Robert Thurman

Robert Alexander Farrar Thurman (* August 4, 1941 in New York City ) is an American Buddhist author, one of the most famous academic representatives of Buddhism in the United States. He is more Tsong Khapa Professor of Indo- Tibetan Buddhist Studies at Columbia University.

Life

Thurman was born in New York City, the son of Elizabeth Dean Farrar, an actress, and Beverly Reid Thurman, Jr., an Associated Press editor and UN translator. He attended Philips Exeter Academy from 1954 to 1958, then Harvard University, where he graduated in 1962 with a Bachelor of Arts.

In 1959 he married Christophe de Menil, they had a child. After 1961 in an accident lost an eye, he decided to change his life, divorced, and traveled from 1961 to 1966 by Turkey, Iran and India. He was a Buddhist, then ordained as a Buddhist monk in 1964 ( the first American monk Tibetan tradition ), and became friends with the Dalai Lama. In 1967 he came back to the U.S. and ended his status as a monk and married his second wife, the German - Swedish Birgitte Caroline ' Nena ' von Schlebrügge ( born January 8, 1941 in Stockholm ), former fashion model and later a psychoanalyst who previously briefly with Timothy Leary was married. Thurman and Schlebrugge have four children, the first is the actress Uma Thurman.

In 1969 he received the Master of Arts and Ph.D. 1972 in Sanskrit Indian Studies at Harvard. He was from 1973 to 1988 professor of religion at Amherst College since Thurman teaches at Columbia University. Time magazine counted him 1997 on the 25 most influential Americans.

Effect

Thurman is recognized for its excellent English translations and explanations of Buddhist religious and philosophical texts and themes, especially that of the Gelugpa school of Tibetan Buddhism and its founder, Je Tsong Khapa.

Publications

  • 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
  • The Holy Teaching of Vimalakirti: A Mahayana Scripture. Translation by Robert Thurman; Pennsylvania State University Press, 2000, ISBN 0-271-01209-9
  • Circling the Sacred Mountain: A Spiritual Adventure Through the Himalayas. along 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
  • Infinite Life. Seven Virtues for Living Well. Riverhead Books, 2004

Awards

Swell

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