Trappist Monk Thomas Merton´s Interfaith Interests

"In the 1950s Merton began a long-term study of other religions: Hinduism, Taoism, Confucianism, Islam, and especially Zen Buddhism. He was inspired by the challenge of Gandhi that one can find the deeper roots of one’s own religious tradition by becoming immersed in other religions and then returning "home" to see one’s own tradition with a transformed consciousness and awareness. Merton contacted the Japanese Zen scholar D.T. Suzuki who was popularizing Zen in the West, and they began a long discussion on the similarities and differences between Zen Buddhism and Christianity. Merton launched his interfaith encounters with humility, expressing his approach to Suzuki: "I will not be so foolish as to pretend to you that I understand Zen. To be frank, I hardly understand Christianity." Yet Suzuki was impressed by Merton’s profound grasp of both Zen and Christianity. Eventually Merton began to frame his quest as wanting "to become as good a Buddhist as I can" because only with immersion inside the perspective and experience of another faith could he learn in depth that which would drive him deeper into his own Christianity. He found the 4th Century Christian writer Ambrose affirming this perspective saying, "All that is true, by whomever it is said, is from the Holy Spirit." Ambrose echoed the Buddhist teacher Bankei who said, "The further one enters into truth, the deeper it is."

(Photo: Louisville Kentucky, Thomas Merton, "RIP: politically electrocuted") Merton held fast to his Christian beliefs, but felt the contemporary Church had to take seriously the reality of the diverse religions in the world. In fact, for him religious dialogue was a spiritual necessity in the nuclear age because the West needed "the spiritual heritage of the East" or else the West would "hasten the tragedy that threatens man and his civilizations." The opening of the Catholic Church to dialogue and collaboration with other religions through the Second Vatican Council gave formal approval for what Merton was already doing. Merton found the connection point between Christianity and Buddhism not in doctrines and intellectual formulas but in the rejection of the false self and direct experience through contemplation of where God is in emptiness and compassion." https://readthespirit.com/interfaith-peacemakers/thomas-merton/ What do you think about Merton´s interfaith interests? How does your own understanding compare?