So much of our suffering—as individuals and as a society—is caused by fear. In fact, according to Buddhism, fear is at the very root of ego and samsara. Four outstanding Buddhist teachers discuss the vital practice of working with our fears. Starting on the Path of Fear and Fearlessness By Judith Lief It helps to explore how we can work with fear from the point of view of [...]
About Robert Thurman
Know Your Enemy
We call people who harm us enemies, but is that who they really are? When we see the person behind the label, say Buddhist teachers Sharon Salzberg and Robert Thurman, everyone benefits. Crushing the Competition Sharon Salzberg Competition today is tantamount to a blood sport—and not just on the playing field or in the ring. The psychoanalytic theorist Karen Horney [...]
Book Review: Tibet on Fire
Robert Thurman reviews Tsering Woeser's book "Tibet on Fire," which explores immolations in Tibet and includes cover art by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei. The first recent self-immolation I know of occurred in 1997 in New Delhi—the elderly Tibetan ex-monk Thupten Ngodrup immolated his body in protest after the Indian police broke up his hunger strike by dragging him and [...]
Circling the Sacred Mountain
Haunted by the famed mountain since he was a young monk, Robert Thurman leads a small group of pilgrims overland to Tibet's Mt. Kailash, the sacred axis mundi of central Asian cosmology. In this excerpt from Circling the Sacred Mountain: A Spiritual Adventure Through the Himalayas, the party arrives at its destination. The narrator is Tad Wise. We break camp by eight-thirty in [...]
“Attachment is unhealthy” — Robert Thurman on intimacy, Part 2
In this follow-up post, Thurman, in discussion with Sachico Ohanks, talks more about relationships: about attachments, "deep violations" in intimate relationships, and whether non-Buddhists can benefit from Buddhist ideas without embracing Buddhist spirituality. How do we define healthy attachment, when we are trying to practice healthy non-attachment? Well, basically [...]
Robert Thurman on the benefits and disappointments of intimacy
Here Robert Thurman, in discussion with Sachico Ohanks, addresses the benefits and disappointments of intimacy. What are the benefits of intimacy? The benefits of intimacy have to do with finding yourself in others and expanding your self-centeredness, so that you think of the perspective of others almost reflexively. You don’t feel your own identity is [...]
A Cry for Freedom
Robert Thurman's commentary on the Tibetan plight and the horrifying phenomenon of Tibetans self-immolating in protest of Chinese rule. Oh my heart! Oh, my life! How can this happen! What can I do? I’m overwhelmed as I watch a video of the brave and passionate Tibetan Buddhist nun Palden Choetso standing in the street, burning herself as a human torch. I want to respond, to [...]
The Cool Heroes of Zuccotti Park
Determined, insightful, nonviolent—Buddhist scholar Robert Thurman tells the protesters of Occupy Wall Street that they’re just the kind of people the country needs. Everyone here is an example of something I’ve been wishing for for many years. You are what I call “cool heroes.” By cool I mean nonviolent. Cool heroes are people who are forceful, intelligent, just, and [...]
Till We Meet Again
Robert Thurman pays tribute to Daido Loori and his legacy in American Buddhism. Oh Daido! Dear Daido! Farewell! Go in peace and come back soon! We first met in the summer of ’81 to hold our American Institute of Buddhist Studies summer school at your newly acquired―and still to be organized and paid for―Zen Mountain Monastery on the beautiful slopes of Mt. Tremper in the [...]
Crisis and Opportunity in Tibet
The crisis in Tibet offers Chinese authorities the opportunity to give Tibetans their human rights, and at the same time set China itself on a new and better course. As Robert Thurman explains, the key is a simple monk and his Middle Way. In Tibet today, the Chinese empire has forfeited any claim to legitimacy by harshly beating, shooting to kill, and imprisoning the almost [...]
