Robert Alexander Farrar Thurman is an American Buddhist author and academic who has written, edited, and translated several books on Tibetan Buddhism. He was the Je Tsongkhapa Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies at Columbia University, before retiring in June 2019. He was the first endowed chair in Buddhist Studies in the West. He also is the co-founder and president of the Tibet House US New York. He translated the Vimalakirti Sutra from the Tibetan Kanjur into English. He is the father of actress Uma Thurman.
Tashi Paljor, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche was a Vajrayana master, scholar, poet, teacher, and recognized by Buddhists as one of the greatest realized masters. Head of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism from 1988 to 1991, he is also considered an eminent proponent of the Rime tradition.
Elisabet Sahtouris is an evolution biologist, futurist, speaker, author and sustainability consultant to businesses, government agencies and other organizations. She is a US and Greek citizen who has lived in the US, Canada, Greece, Peru and Spain while lecturing, doing workshops and media appearances on all continents. She has a PhD from Dalhousie University in Canada. She consults with corporations and government organizations in Australia, Brazil, Europe, Asia, Africa and the United States.
Eckhart Tolle is a German-born spiritual teacher and self-help author. His books include The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment (1997), A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose (2005) and the picture book Guardians of Being (2009).
Fred Alan Wolf is an American theoretical physicist specializing in quantum physics and the relationship between physics and consciousness. He is a former physics professor at San Diego State University, and has helped to popularize science on the Discovery Channel. He is the author of a number of physics-themed books including Taking the Quantum Leap (1981), The Dreaming Universe (1994), Mind into Matter (2000), and Time Loops and Space Twists (2011).
Michael Roach is an American businessman, spiritual leader, and former Buddhist monk and scholar who has started a number of businesses and organizations, written books inspired by Buddhism, and translated Tibetan Buddhist teachings. He has at times been the center of controversy for his views, teachings, activities, and behavior.
The New Kadampa Tradition – International Kadampa Buddhist Union (NKT—IKBU) is a global Buddhist new religious movement founded by Kelsang Gyatso in England in 1991. In 2003 the words "International Kadampa Buddhist Union" (IKBU) were added to the original name "New Kadampa Tradition". The NKT-IKBU is an international organisation registered in England as a charitable, or non-profit, company. It currently lists more than 200 centres and around 900 branch classes/study groups in 40 countries. The BBC describe the New Kadampa Tradition as "one of the major Buddhist schools in the UK, founded by the Tibetan-born Geshe Kelsang Gyatso."
The Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT) was founded in 1975 by Gelugpa Lamas Thubten Yeshe and Thubten Zopa Rinpoche, who began teaching Tibetan Buddhism to Western students in Nepal. The FPMT has grown to encompass over 138 dharma centers, projects, and services in 34 countries. Lama Yeshe led the organization until his death in 1984, followed by Lama Zopa until his death in 2023. The FPMT is now without a spiritual director; meetings on the organization's structure and future are planned.
Rodger Kamenetz is an American poet and author best known for The Jew in the Lotus (1994), an account of the historic dialogue between rabbis and the XIV Dalai Lama. His poetry explores the Jewish experience and in recent years, dream consciousness. Since 2003 he's been instrumental in developing Natural Dreamwork, a practice that focuses on the sacred encounters in dreams.
Rajiv Mehrotra is an Indian writer, television producer-director, documentary film maker, a personal student of the Dalai Lama for whom he manages as Trustee/Secretary The Foundation for Universal Responsibility (www.furhhdl.org) established with the Nobel Peace Prize. He is best known as the former acclaimed host of one of India's longest running talk shows on public television, "In Conversation", that has been through several incarnations over more than twenty years, aired on the India's National broadcaster, Doordarshan News Channel, Saturdays at 9.30 pm.
Dalai Lama Renaissance is a 2007 feature-length documentary film, produced and directed by Khashyar Darvich, and narrated by actor Harrison Ford. The film documents the Dalai Lama's meeting with the self-titled "Synthesis" group, made up of 40 Western "renaissance" thinkers who hope to use the meeting to change the world and resolve many of the world's problems. The meeting took place at the Dalai Lama's home in Dharamsala, India in September, 1999.
Season for Nonviolence was established in 1998 by Arun Gandhi, Mohandas Gandhi's grandson, as a yearly event celebrating the philosophies and lives of Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. The idea was developed with the help of Dr. Michael Beckwith and Dr. Mary Morrissey, of the Association for Global New Thought and The Parliament of The World's Religions. Before his 2023 death Arun Gandhi co-chaired the Season along with Rev. Beckwith of the Agape International Spiritual Center.
The Agape International Spiritual Center is a transdenominational congregation currently holding Sunday services at the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills, California, founded in 1986 by Michael Bernard Beckwith. Agape International Spiritual Center is the flagship location of the Agape Movement founded by Beckwith, an international New Thought belief community founded in the tradition of Religious Science, that has expanded into a trans-denominational international community, with members, spiritual practitioners, ministers and ministries across the globe, international live-streaming services, and its affiliate congregation, Agape East Spiritual Center, in Norfolk, Virginia, and Agape Bay Area in Oakland, CA
The 14th Dalai Lama, known to the Tibetan people as Gyalwa Rinpoche, is, as the incumbent Dalai Lama, the highest spiritual leader and head of Tibet. He is considered a living Bodhisattva; specifically, an emanation of Avalokiteśvara in Sanskrit, and Chenrezig in Tibetan. He is also the leader and a monk of the Gelug school, the newest school of Tibetan Buddhism, formally headed by the Ganden Tripa. The central government of Tibet, the Ganden Phodrang, invested the Dalai Lama with temporal duties until his exile in 1959.
The Dalai Lama Center for Peace and Education is an international charitable organization and education center located in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Established in 2005, the center describes its mission as "educate the hearts of children by informing, inspiring and engaging the communities around them".
The Association for Global New Thought (AGNT) is an organization of ministers, lay people, heads of other New Thought organizations, and people of all faiths dedicated to "conscious co-creation". Its New Thought member churches and centers number between 600 and 700, and include Unity churches, Religious Science, Divine Science centers, and nondenominational New Thought spiritual communities.
The Tej Gyan Foundation is a humanitarian organization based in Pune, India. The objective of the foundation is to create a "highly evolved society" through the motto of "Happy Thoughts". The foundation is best known for its spiritual retreats and events, which included the Happy Thoughts World Peace Festival which was held on 10 October 2010, where the Dalai Lama was a guest and speaker. The foundation is also in the Limca Book of Records for their book Magic of Awakening and Warrior's Mirror.
Victor Chan is a physicist and a Hong-Kong-born Canadian writer. Founder of the Dalai Lama Center for Peace and Education, Chan has known the 14th Dalai Lama since 1972. Co-author with him of two essays, he also wrote a guide of pilgrimage to Tibet. He lives in Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada.
Compassion in Action is a documentary film produced and directed by Khashyar Darvich. Released in 2014, the film is a deeper exploration of the ideas presented in the award-winning Dalai Lama Awakening. Compassion In Action is the final inspiring journey with the Dalai Lama and the "renaissance" thinkers featured in the award-winning Dalai Lama Renaissance and Dalai Lama Awakening films.
Dalai Lama Awakening is a 2014 feature-length documentary film, produced and directed by Khashyar Darvich and narrated by actor Harrison Ford. With over 30 minutes of additional footage and a new score, the film is a Director's Cut and revision of Dalai Lama Renaissance, the award-winning 2007 documentary. The film presents the journey of innovative Western thinkers who travel to India to meet with the Dalai Lama.
