Robert Alexander Farrar Thurman is an American Buddhist writer and academic who has written, edited and translated several books on Tibetan Buddhism. He is the Je Tsongkhapa Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies at Columbia University, holding the first endowed chair in this field of study in the United States. He also is the co-founder and president of the Tibet House New York and is active against the People's Republic of China's control of Tibet. He is perhaps most well-known for his translation of the Vimalakirti Sutra from the Tibetan Kanjur into English.