Image by Wonderlane, via Flickr Commons

Today you can be a fly on the wall at Columbia University, and listen to Robert Thurman’s lectures on "The Central Philosophy of Tibet." Thurman is, as his own website rightly describes him, a "worldwide authority on religion and spirituality," and an "eloquent advocate of the relevance of Buddhist ideas to our daily lives." A "leading voice of the value of reason, peace and compassion," he was "named one of Time magazine’s 25 most influential Americans." And, in case you're wondering, he's also Uma Thurman's dad.

The audio above comes from a course taught by Prof. Thurman at Columbia, and it's based on his book The Central Philosophy of Tibet. The course "explores the philosophical thought of Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, both in the intellectual setting of ancient India and Tibet and in the context of the current global philosophy." You will find the course added to our ever-growing list, 1,500 Free Online Courses from Top Universities.

Note: There are 13 lectures in total, each running almost two hours. The audio player above should stream through them all. The first 30 seconds are a little muffled, but then things improve. The lectures are hosted by Archive.org.

Related Content:

Buddhism 101: A Short Introductory Lecture by Jorge Luis Borges

Leonard Cohen Narrates Film on The Tibetan Book of the Dead, Featuring the Dalai Lama (1994)

The History of the World in 46 Lectures From Columbia University

Martin Heidegger Talks Philosophy with a Buddhist Monk on German Television (1963)

Free Online Religion Courses