Robert Thurman | |
|---|---|
_(cropped).jpg) Thurman in 2014 | |
| Born | Robert Alexander Farrar Thurman (1941-08-03)August 3, 1941 (age 84) New York City, U.S. |
| Other names | Bob Thurman, Alexander Thurman, Alecsander Thermen |
| Alma mater | Harvard University (BA,MA,PhD) |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 5, includingUma |
| Relatives | Dash Snow (grandson) Maya Hawke (granddaughter) Levon Hawke (grandson) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Indo-TibetanBuddhist Studies |
| Institutions | |
| Doctoral advisor | Daniel H.H. Ingalls, Sr. |
| Doctoral students | Christian K. Wedemeyer |
Robert Alexander Farrar Thurman (born August 3, 1941) is an AmericanBuddhist author and academic who has written, edited, and translated several books onTibetan Buddhism. He was theJe Tsongkhapa Professor ofIndo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies atColumbia University, before retiring in June 2019.[1] He was the first endowed chair in Buddhist Studies in the West.[1] He also is the co-founder and president of theTibet House US New York. He translated theVimalakirti Sutra from the TibetanKanjur into English. He is the father of actressUma Thurman and grandfather ofMaya Hawke.
Thurman was born inNew York City, the son of Elizabeth Dean Farrar (1907–1973), a stage actress, and Beverly Reid Thurman, Jr. (1909–1962), anAssociated Press editor andU.N. translator (French and English).[2] He is of English, German, Scottish, and Scots-Irish/Northern Irish descent.[2] His brother, John Thurman, is a professional concert cellist who performs with theDetroit Symphony Orchestra. He attendedPhillips Exeter Academy from 1954 to 1958, then went toHarvard University, where he obtained hisB.A. in 1962. He later returned to Harvard for graduate study inSanskrit, receiving anM.A. in 1969 and aPh.D. in 1972.[3]
On June 7, 1960, he marriedMarie-Christophe de Menil, daughter ofDominique de Menil andJohn de Menil and heiress to theSchlumberger Limited oil-equipment fortune.[4][3][5] Their daughter Taya Thurman was born on March 5, 1961.
In 1961 Thurman lost his left eye in an accident "involving a racecar and acar jack", and the eye was replaced with aglass eye.[6][7] After the accident, Thurman says, he decided to refocus his life, divorcing de Menil and traveling from 1961 to 1966 in Turkey, Iran and India.[3][8] In India he taught English to exiledtulkus (Tibetan lamas).[3] After his father's death in 1962, Thurman came back to the United States and inNew Jersey metGeshe Wangyal, aKalmyk Buddhist monk fromMongolia who became his first guru.[9][3] Thurman became aBuddhist and went back to India where, due to Wangyal's introduction, Thurman studied withTenzin Gyatso, the 14thDalai Lama.[8][10] Thurman was ordained by the Dalai Lama in 1965, the first AmericanBuddhist monk of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition,[11] and the two became close friends.[10][12]
In 1967, Thurman returned to the United States and renounced his monk status (which required celibacy) to marry the German-Swedish model and psychotherapistNena von Schlebrügge, who was divorced fromTimothy Leary.[8]
Thurman then worked towards his Ph.D. inSanskrit Indian Studies from Harvard, which he obtained in 1972. He went on to become professor of religion atAmherst College from 1973 to 1988, then the Jey Tsong Khapa Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies atColumbia University, retiring in 2020.[3][13]
In 1986, at the request of the Dalai Lama, Thurman createdTibet House US along with his wife Nena,Richard Gere andPhilip Glass.[14] Tibet House US is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to help preserve Tibetan Culture in exile. In 2001, the Pathwork Center, a 320-acre (1.3 km2) retreat center on Panther Mountain inPhoenicia, New York, was donated to Tibet House US. Thurman and von Schlebrügge renamed the center Menla Retreat and Dewa Spa. Menla (the Tibetan name for theMedicine Buddha) was developed into a state-of-the-art healing arts center grounded in the Tibetan Medical tradition in conjunction with other holistic paradigms.[15] In 2009, Thurman starred inRosa von Praunheim's filmHistory of Hell - Rosas Höllenfahrt.
Time named Thurman one of the 25 most influential Americans of 1997.[16] In 2003 he received theLight of Truth Award, a human rights award from theInternational Campaign for Tibet. New York Magazine named him as one of the "Influentials" in religion in 2006.[17] In 2020 he was a recipient of India's prestigiousPadma Shri Award for literature and education.[18][19]
Thurman is considered a pioneering, creative and talented translator of Buddhist literature by many of his English-speaking peers. Speaking of Thurman's translation of Tsongkhapa'sEssence of Eloquence (Legs bshad snying po),Matthew Kapstein (professor at theUniversity of Chicago andEcole Pratique des Hautes Etudes in Paris) has written that "theEssence of Eloquence is famed in learned Tibetan circles as a text of unparalleled difficulty. ... To have translated it into English at all must be reckoned an intellectual accomplishment of a very high order. To have translated it to all intents and purposes correctly is a staggering achievement."[20] Similarly, prominent Buddhologist Jan Nattier has praised the style of Thurman's translation of theVimalakīrti Sūtra, praising it as among the very best of translations of that important Indian Buddhist scripture.[21]
Twice married, Robert Thurman is the father of five children and grandfather to eight grandchildren. With Marie-Christophe de Menil, he has one daughter, Taya; their grandson was the artistDash Snow.[3] He also has a great-granddaughter through Snow.[22] Robert and Nena Thurman have four children, including Ganden, who is executive director of Tibet House US, actressUma Thurman, Dechen, and Mipam.[8][23] Robert and Nena's children grew up inWoodstock, NY, where the Thurmans had bought nine acres of land with a small inheritance Nena had received. The Thurmans built their own house there.[23]
Robert Thurman held the first endowed chair in Buddhist Studies in the West, the Jey Tsong Khapa Chair in Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies (...)
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