Thomas Merton in Alaska

Thomas Merton in Alaska PDF

Author: Thomas Merton

Publisher: New Directions Publishing

Published: 1989

Total Pages: 196

ISBN-13: 9780811210386

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

This book contains the journal and letters Merton wrote during his Alaskan visit which were published in a limited edition in 1988 as The Alaskan Journal by Turkey Press.

The Other Side of the Mountain

The Other Side of the Mountain PDF

Author: Thomas Merton

Publisher: Harper Collins

Published: 2010-09-14

Total Pages: 372

ISBN-13: 0062016784

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

With the election of a new Abbot at the Abbey of Gethsemani, Merton enters a period of unprecedented freedom, culminating in the opportunity to travel to California, Alaska, and finally the Far East – journeys that offer him new possibilities and causes for contemplation. In his last days at the Abbey of Gethsemani, Merton continues to follow the tumultuous events of the sixties, including the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert Kennedy. In Southeast Asia, he meets the Dalai Lama and other Buddhist and Catholic monks and discovers a rare and rewarding kinship with each. The final year is full of excitement and great potential for Merton, making his accidental death in Bangkok, at the age of fifth-three, all the more tragic.

On Eastern Meditation

On Eastern Meditation PDF

Author: Thomas Merton

Publisher: New Directions Publishing

Published: 2012-06-20

Total Pages: 80

ISBN-13: 081121995X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

A great introduction to the religions of the East by a monk from the West. Merton’s biographer, George Woodcock, once wrote that “almost from the beginning of his monastic career, Thomas Merton tentatively began to discover the great Asian religions of Buddhism and Taoism.” Merton, a longtime social justice advocate, first approached Eastern theology as an admirer of Gandhi’s beliefs on non-violence. Through Gandhi, Merton came to know the great Hindu text the Bhagavad Gita and in time came to have dialogues with the Dalai Lama and Taoist leader D. T. Suzuki. Merton then became deeply interested in Chuang Tzu and Zen thought. On Eastern Meditation, edited by Bonnie Thurston (author of Merton and Buddhism), gathers the best of his Eastern theological writings into a gorgeously designed gift book edition.

Raids on the Unspeakable

Raids on the Unspeakable PDF

Author: Thomas Merton

Publisher: New Directions Publishing

Published: 1966

Total Pages: 198

ISBN-13: 9780811201018

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

This paperbook collection of his prose writings reveals the extent to which Thomas Merton moved from the other-worldly devotion of his earlier work to a direct, deeply engaged, often militant concern with the critical situation of man in the world.

Zen and the Birds of Appetite

Zen and the Birds of Appetite PDF

Author: Thomas Merton

Publisher: New Directions Publishing

Published: 2010-07-27

Total Pages: 144

ISBN-13: 0811219720

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Merton, one of the rare Western thinkers able to feel at home in the philosophies of the East, made the wisdom of Asia available to Westerners. "Zen enriches no one," Thomas Merton provocatively writes in his opening statement to Zen and the Birds of Appetite--one of the last books to be published before his death in 1968. "There is no body to be found. The birds may come and circle for a while... but they soon go elsewhere. When they are gone, the 'nothing,' the 'no-body' that was there, suddenly appears. That is Zen. It was there all the time but the scavengers missed it, because it was not their kind of prey." This gets at the humor, paradox, and joy that one feels in Merton's discoveries of Zen during the last years of his life, a joy very much present in this collection of essays. Exploring the relationship between Christianity and Zen, especially through his dialogue with the great Zen teacher D.T. Suzuki, the book makes an excellent introduction to a comparative study of these two traditions, as well as giving the reader a strong taste of the mature Merton. Never does one feel him losing his own faith in these pages; rather one feels that faith getting deeply clarified and affirmed. Just as the body of "Zen" cannot be found by the scavengers, so too, Merton suggests, with the eternal truth of Christ.

The Literary Essays of Thomas Merton

The Literary Essays of Thomas Merton PDF

Author: Thomas Merton

Publisher: New Directions Publishing

Published: 1985

Total Pages: 580

ISBN-13: 9780811209311

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Discusses Blake, Joyce, Pasternak, Faulkner, Styron, O'Connor, Camus, symbolism, creativity, alienation, contemplation, and freedom.

The Inner Experience

The Inner Experience PDF

Author: Thomas Merton

Publisher: Harper Collins

Published: 2012-09-11

Total Pages: 192

ISBN-13: 0062245082

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Now in paperback, revised and redesigned: This is Thomas Merton's last book, in which he draws on both Eastern and Western traditions to explore the hot topic of contemplation/meditation in depth and to show how we can practice true contemplation in everyday life. Never before published except as a series of articles (one per chapter) in an academic journal, this book on contemplation was revised by Merton shortly before his untimely death. The material bridges Merton's early work on Catholic monasticism, mysticism, and contemplation with his later writing on Eastern, especially Buddhist, traditions of meditation and spirituality. This book thus provides a comprehensive understanding of contemplation that draws on the best of Western and Eastern traditions. Merton was still tinkering with this book when he died; it was the book he struggled with most during his career as a writer. But now the Merton Legacy Trust and experts have determined that the book makes such a valuable contribution as his major comprehensive presentation of contemplation that they have allowed its publication.

New Seeds of Contemplation

New Seeds of Contemplation PDF

Author: Thomas Merton

Publisher: Shambhala Publications

Published: 2003

Total Pages: 321

ISBN-13: 1590300491

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

A collection of thirty-nine short essays in which Thomas Merton examines what true contemplation is and how it can impact one's spirituality.

Bread in the Wilderness (New Directions Classic)

Bread in the Wilderness (New Directions Classic) PDF

Author: Thomas Merton

Publisher: New Directions Publishing

Published: 1997-04-17

Total Pages: 166

ISBN-13: 0811224163

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

The Psalms, which Thomas Merton called "one of the most valid forms of prayer for men of all time," are the most significant and influential collection of religious poems ever written, summing up the theology of the Old Testament and serving as daily nourishment for the devout. Bread in the Wilderness sets forth Merton's belief that "the Psalms acquire, for those who know how to enter into them, a surprising depth, a marvelous and inexhaustible actuality. They are bread, miraculously provided by Christ, to feed those who have followed Him into the wilderness." Merton's goal in this moving book is to help the reader enter into the Psalms: "The secret is placed in the hands of each Christian. It only needs to be discovered and fulfilled in our own lives." The new ND Classic edition of Bread in the Wilderness faithfully reproduces the beautiful, large-format original 1953 New Directions books, created by the celebrated designer Alvin Lustig and lavishly illustrated throughout with photographs of a remarkable medieval crucifix at Perpignan, France.