Podcast: Episode 146: Remembering Robert Thurman: Part 3: Nothing is Nothing

September 4, 2026

In the third episode of the special series Remembering Robert Thurman, we return for part two of Bob’s first talk at the Sacred Stream in 2008. With more than 80 people crowded into Laura and Isa’s San Francisco living room, Bob captivated the audience, bringing his extraordinary humor, intellect, and enthusiasm to this gathering of Sacred Stream students and friends. In this part of the talk, he takes us deep into the Buddhist cosmos, exploring the nature of emptiness and challenging our assumptions about what it means to exist. With characteristic delight, he declares that “emptiness is not nothing,” addressing common Buddhist misunderstandings of the concept and challenging scientific materialism and its assumption that we somehow came from nothing and ultimately return to nothing. From there, he leads us into the clear light of the void and toward one of the most beautiful ideas in Buddhist thought: that at the very foundation of reality is bliss.

It’s Bob at his most exuberant, provocative, and illuminating—and a wonderful reminder of the gift he brought to everyone who had the opportunity to hear him teach.

To learn more about Robert Thurman and his work, visit bobthurman.com, Tibet House US (thus.org), and Menla Retreat (menla.org).