Bob Thurman, known in academic circles as Padma Shri Professor Emeritus Robert A.F. Thurman, is a teacher and practitioner of the Buddha’s teachings, having briefly been in his early twenties a Tibetan Buddhist monk ordained by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. A charismatic speaker and author of many books on Tibet, Buddhism, art, politics and culture, Bob was once named by The New York Times a leading American expert on Tibetan Buddhism. He was awarded the Padma Shri Award in 2020 by the President of India, for his life work toward the restoration of India’s ancient Buddhist heritage, long treasured and cultivated in Tibet. In 1997, Time Magazine chose him as one of the 25 most influential Americans, describing him as a “larger than life scholar-activist destined to convey the Dharma, the precious teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha, from Asia to America.” Bob taught academically for fifty years, the last 31 at Columbia University. A popular professor, students often felt his classes were “life-changing.” He is the co-founder and president of Tibet House US, the Dalai Lama’s US Cultural Center, dedicated to preserving and promoting the compassionate culture of Tibet. He also directs the American Institute of Buddhist Studies, dedicated to the translation and publication of the Tibetan Treasury of the long-lost Indian Nalanda University library’s artistic and scientific Sanskrit Buddhist treatises preserved in fine Tibetan translations. His books include The Holy Teaching of Vimalakirti, Man of Peace: An Illustrated Biography of the Dalai Lama of Tibet, The Tibetan Book of the Dead, and his latest, Wisdom Is Bliss: The Four Friendly Fun Facts that Can Change Your Life. He is a co-founder of the Vajrayoga™ brand of open-source yoga, as inspired by H. H. the Dalai Lama’s approach to spiritual science and technology as beyond any religious dogma.
