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Reviewed in the United States on September 19, 2012
The first lecture is informative. The second and third ramble on, punctuated by irrelevances and Thurman sometimes to the consternation of the the audience showing that he knows the jargon in foreign tongues. Also, some of the ideas he presents are contradicted by other 'authorities' I have encountered. No attempt is made at those times to indicate that there are other 'facts' and/or interpretations of the facts. In the second and third lecture he prompts the audience several times for their understanding, which is a sure sign that at ;least subliminally he knows he has lost them. Living in Japan for the last 25 years I have done some investigation of Buddhism and Thurman's ideas are not always acceptable. Finally, he takes pejorative swipes at other religions from time to time. How about showing a little of that Buddhist compassion? Save your money and by one of the good books that are currently available. My recollection is that Thurman's own book, The Inner Revolution, which I read when it was first published, is a good deal better than these oral performances. But now I'll go back to it and take a harder look at what he is saying there.
With a broad subject like "Buddhism", it helps to get information from a variety of sources. The Thurman DVD lectures gave me an understanding of Buddhism that I was unable to get from books. Thurman provided an enthusiasm and transmitted a personal involvement by his tone of voice and mannerisms. These sorts of things aren't easily communicated by books.
I agree with many of the complaints others have cited. (I especially enjoyed the "Thinking of Taking a Class with Thurman?" review.) Why, for example, was there no onscreen text? It appears that not much effort went into producing the video.
Nonetheless I'm grateful for the warmth of Thurman's presentation and for the new perspective that I gained from viewing the lecture - a perspective that I had missed in my readings.
This series consists of three videotapes that cover three aspects of Buddhism: the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha. Each tape is a lecture given by Robert A. F. Thurman at the Tibet House in New York. Excepting the occasional shot of the audience, each video is 70 minutes of his lecturing. This is not necessarily a bad thing. Thurman is an entertaining speaker and does a great job in explaining some of the mystical aspects and philosophy. He is very good at relating to the audience. After viewing them, I do feel that I have a better grasp of main tenets. This does not appear to be scripted. For instance, in tape two, he mentions that he will discuss the Four Noble Truths, the three wheels, and the three vehicles. He goes in depth on the truths and the first two wheels, but then seems to realize that he is running out of time so rushes through the last four. There is still good information, but I wished that these last ideas had the same kind of detailed explanation. I would recommend this to anyone wanting to understand more about Buddhism.
Robert Thurman, the renowned professor of Indo-Tibetan studies from Columbia presents popular lectures on the basic concepts of "The Three Jewels" of Buddhism - The Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha. Thurman's style of teaching is light, sometimes humorous and entertaining enough to capture interest in the before mentioned topics. The video quality and sound are adequate - the lectures were recorded at Tibet House, New York, and the set of tapes provides a good introduction to Buddhist thought - great for the inquiring newcomer and a nice refresher for those who have studied this philosophy.
![Robert A.F. Thurman on Buddhism [DVD]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51KF6ZDX8CL._SX300_SY300_QL70_ML2_.jpg)
