Essential Tibetan Buddhism

Robert Thurman is the Jey Tsong Khapa Professor Emeritus of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies at Columbia University. After his education at Philips Exeter and Harvard, he studied Tibet and Tibetan Buddhism for fifty years as a personal student of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. He has written both scholarly and popular books, and has lectured widely all over the world. As president of the American Institute of Buddhist Studies, he convened the first "inner science" conference with His Holiness the Dalai Lama at Amherst College in 1984. He is also founding trustee and president of Tibet House US, and co-founder of Tibet House's Menla retreat center in the Catskills. Recipient of the president of India's Padma Shri award, he has dedicated his recent efforts to translate into English the unique Tibetan treasures of ancient Indic scientific and spiritual resources in order to heighten the scholarly and general awareness of India's ancient Sanskrit Buddhist heritage.