The Asian Journal of Thomas Merton"This is quintessential Merton."—The Catholic Review. "The moment of takeoff was ecstatic...joy. We left the ground—I with Christian mantras and a great sense of destiny, of being at last on my true way after years of waiting and wondering..." With these words, dated October 15. 1968, the late Father Thomas Merton recorded the beginning of his fateful journey to the Orient. His travels led him from Bangkok, through India to Ceylon, and back again to Bangkok for his scheduled talk at a conference of Asian monastic orders. There he unequivocally reaffirmed his Christian vocation. His last journal entry was made on December 8, 1968, two days before his untimely, accidental death. Amply illustrated with photographs he himself took along the way and fully indexed, the book also contains a glossary of Asian religious terms, a preface by the Indian scholar Amiya Chakravarty, a foreword and postscript by Brother Patrick Hart of the Abbey of Gethsemani, as well as several appendices, among them the text of Merton's final address. |
Contents
POSTSCRIPT | |
On Mindfulness by Bhikkhu Khantipalo | |
Thomas Mertons View of Monasticism | |
Monastic Experience and EastWest Dialogue by Thomas Merton V Special Closing Prayer | |
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Abbot Asia Asian Atman Bangkok bhikkhu body Brahman Buddha Calcutta century A.D. Ceylon Chinese Christian consciousness Dalai Lama dance Darjeeling Dasgupta Delhi Dharamsala disciple doctrine door dzogchen EvansWentz experience Gelugpa Gethsemani guru Harold Talbott hermit hermitage Himalayas Hindu Hinduism India Jesuit John Howard Griffin Joseph’s Kanchenjunga Kandy Khantipalo King Krishna Lama’s Lhalungpa living looking Madhyamika Madras Mahayana man’s mandala Marco Pallis meditation mind Mogul monastery monastic monasticism monk mountain Murti mystical Nyingmapa one’s Pali paperback edition person philosophy poem poetry prajna prayer Rama Ramakrishna religion religious Rimpoche road sacred samadhi Sankaracharya Sanskrit school of Buddhism sects Shiva Sonam Kazi spiritual sunyata Talelo talk Tantra Tantric Buddhism Temple of Understanding things Thomas Merton thought Tibet Tibetan Buddhism tradition translated Trungpa Tucci University Vedanta Vishnu Webster’s Wisdom Yoga York