E. Gene Smith Interview Part 2 (with Julie Adler)

Having heard that E. Gene Smith was such a seminal figure in the Tibetan Buddhist world, Julie Adler wanted to interview him and produce a radio segment that would begin to illuminate how important Gene and his contributions have been for Tibetans, the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, and humanity in general. The segment would hopefully give people a greater understanding of where their Tibetan texts and translated versions came from.

Adler writes, "Text preservation is not a super sexy topic for radio so I was interested in what motivated Gene, and so the questions arose out of that curiosity. In Vancouver, I sat down with him in his UBC (University of British Columbia) satellite pod dorm room lounge after a morning of teachings with Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche, and I started to get to know him".

We are grateful that Julie has shared this special and unique recording of her interview with Gene in 2007. In it Gene tells the story of how he began to gather, print, digitize and make available Tibetan literature. He discusses Tibetan woodblock printing, Tibetan romance novels, the pattern of the Tibetologist, our work at TBRC, and what the future may hold. We find it interesting, moving and impossible to hold back our smiles.

See more of Julie Adler's story on the TBRC Blog at www.tbrc.org.

Julie Adler was a contributing producer on the radio show, The Tibet Connection, for KPFK, Pacific Radio (90.7 FM) in Los Angeles. Her segments have appeared on Pacifica Radio, NPR and PRX (Public Radio Exchange).

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Education

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• E. Gene Smith
• Julie Adler
• Interview
• Gene Smith
• TBRC
• Tibetan texts