Bob Thurman Podcast

In this podcast Professor Thurman teaches the meaning of the cornerstone Buddhist concept of “emptiness.” Many people confuse it with the idea of nothingness; Professor Thurman points out, and continues: experientially, […]

In this podcast Professor Thurman talks about the Tibetan Book of the Dead. The Tibetan name of this book — The Bardo Thodol — literally means The Book of Natural […]

In this podcast Professor Thurman explains three steps to re-create the world of suffering as the world of bliss. The first step is seeing true selflessness or emptiness — the […]

In this podcast Professor Thurman explains why, according to the Buddha, the human life is precious. Being able to change oneself by opening to a new insight; having intelligence, which […]

In this podcast Professor Thurman teaches that enlightenment is not defined as awareness of space of light, which is somewhere else, not here, in some imagined opposition to this place […]

In this podcast Professor Thurman explores different stages of Buddhist meditation. When the ‘space-like equipoise samadhi’ disappears, what is there [left]? – Professor Thurman asks the audience and proceeds to […]

In this podcast Robert A.F. Thurman talks about anger, patience and compassion. Explaining that the fuel for anger and intolerance is frustration and mental discomfort, Professor Thurman advises us not […]

In this podcast Professor Thurman reads and comments on an excerpt from The Avataṃsaka Sutra, which describes a cosmos of realms enfolding realms, infinite world systems mutually containing one another. Professor Thurman teaches that […]

In this podcast Professor Thurman talks about causes and conditions which brought about Buddha’s teaching in Tibet, and how Buddhism transformed society. This episode was recorded on November 11, 2015 […]

In this episode Professor Thurman explains the cornerstone teachings of the Buddha: the teaching about the Four Noble Truths, and the teaching about the Eightfold Path. This episode is an […]

Should we abandon traditional Buddhist views unproven by scientific materialism, labeling them antiquated and irrelevant? What would be the implications of doing so for our study and practice? This episode is an […]

In this episode Professor Thurman explains the concept of “intrinsic reality” and how it is different from the concept of “relational reality.” He continues by explaining “emptiness,” how it has […]

In this podcast Professor Thurman explains what are Buddhalands and talks about different Buddhalands, based on the Vimalakirti Sutra, which he translated and has been teaching for nearly forty years. […]

According to Tibetan Buddhism, when we lose consciousness and faint, or fall asleep, we go through the same eight stages, but we don’t normally notice this process. In this podcast […]

In this podcast Professor Thurman gives a brilliant compelling account of Buddha’s birth and path to Enlightenment. The account is enriched by his wide-ranging scholarship and familiarity with so many […]

Tibetan Buddhism teaches that there are three kinds of giving: the giving of material objects, the giving of security and protection, and the giving of teaching. The giving of teaching […]

The Indian word “guru” means “heavy” in Sanskrit, reflecting an understanding from the Indian society of Buddha’s time, in which the guru figure was an authority or a father figure. […]

In Professor Thurman’s view, men in our society are socialized to express their anger more readily than women and are expected to be generally more dominating. Women are socialized to […]

In this episode Professor Thurman shares some secrets of a long marriage, talks about the relationship between sacred feminine and sacred masculine, and about the balance of the feminine and […]

The reason why we sometimes think that the goal of Buddhism is just to become nobody is because we don’t understand the concept of selflessness. Selflessness does not mean that […]