Professor Robert Thurman, an expert on Tibetan Buddhism, will be giving a series of three lectures at UBC (April 26 and 27, 2008):
- “The Mañjuśrī Connection: Relations between Tibetan and Chinese Buddhisms”
- “The Layman Vimalakīrti and the Basic Mahāyana Buddhist Path”
- “Buddhism as a Civilization Matrix and the Current Global Crisis”
Professor Thurman is the Je Tsong Khapa Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies at Columbia University (holding the first endowed chair in this field of study in the United States), is co-founder and President of Tibet House, and is President of the American Institute of Buddhist Studies. Thurman is author of several books on Tibet, Buddhism, art, politics, and culture, including Circling the Sacred Mountain (1999), Essential Tibetan Buddhism (1997), The Tibetan Book of the Dead (1994), Wisdom and Compassion: The Sacred Art of Tibet (2000), and, most recently, Infinite Life: Seven Virtues for Living Well (2004).
According to Thurman, when the eminent British historian Arnold Toynbee said in 1971 that the most important event of the 20th century was the encounter of the West with Buddhism, he did not mean merely the entrance of one more world religion onto the scene. Buddhism is more than a “religion” as we currently use the term, and includes a scientific vision, a multi-faceted educational system, and a resilient ethical way of life. It provided the matrix of a number of Asian cultures, and now makes itself felt around the world – but not as a competitively missionary religion. This lecture explores this thesis in the context of the crisis we face as a struggling human species on an overstressed planet.
Co-presented by UBC’s College for Interdisciplinary Studies and The Tung Lin Kok Yuen Canada Foundation Buddhism and Contemporary Society Program Lecture Series, in collaboration with the Institute of Asian Research and the Department of Asian Studies. This event was also part of UBC’s Centenary Celebration, marking our 100th anniversiary as a university.
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