In this typically humorous observation from Zen and the Birds of Appetite [1] Thomas Merton (1915-68) points out the difficulty of making tidy comparisons between Christianity and Zen Buddhism. Merton, the Trappist priest whose writings on spirituality and modern civilization made him a hero of post-World War II Catholic culture, was also a serious student of Zen Buddhism.
Merton's essays were instrumental in raising American awareness of Buddhism during the fabled "Zen boom" of the 1950s and 1960s. His lifelong affinity for Asian religions drew him deeply into a variety of eastern faith traditions, and he probably came as close as a Catholic priest can come to embracing the "way of Zen." Yet for all his success in making Zen accessible to modern Christians, Merton also perpetuated a number of assumptions that reinforce the stereotypes that have long hindered the "east-west" dialogue. Among these were his ready acceptance of the idea—which echoed the truisms of his friend and Zen mentor D.T. Suzuki (1870-1966)—that Zen was simply beyond the comprehension of the "western mind." Even though Zen had been introduced to America in 1893, and by the mid-twentieth century was well on its way to becoming a household word, it still preserved an aura of exotic "Oriental" inscrutablility.
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