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Just musing upon all this, first that as I understand it, Buddhism in general would ask us not so much to not ask questions but rather not to work from conclusions. It asks us to to work from the existential reality of suffering in all its guises without grasping at "answers". This because it...

Hi again, yes, I was aware of your Faith tradition. Not having arrived just yet I fortunately have no choice to make,,,,:) Anyway, I did recently read a couple of short essays on the comparison and difference between Theravada and Mahayana by Thomas Cherevin in which his conclusion was that...

Hi Aupmanyav, leaving Thomas, the point I was seeking to make was that in a certain sense enlightenment IS grace, just as in the Christian tradition - at least according to Thomas Merton - God is His own Gift. I was seeking to say that we should not reify Grace, and we need not necessarily...

Hi Thomas, Hope you do not mind me doing this but I would like to add a couple of posts to your OP. They are from another forum where I sought to speak of grace and of how such could be seen as being intrinsic/at the heart of all Faiths. "I would just like to open a thread on the reality of...

Eckhart:- They do Him wrong who take God in just one particular way;they have the way rather than god. Or, as per a comment on the Dhammapada by Thomas Cleary, speaking of a "classical zen text" of a path that....."no celestial beings can see to strew flowers upon, and no demons or outsiders...

Thomas, thanks, I have heard the name but no more. I am a little bit restricted by eye problems, and find it easier to read on my kindle eReader, where I can alter the font sizes as required. So if any book is not available on kindle then it becomes a bit difficult. One that is available - I...

Here are some further words from Merton, which are found in his "Asian Journal", a journal he kept during his "pilgrimage" to Asia, which included India, Sri Lanka and Thailand, and meetings with various Buddhist communities.......and was to have included Japan, and the Zen monastic traditions...

To continue with Merton on "contemplation"........... The contemplative life isn't something objective that is "there" and to which, after fumbling around, you finally gain access. The contemplative life is a dimension of our subjective existence. Discovering the contemplative life is a new...

Well, for a while I took it upon myself to speak my mind as and when posts appeared that revolved around "only ways" and the fate of those who fail to recognise them as such. Seriously, it could only be called "combat" at times......:eek: I have now given this up. Though we can never really...

Anyway, moving on, and away from "contemplation" as such, a few more words from Merton suggested by the last exchange. This from "Raids on the Unspeakable"...... .....the deeper question is the nature of reality itself. Inexorable consistency. Is reality the same as consistency? The...

Nothing personal, just my own - perhaps - poor sense of humour. Amyway, yes, I think it is all rather easy to have a "viewpoint" into which we will always fit the latest fact/experience confronted, which we can then project back onto the world, confirming us in our "correctness." All well...

Now don't go all technical on me.........as I see it, Grace is fundamental. On a wide spectrum from a gift from "Him up there", to the insight that we do not attain emptiness but are empty from the very beginning (an insight drawn from a dialogue between Merton and D T Suzuki) Such a spectrum...

I will provide a bump for this old thread.............. Since its heyday on this particular forum I have contributed to another Merton thread, centering on contemplation, so will offer a few quotes here drawn from this. So to begin..... The purpose of a book of meditations is not to...

Hi seattlegal, thanks for the good wishes. I was looking up the old Thomas Merton thread for one reason or another, and took a quick peep at the rest of the forum. Maybe if any thread beckons in future I may contribute with some of my own brand of lunacy. :)

Hi Snoopy, yes I'm fine, and a new granddaddy! Probably a bit of a fly by.........just browsing after retiring from "combat" on a few other forums. Hope you are well. :)

Hi! You could do worse that get a kindle! The Red Pine commentary is available, and you can choose whatever font size suits! My eyes are always giving me trouble, what with one thing or another, but my kindle is a boon. Yes, I love the heft and feel of a book, but needs...

Thomas, Many thanks for your posts on this thread.

Maybe Eckhart is not for everyone. Basically he points to the way of negation - the via negativa - and this has many affinities with certain Buddhist paths. D.T.Suzuki, known for his books on Zen, has also written about Eckhart, with approval. Suzuki was also rich in his love of Shin Buddhism...

gregory, From my own life and experience it seems that there is much true interfaith dialogue..............."true" in the sense of seeking to understand the faith of another without prior judgement, and with the intent of thereby - perhaps - deepening their own. It seems we each have our...

Snoopy, Yes, Stephen Batchelor's book was the product of a long browse in Watkins Books of Cecil Court, London. I fingered a paperback edition of "Verses from the Centre" for a hour or two and then decided against parting with my hard earned cash - nevermind just how unreal or real it was -...