother Jones
• Bob Thurman: Becoming Buddha -- on the Web TED, Dec. 2006

References

• Robert Thurman's Authorized Web Site