Robert A.F. Thurman
Who
Robert A.F. Thurman is a professor at Columbia and the most prominent Tibetan Buddhist scholar in the United States. He also happens to be the father of Uma Thurman.
Backstory
Born in New York City to blue-blooded bohemians—his mother was a stage actress and his father was an editor for the Associated Press—Thurman went to Exeter and Harvard and married oil heiress Christophe De Menil when he was just 19. Two years later, an accident while changing a flat tire left him without the use of his left eye; the episode prompted him to reconsider his posh life, drop out of college, divorce his wife, leave their child, and head off on a soul-searching mission. Thurman traveled to Asia and the Middle East and spent time studying at a Buddhist monastery in India. He later returned to America following the death of his father and enrolled at the Lamaist Buddhist Monastery in New Jersey, before heading off to India once again and settling in Dharamsala, the center of exiled Tibetan Buddhism. In 1965, Thurman was ordained a monk by the Dalai Lama, making him the first American to earn the title. He eventually abandoned the monastic life to return to the States to finish college and earn a PhD. He's been teaching ever since, and currently serves as the Jey Tsong Kappa Professor of Indo-Tibetan Studies at Columbia.
Of note
Thurman has a good deal to do with making the Tibetan cause so popular in the U.S. over the past three decades. A close friend of Tenzin Gyatso—otherwise known as the 14th Dalai Lama—Thurman founded the Tibet House with Richard Gere in 1987 in an effort preserve the country's endangered culture, and Thurman has been one of the most outspoken critics of the Chinese occupation of Tibet. Naturally, Thurman's deep ties to the Hollywood establishment have helped raise awareness. But his ability to articulate the issues—and explain Buddhism in easy-to-understand terms—has also made him a popular teacher and public speaker.
In print
Thurman has authored a number of books on Buddhism, including The Jewel Tree of Tibet (2006) and Inner Revolution (1999). Fluent in Tibetan, he has also translated many Tibetan works into English, including the 14th century text The Central Philosophy of Tibet.
AKA
His Buddhist name is Tenzin—even his kids call him that.
Personal
Thurman had one daughter with De Menil, Taya, the mother of hipster artist Dash Snow. He married Nena "Birgitte" von Schlebrugge, a former model and ex-wife of Timothy Leary, in 1967, and had four more children: Ganden, Uma, Dechen and Mipam.
No joke
In his senior year at Exeter, Thurman tried to enlist with Fidel Castro. He was turned back in Miami and Exeter kicked him out following the incident.
