Leading American expert on Tibetan Buddhism to speak at FIU Oct. 23

The Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum will present the first Steven & Dorothea Green Critics’ Lecture Series of the fall with guest speaker Robert Thurman on Friday, Oct. 23.

The lecture is scheduled for  7 p.m. at the Wertheim Performing Arts Center at Modesto A. Maidique Campus. The event, co-sponsored by the Program of the Study of Spirituality, is free and open to the public.

Thurman will address “Why The Dalai Lama Matters.”

A professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies in the Department of Religion at Columbia University, Thurman also is 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. “The New York Times” recently hailed him as “the leading American expert on Tibetan Buddhism.”

The first American to be ordained a Tibetan Buddhist monk and a personal friend of the Dalai Lama for more than 40 years, Thurman is a passionate advocate and spokesperson for the truth regarding the current Tibet-China situation and the human rights violations suffered by the Tibetan people under Chinese rule.

His commitment to finding a peaceful, win-win solution for Tibet and China inspired him to write his latest book, “Why the Dalai Lama Matters: His Act of Truth as the Solution for China, Tibet and the World,” published last year.

Thurman also translates important Tibetan and Sanskrit philosophical writings and lectures. He writes on Buddhism, particularly Tibetan Buddhism; on Asian history, particularly the history of the monastic institution in the Asian civilization; and on critical philosophy, with a focus on the dialogue between the material and inner sciences of the world’s religious traditions. Popularizing the Buddha’s teachings is just one of Thurman’s creative talents.

He is credited with being at the forefront of making Tibetan art accessible and understandable in the West and, with distinguished art historians, has collaborated in curating several important traveling exhibitions, including “Wisdom and Compassion,” “Mandala,” and “Worlds of Transformation,” which set a standard in the art world.