In this episode Professor Thurman explains that a Buddhist concept of “emptiness” or “voidness” doesn’t mean a “no state” apart from everything, or “nothingness”. Emptiness means that everything is empty of any non-relational isolated component. Emptiness is relativity, and we are totally interconnected (mentally and physically) beings. This podcast was recorded on July 1, 2015 at Menla Mountain Retreat Center as part of a retreat called “Shakyamuni Buddha’s Inner Sciences & His Medicine Buddha Healing Science” with Dr. Nida Chenagtsang & Robert Thurman.

In this podcast Professor Thurman discusses a famous Buddhist concept of the “four transcendences,” or the “four thoughts that change the mind”: 1. The preciousness of the human life of liberty and opportunity; 2. Realization of immediacy of death, empowering one to live one’s best in the moment; 3. The inexorability of the effects of one’s actions; and 4. The suffering of the “wheel of samsara” or “the ignorance-dominated life form.” This episode was recorded in Bhutan as part of the Geographic Expedition called “Bhutan: Land of the Thunder Dragon” led by Professor Thurman in April, 2014. “Pilgrimage : The Four Transcendences – Ep. 83 of the Bob Thurman Podcast” is apart of the “Buddhist Pilgrimage Series” using field recordings of Robert A.F. Thurman and friends from his global docent tours benefiting the work of Tibet House US. To listen to more archive recordings from from past Robert AF Thurman teachings + public events please consider becoming a Tibet House US member. To Learn about the benefits of Tibet House US Membership please visit: www.tibethouse.us. “Pilgrimage : The Four Transcendences – Ep. 83 of the Bob Thurman Podcast” Photo by Christopher Michel, Used with permission. The song ‘Dancing Ling’ by Tenzin Choegyal from the album ‘Heart Sutra‘ (2004) by Ethno Super Lounge is used on the Bob Thurman Podcast with artist’s permission, all rights reserved. To learn about upcoming Tibet House US trips Robert Thurman + GeoEx please visit: www.bobthurman.com.

In this podcast Professor Thurman explains how we can apply the tenfold path of positive/skillful evolutionary actions to shape our lives in a positive direction and improve our evolutionary conditions. This tenfold path is comprised of three physical skills, four verbal skills and three mental skills. In Dalai Lama’s book Beyond Religion: Ethics for a Whole World they are referred to as secular ethics of body, speech and mind. This episode was recorded in Bhutan as part of the Geographic Expedition called “Bhutan: Land of the Thunder Dragon” led by Professor Thurman in April, 2014. “Pilgrimage : Ten Skillful Actions – Ep. 82” is a part of the “Buddhist Pilgrimage Series” using field recordings of Robert A.F. Thurman and friends from his global docent tours benefiting the work of Tibet House US. To listen to more archive recordings from from past Robert A.F. Thurman teachings + public events please consider becoming a Tibet House US member. To Learn about the benefits of Tibet House US Membership please visit: www.tibethouse.us. Pilgrimage : Ten Skillful Actions – Ep. 82 of the Bob Thurman Podcast Photo by Christopher Michel, Used with permission. The song ‘Dancing Ling’ by Tenzin Choegyal from the album ‘Heart Sutra‘ (2004) by Ethno Super Lounge is used on the Bob Thurman Podcast with artist’s permission, all rights reserved. To learn about upcoming Tibet House US trips Robert Thurman + GeoEx please visit: www.bobthurman.com.    

In this podcast Professor Thurman discusses the importance of right understanding of faith, the ability to apply doubt and skepticism on the Buddhist path without taking it to the extreme of materialism, and developing tolerance of cognitive dissonance. Professor Thurman then engages into a very interesting discussion about what intuition is and how to differentiate it from the subtle conceptual mind. This episode was recorded on March 11, 2016 at the “Embracing the Sacred Feminine” Retreat at Menla Mountain Retreat, taught by Isa Gucciardi and Robert Thurman.

In this podcast Professor Thurman explains how freedom in our choices depends on whether we are living consciously or unconsciously. There is no such thing as “meant to be”, however, each action brings about a particular result. For example, being a victim of circumstances — Professor Thurman continues — can be seen as a result of an action performed in the past and can be empowering when we take its blame upon ourselves. Also, Professor Thurman explains how we can not only live, but die consciously so to be reborn in the place we like. This episode was recorded on July 27, 2014 at the “Hiking in the Catskills” Retreat at Menla Mountain Retreat, taught by Robert Thurman.

In this podcast professor Thurman introduces great Buddhist masters Vasubandhu and Dignaga. Vasubandhu was a brother of the famous Asangha, who met with the future Buddha Maitreya. Vasubandhu wrote a famous work of the Abhidharmakosha (The Treasury of the Clear Science), which is the third of the “three baskets” of the Buddhist teachings (vinaya, sutra and abhidharma – are the three baskets). The Abhidharma brings out the Buddhist psychology in the most systematic fashion. Dignaga (who was Vasubandhu’s teacher) explains the notion of “bare attention.” He says that the only way to “get” reality is through “bare awareness”, and that “we all are knowing ultimate reality all the time with that awareness, which is underneath and obscured by our discursive, conceptualizing awareness.” The goal is to escape from entanglement in conceptualized reality and recover bare awareness. However, Dignaga continues, since we have to acknowledge that we are trapped in this web of conceptuality, it is critical reasoning within the web of conceptuality that liberates us from the conceptuality. So, one should not demonize conceptuality. Professor Thurman goes on to explain the famous “four mindfulnesses.” He says that the Buddhist psychology is based on the idea that the more awareness touches reality, the more realistic a person becomes, the more well they become. This episode was recorded in August, 2009 at a retreat co-led by Robert Thurman and Mark Epstein, M.D. at Menla Mountain Retreat.

In this podcast Professor Thurman teaches how each of us creates causes and conditions throughout our life, and how the consequences of those causes will go with us as our consciousness continues into the journey after death (“bardo”) and finds new embodiments. As long as we are helpless victims of our unconscious, we will be drawn by impulses, and our next birth will be an “impulse purchase.” This episode was recorded on July 25, 2014 at the “Hiking in the Catskills” Retreat at Menla Mountain Retreat, taught by Robert Thurman.  

In this podcast Professor Thurman reads a description of Buddha’s Enlightenment from his translations found in “The Jewel Tree of Tibet” providing historical & meditative context. Professor Thurman goes on to consider why we do not remember our previous lives, discusses the meaning of nirvana and explains the concept of Samantabhadra. “The Buddha was in the land of Magadha in the state of purity under the tree of enlightenment, having just realized true awareness . . .” Robert A.F. Thurman Tibetans think of their cherished tradition of Buddhism as a “wish-fulfilling jewel tree” for its power to generate bliss and enlightenment within all who absorb its teachings. Happiness, in fact, is the true goal of Tibetan spirituality, and the wish-fulfilling jewel tree will enable you to reach that goal. This episode was recorded on March 12, 2016 at the “Embracing the Sacred Feminine” Retreat at Menla Mountain Retreat, taught by Isa Gucciardi and Robert Thurman.

In this podcast Professor Thurman teaches the meaning of the cornerstone Buddhist concept of “emptiness.” Many people confuse it with the idea of nothingness; Professor Thurman points out, and continues: experientially, emptiness means that everything is there, but it is there with a mirror image reflection-like or an illusion-like quality. The realization of emptiness means that your perception of any seeming object is an interaction where you — the subject — are very powerful in determining your experience of that object. Therefore, you are responsible for shaping that experience yourself. This episode was recorded on June 24, 2016 at Menla Retreat and Dewa Spa as part of the “Tibetan Rejuvenation Immersion” in-person retreat with Dr. Nida Chenagtsang and Robert Thurman. To learn about upcoming and study at your own pace online courses, please visit: www.thusmenla.org. No Eye, No Ear, No Nose: Buddhism On Emptiness – Ep. 76 Podcast Thumbnail Photo by Braydon Anderson on Unsplash 

In this podcast Professor Thurman talks about the Tibetan Book of the Dead. The Tibetan name of this book — The Bardo Thodol — literally means The Book of Natural Liberation through Understanding in the Between. A being can be liberated in “the between” (the term is often translated as “intermediate state”), the period after death but prior to rebirth. This liberation takes place through hearing and understanding, because the being in the between is said to become nine times more intelligent than when s/he was alive. After death, fully transformative enlightenment can take place in the between because the patterns that are embedded in the body and in the coarse mind have lost all inertia. This episode is an excerpt from the lecture “Exploring the Tibetan Book of the Dead with Robert Thurman” given at Tibet House US in New York City, February 12, 1994.