It is a shame that Fr. Merton died before his thoughts on Eastern religions and Christianity were fully germinated. Here Merton takes us on a tourist path through Zen, and shows places where he thinks there are commonalities between Zen and Christianity. He is not, here, working toward any synthesis.

A trappist monk once told that Merton would not have stayed in the Catholic church if he had not died. I don't know about that, but reading this and the Asian Journals gives an interesting picture of a man whose intelligence had a wide scope, and whose piety (that is a good word) an even wider scope. ( )

This little set of essays on Zen Buddhism by one of the great Catholic thinkers of this century, a Trappist monk often associated with peace theology, is challenging and unique. It is clear the Merton is well-informed about Zen and approaches it from an open mind, seeking affinities between his faith and that of the Zen masters. I half expected a syncretic approach but, for all of his acceptance of ideas and concepts of Zen, Merton never compromises his essentially Christian view of the world. Rather, he embraces Zen mysticism; its apophatic approach to the universe and divinity; its rejection of the world and self; and he finds parallels in Christian life and thought down through the ages. He also describes his discussions with D.T. Suzuki in a way which clearly shows his delight with the man and his ideas. The dialogue between the two men shows the similarities as well as some of the differences in their thinking.

While most of the book elucidates Zen philosophy and relates it to western Christian thinking, a chapter on Zen and art rounds things out nicely. For anyone interested in Zen or Christianity this book will definitely be of interest. It has, in my opinion, the added benefit of pointing out the many parallels between Christian mystical and ascetic practices and Zen without confounding or conflating them. ( )

I bought this book primarily for the title. Something about it really appealed to me. Don't remember much about the book itself, however, other than that it about the commonalities between Buddhism and Christianity. ( )