Robert Thurman

Robert A.F. Thurman has dedicated his life to the study and preservation of Tibet's spiritual and cultural heritage. He is a scholar, author, father of five children. He has lectured all over the world; his charisma and enthusiasm draw packed audiences.

He is the cofounder and current president of Tibet House US, a cultural institution dedicated to preserving and promoting the wisdom and the arts of the distinctive and endangered Tibetan civilization. As the first American to be ordained as a Tibetan Buddhist Monk, Thurman remains a close personal friend of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, traveling around the world and working on his behalf.

Thurman is one of the most well respected and admired professors at Columbia University, where he currently is the Jey Tsong Khapa professor of Indo-Tibetan Studies and Chair of the Religion Department. He is a prolific translator and author of numerous scholarly and popular works.

About his life's work, Thurman writes, "What I have learned from these people [Tibetans] has forever changed my life, and I believe their culture contains an inner science particularly relevant to the difficult time in which we live. My desire is to share some of the profound hope for our future that they have shared with me."