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If we slipped past the corridors of science and into Eastern philosophy, what would human uniqueness look like? That’s the question we were anxious to put to Robert Thurman, a professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies at Columbia University, and the first American to be ordained a Buddhist monk by the Dalai Lama. Inside the warm and richly colored temple at the Tibet House in New York, which Thurman cofounded in 1987 with actor Richard Gere, we got our answer, and more, delivered with insight and passion by the renowned speaker and activist.

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What makes humans unique? 0:07
What is enlightenment? 1:32
What is the Buddhist view of animals? 2:16
Do you see a relationship between science and Buddhism 4:46
What do you mean by “inner science”? 5:27

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