Ep. 652 – Unclamping the Heart: A Tribute to Bob Thurman

Be Here Now Network invites you to listen to this special look back at Dr. Robert Thurman’s many appearances on Mindrolling. We hear about Ram Dass, surfing reality, keeping an open heart, and so much more.

You can help continue Dr. Thurman’s life’s work to preserve Tibetan culture. Visit Tibet House to learn more.

Spanning 10 years of collaboration with the podcast, Dr. Thurman talks about:

• His decades-long friendship with Ram Dass
• Unclamping the heart and seeing our connection with all people
• Clearing out the poison of fear and judgment
• The precious gem of our human embodiment, the waking bardo
• Surfing through reality, rather than trying to control it
• A realistic take on the Eightfold Path and right livelihood
• How releasing selfishness actually benefits us and creates joy
• Lessons on altruism & education from the Dalai Lama
• Cultivating both a clever mind and an open heart

About Dr. Robert Thurman:

Robert Thurman (1941-2026) was an American Buddhist author and academic who wrote, edited, and translated many books on Tibetan Buddhism. He was the Je Tsongkhapa Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies at Columbia University before retiring in June 2019. He held the first endowed chair in Buddhist Studies in the West. After education at Philips Exeter and Harvard, he studied Tibet and Tibetan Buddhism for almost thirty years as a personal student of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. He wrote both scholarly and popular books and lectured widely all over the world. As President of the American Institute for Buddhist Studies, he convened the First Inner Science Conference with His Holiness the Dalai Lama at Amherst College in 1984. He was also a founding trustee of Tibet House New York. Check out his most recent book Wisdom Is Bliss: Four Friendly Fun Facts That Can Change Your Life.

“When you’re not generous enough, when you’re not open-hearted enough, when you haven’t cultivated opening yourself, then you shoot right past it, just like we shoot through our life. At the moment of death, people report, ‘My life flashed before my eyes in a split second.’ What that means is they didn’t live lucidly. They ran around making money, getting pleasure, doing things, and they have only one split second of quality time when they were there now somewhere” –Dr. Thurman

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