I Became Buddies With The Dalai Lama
Tenzin Bob Thurman
New York, USA
New York, USA
"I think I came from some other country, some other land."
Robert Thurman - Bob, as almost everyone called him - was many things by the time we sat together. Scholar. Professor. Author. The first American to be ordained as a Tibetan Buddhist monk. A close friend of the Dalai Lama for more than six decades. Father. Teacher. Public voice for a tradition the West had barely begun to understand.
He was also, by his own account, still unenlightened. A little bit, maybe. Not satisfied with it.
This conversation covers a long arc: dropping out of Harvard to go to India in 1962, trying to join Fidel Castro's revolution at 17, meeting his Mongolian teacher in a small house in New Jersey and feeling his knees knock, learning Tibetan in ten weeks, arguing philosophy with the Dalai Lama. The Western mind that educates you in skills but never teaches you how to manage yourself. The quiet revolution Tibet carried out over 800 years. What Vajrayoga means when you strip it of its ism. What his practice has given him, and what it hasn't.
He opens the film by describing how he thinks he arrived into this life. He closes it with three words that we can hold or eternity.
Bob Thurman passed away in June 2026. This film was released on the eve of the 49th day of his bardo - the day of final passage in the Tibetan tradition he loved.
It is offered in his honour, and with gratitude for everything he gave.
About Robert Thurman
Robert A.F. Thurman (1941–2026) was Professor Emeritus of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies at Columbia University, where he taught for more than 30 years. He was the first American to be ordained as a Tibetan Buddhist monk, a distinction he held briefly before returning to lay life, marrying, and raising a family. He remained a committed practitioner and lay teacher throughout his life.
He met the Dalai Lama in 1964 and maintained a close friendship and scholarly dialogue with him for over six decades. He co-founded Tibet House US and translated numerous Tibetan texts into English, including The Tibetan Book of the Dead. His books include Inner Revolution, Infinite Life, and Wisdom Is Bliss.
He described himself as having been enlightened a little bit. He wasn't sure that was right either.
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