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Furthermore, Professor Thurman enjoys a close friendship with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, having spent many years as his student. This special bond gives him unique insight into His Holiness. He reasons passionately that His Holiness--being a man with no worldly rank--embodies the most practical leader of world leaders. Thurman asserts that the worst outcomes of our present global crisis could be averted if we replaced the current conditions with His Holiness' message of reason, peace and compassion: nonviolent dialogue in place of war, environmental restoration in place of consumerist exploitation, inter-religious mutual affirmation in place of ideological competition, hope and determination in place of cynicism and denial.
Robert A.F. Thurman is the Jey Tsong Khapa Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies in the Department of Religion at Columbia University, President of Tibet House U.S., a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and promotion of Tibetan civilization, and President of the American Institute of Buddhist Studies, a non-profit affiliated with the Center for Buddhist Studies at Columbia University and dedicated to the publication of translations of important artistic and scientific treatises from the Tibetan Tengyur.
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