We gather to celebrate the extraordinary life and legacy of one of Woodstock’s greatest sages, Robert Thurman, in the company of some of his colleagues and friends.

Scheduled speakers include Sharon Gannon, John Campbell, Marcela Lobos, Ira Schepetin, Ina Becker, Nina Rao, Krishna Das, and Paul Bloom. There will also be an opportunity for attendees to speak briefly of what Thurman meant to their own lives and path and/or ask questions to the speakers.\

Remembering Robert Thurman

Robert Thurman (1941–2026) was educated at Philips Exeter and Harvard and then studied Tibet, Tibetan Buddhism, and Asian languages and histories for over fifty years with many teachers, including His Holiness the Dalai Lama. He held the first endowed chair in Buddhist Studies in the West, the Jey Tsong Khapa Chair in Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies at Columbia University, before retiring in 2019.

He has written substantial scholarly works, including founding and editing a new series through Columbia University Press, the Treasury of the Buddhist Sciences. He and his wife Nena founded Tibet House in 1987 at the request of the Dalai Lama, and in 2002 also Menla, Tibet House’s retreat center located in the crater of Panther Mountain.

He also wrote popular books, lecturing all over the world in the “public intellectual” tradition, with special concern for ethics and human rights in general, the fate of the endangered Tibetan culture and people, and the qualities of the human mind in its natural state.

For more information visit: https://woodstockawakening.org/