Robert ThurmanHailed by the New York Times as the leading American expert on Tibetan Buddhism, Robert Thurman is a professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies in the Department of Religion at Columbia University. He is President of Tibet House US, a nonprofit organzation dedicated to the preservation and promotion of Tibetan civilization, and President of the American Institute of Buddhist Studies, which is dedicated to the translation of the Tengyur, an important part of the Tibetan canon. The first American to have been ordained as a Tibetan Buddhist monk and a personal friend of His Holiness the Dalai Lama for nearly 50 years, Professor Thurman is a dedicated advocate and spokesperson for the truth regarding the current Tibet-China situation and the human rights violations suffered by the Tibetan people under Chinese Communist rule. Professor Thurman also translates important Tibetan and Sanskrit philosophical writings, and lectures and writes on Buddhism, particularly Tibetan Buddhism; Asian history, particularly the history of the monastic institution in Asian civilization; and critical philosophy, with a focus on the dialogue between the material and inner sciences of the world's religious traditions. Read More Read Less