Robert A F ThurmanRobert A. F. Thurman is the Jey Tsong Khapa Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies in the Department of Religion at Columbia University, president of the Tibet House US, and president of the American Institute of Buddhist Studies. He was nmed by Time magazine as one of its twenty-five most influential Americans in 1997. He is a translator of Tibetan texts and author of many books on Tibet, Buddhism, art, politics, and culture, including Circling the Sacred Mountain, Essential Tibetan Buddhism, The Tibetan Book of the Dead, and Why the Dalai Lama Matters. Read More Read Less