Novelist and travel writer Pico Iyer joins Robert Thurman, Columbia University professor and founder of Tibet House in New York City, for a conversation on the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, education, life on the road, and things that contribute to happiness and human well-being.
ROBERT THURMAN, Professor of Indo-Tibetan Studies at Columbia University
Robert A. F. Thurman is the Jey Tsong Khapa Professor of
Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies in the Department of Religion at Columbia
University and Founding President of Tibet House, a nonprofit
organization in New York City dedicated to the preservation and
promotion of Tibetan civilization. He received Upasaka ordination in
1964 and Vajracharya ordination in 1971, both from His Holiness the
Dalai Lama. He is the author of Essential Tibetan Buddhism; Inner Revolution: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Real Happiness and many other original books and translations of Buddhist texts, including The Holy Teaching of Vimalakirti and Liberation Through Understanding in the Between. His forthcoming book, Why the Dalai Lama Matters: His Act of Truth as the Solution for China, Tibet, and the World, will be available this June.
http://www.bobthurman.com
PICO IYER, Author
Pico Iyer was born in Oxford, England to parents from India, grew up
in Southern California, and currently lives in Kyoto, Japan. He is the
author of many books about cultures converging, including Video Night in Kathmandu; The Lady and the Monk; and Falling off the Map. His new book, The Open Road: The Global Journey of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, follows upon The Global Soul,
a book that has enabled people around the world to better comprehend
the process and promise of globalization. His articles appear
frequently in such magazines as Harper’s, The New York Review of Books, and Time,
where he is a regular contributor on world affairs. He has contributed
introductions to more than 20 books, has written the liner notes for
four Leonard Cohen albums, and has seen his most recent novel, Abandon,
translated into languages including Russian, Turkish, and Bahasa
Indonesian. He is often a retreatant at the New Camaldoli Hermitage in
Big Sur.
http://www.worldhum.com/qanda/item/pico_iyer