Tibet House US is a Tibetan cultural preservation and education nonprofit founded in 1987 in New York City by a group of Westerners after the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, had expressed his wish to establish a cultural institution to build awareness of Tibetan culture. Part of a worldwide network of Tibet Houses, Tibet House US focuses on the promotion and preservation of Tibetan culture through education on philosophy; cognitive or mind science based on the workings of mind and emotions; techniques of mediation and mental transformation; and contemporary and ancient arts and culture. These are presented to the public utilizing:
Lectures, classes and workshops on mind science, philosophy and meditation classes, with teachers from many traditions including the Dalai Lama, Deepak Chopra, and psychiatrists and meditation teachers such as Mark Epstein, Joe Loizzo and Sharon Salzberg.
A gallery that presents a rotating permanent collection and multiple exhibitions yearly of modern and ancient works from Buddhist cultures including Tibet, Mongolia, Korea, Japan and Russia.
Museum exhibitions, conferences, print publications and media productions including online courses, books, a biography of the Dalai Lama in graphic novel form and a quarterly magazine.
In 1987, Columbia University professor and THUS President Robert Thurman, the first western Buddhist monk, actor and Chairman of the International Campaign for Tibet, Richard Gere, and modern composer and THUS Vice President Philip Glass, founded the organization, located in the Flatiron district of New York City. THUS' aim is to present and preserve Tibet's intangible culture heritage when it is threatened inside and outside Tibet, and give a contemporary understanding of the contributions of this minority culture, endangered by ever "more assimilationist policies, designed to absorb these minorities into the fold of one Chinese nation," although The Constitution of the People's Republic of China "stipulates: "All ethnic groups in the People's Republic of China are equal. The state protects the lawful rights and interests of the ethnic minorities and upholds and develops a relationship of equality, unity and mutual assistance among all of China's ethnic groups. Discrimination against and oppression of any ethnic group are prohibited."...and they have the freedom to preserve or change their own folkways and customs." Often working in cooperation with other educational and cultural institutions, THUS has sponsored teachings in New York by the Dalai Lama, and organized a three day conference in 2011, The Newark Peace Education Summit, that explored the policies and methods used by communities to establish peace. Participants included the Dalai Lama and fellow Nobel Laureates, anti-landmine activist Jody Williams, and Iranian civil rights activistShirin Ebadi; Cory Booker, Martin Luther King III, economist Jeffrey Sachs, Deepak Chopra, Rabbi Michael Lerner; anthropologist Wade Davis, who shared a stage with representatives of the Navajo, Dene, and Hopi nations; and many other international and local activists. A Shrine for Tibet: The Alice S. Kandell Collection, "a visual knockout of a book" published by THUS, was the accompanying publication for the traveling exhibition In the Realm of the Buddha at the Smithsonian. THUS also serves as a meeting place for the local Tibetan and Tibetan Buddhist communities to hold programs and events. The Art of Freedom Award, honoring outstanding contributions reflecting THUS' mission, has been presented to author and human rights advocate Eliot Pattison, director Martin Scorsese, and artist Roy Lichtenstein, among others. Fundraising events include a yearly auction and dinner, and a benefit concert at Carnegie Hall organized by Phillip Glass that has featured Patty Smith, David Bowie, Laurie Anderson, Iggy Pop, Björk, Debbie Harry, Gogol Bordello, FKA Twigs, and many other musicians over its thirty-plus years history.
Collections
THUS started the Repatriation Collection and the Old Tibet Photographic Archive in 1992. Containing over 3,000 objects and images from Tibet, these archives document the destruction of over 6000 monasteries, temples and historic buildings and the contents that were pillaged.
Wisdom and Compassion: The Sacred Art of Tibet, Marylin Rhie and Robert Thurman, co-published with Harry N. Abrams Co., 1991 – 1998 in English, German, Spanish, Catalan, Japanese, and Chinese; 2000,
Worlds of Transformation: Tibetan Art of Wisdom and Compassion, Marylin Rhie and Robert Thurman, essay by David Jackson, co-published with the Rubin Museum, Harry N. Abrams Co., 1991,
A Shrine For Tibet: The Alice S. Kandell Collection, Marylin Rhie & Robert Thurman, 2010,
Visions of Tibet: Outer, Inner, Secret, photographs by Brian Kistler, introduction by Robert Thurman, ed. Thomas Yarnell, Overlook Duckworth, 2005,
Vanishing Tibet, Catherine Steinmann and Danny Conant, 2008,
Man of Peace: The Illustrated Life Story of the Dalai Lama of Tibet, graphic novel, William Meyers, Robert Thurman, Michael G. Burbank, initiated artistically by Rabkar Wangchuk, art a team effort of five artists coordinated by Steve Buccellato and Michael Burbank,
Translations and scholarly works
The Treasury of Buddhist Sciences, series, editors, Robert Thurman, Thomas Yarnall and The Treasury of Indic Sciences, series, editors Robert Thurman, Gary Tubb and Thomas Yarnall, copublished with the American institute of Buddhist Studies and the Columbia University Center for Buddhist Studies; Columbia University Press:
Universal Vehicle Discourse Literature, Lozang Jamspal, et al., 2004,
Kalacakra Tantra: Chapter on the Individual, Vesna Wallace, 2004,
Nagarjuna’s Reason Sixty, Joseph Loizzo, et al., 2007,
Kalacakra Tantra: The Sadhana Chapter, Vesna Wallace, 2010,
Tsong Khapa’s Extremely Brilliant Lamp, Robert Thurman, 2010,
The Range of the Bodhisattva, Lozang Jamspal, 2010,
Consciousness, Knowledge, and Ignorance, Bina Gupta, 2011,
