Document Type
Audio File
Publication Date
1996
Abstract
This is Lecture 3 of 4 in a series on Buddhism delivered by Robert Thurman, visiting scholar at CIIS.
Recommended Citation
Thurman, Robert, "Buddhism: Origins and Mutations" (1996). Visiting Scholars. 2.
https://digitalcommons.ciis.edu/visiting-scholars/2
COinS
Comments
Presenter: Robert A.F. Thurman is professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies at Columbia University, president of the Tibet House U.S., and President of the American Institute of Buddhist Studies, a non-profit affiliated with the Center for Buddhist Studies at Columbia University and dedicated to the publication of translations of important artistic and scientific treatises from the Tibetan Tengyur. Dr. Thurman is a popularizer of the Buddha’s teachings and has published many books on Tibet, Buddhism, art, politics and culture, including The Central Philosophy of Tibet (1984), Circling the Sacred Mountain (2000), Essential Tibetan Buddhism(1995), The Tibetan Book of the Dead (1994), Wisdom and Compassion: The Sacred Art of Tibet(1996), Worlds of Transformation, Inner Revolution (1998), Infinite Life (2004), the Jewel Tree of Tibet (2005), Why The Dalai Lama Matters: His Act of Truth as the Solution for China, Tibet, and the World (2008), and, most recently, with Sharon Salzberg, Love Your Enemies(2012). Dr. Thurman first met H.H. the Dalai Lama in 1962. After learning Tibetan and studying Buddhism he decided to become a Tibetan Buddhist monk and was the first Westerner to be ordained by the Dalai Lama. Later he returned to Harvard to finish his PhD. As part of his long-term commitment to the Tibetan cause, at the request of H.H. the Dalai Lama, Thurman co-founded Tibet House US in 1987 with Tenzin Tethong, Richard Gere, and Philip Glass.