Robert Alexander Farrar Thurman (b.1941) is an American scholar of Tibetan Buddhism. He is the Dalai Lama’s dearest Western advisor and the leading voice of the Tibetan cause in America. The father of the Hollywood actress Uma Thurman, he has written, edited, and translated several books on Tibetan Buddhism.
Born in New York City, Thurman studied with Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, and became the first American to be ordained a Tibetan Buddhist monk in 1965.
Thurman returned to the USA, renounced his monkhood, and obtained an M.A. and a PhD in Sanskrit and Indian Studies from Harvard. He taught at Amherst College 1973 –1988 and then became a professor of religion and Sanskrit at Columbia University. There, he held the chair in Indo- Tibetan Buddhist Studies, the first endowed chair in Buddhist studies in America.
With actor Richard Gere, composer Phillip Glass, and other celebrities, Thurman founded the Tibet House U.S., a New York-based nonprofit institution for Tibetan cultural preservation and education.
Thurman is the author of many scholarly and popular books on Buddhism, Tibet, art, politics, and culture, including The Holy Teaching of Vimalakīrti (1990,) Tibetan Book of the Dead (1994,) Essential Tibetan Buddhism (1996,) Anger: The Seven Deadly Sins (2004,) Why the Dalai Lama Matters (2011,) and Love Your Enemies (2013.)
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Robert Thurman
The key to compassion is that it is more fun. Generosity is more fun. The means to help others is doing it by having a good time.
—Robert Thurman
More than whether you live or die, it’s how you are living or dying that is important.
—Robert Thurman
Practice giving things away, not just things you don’t care about, but things you do like. Remember, it is not the size of a gift, it is its quality and the amount of mental attachment you overcome that count. So don’t bankrupt yourself on a momentary positive impulse, only to regret it later. Give thought to giving. Give small things, carefully, and observe the mental processes going along with the act of releasing the little thing you liked.
—Robert Thurman
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