Infinite Life: Seven Virtues for Living Well
New York City · 2004
R
Robert Thurman
Robert Thurman
1941 CE · Modern · New York City
b. August 4, 1941 (living)
Robert Thurman (b. 1941) is an American scholar and translator of Tibetan Buddhism, especially the Gelug tradition. In the mid-1960s he became, briefly, the first American ordained as a Tibetan Buddhist monk before returning to lay life and an academic career; he later held the first endowed chair in Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies at Columbia University and co-founded Tibet House in New York. He is widely known for translations and popular books and for his association with the Fourteenth Dalai Lama. He died on June 16, 2026, in Woodstock, New York, at age 84. He is presented here as a scholar-translator and advocate rather than a lineage master.
Life journeyclick any stop, or use ←/→Trace on the map →
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Stop 2 of 1Visited
New York CityUnited States
What they did here
DOCUMENTED: became a professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies at Columbia and co-founded Tibet House in New York.
About New York City
New York City, in the United States. In the 20th century its theological institutions—notably Union Theological Seminary—hosted figures such as Paul Tillich and Reinhold Niebuhr and visitors including Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Orthodox theologian Georges Florovsky.
In New York City at the same time
Sokei-an (Shigetsu Sasaki), B. R. Ambedkar, Alan Watts, Pema Chödrön, Jon Kabat-Zinn, Sharon Salzberg
Across the traditions, in New York City at the same time
In the same place & time
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Sages whose lives overlapped with Robert Thurman’s in the same cities, drawn from their recorded journeys.
Across the traditions
In the same tradition
Sokei-an (Shigetsu Sasaki), B. R. Ambedkar, Alan Watts, Pema Chödrön, Jon Kabat-Zinn, Sharon Salzberg
The world in their lifetime
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Thinkers and teachers of other traditions whose lives overlapped with Robert Thurman’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn purely from recorded birth and death years.
Jewish world
Hindu world
Christian world
Works(2)
Inner Revolution: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Real Happiness
New York City · 1998