2018/05/29

바이블 키워드 : 네이버 지식백과

바이블 키워드 : 네이버 지식백과





『바이블 키워드』 2007. 12. 24.책보러가기

J. 스티븐 랭외 1인 도서출판 들녘
서양 문화와 사상의 뿌리, ‘바이블’은 교양필독서. 500여 개의 키워드로 성서를 살펴보다. <교양인을 위한 바이블 키워드>는 서양 문화와 사상의 뿌리인 성서의 문화적 영향을 새롭게 조명한 책이다... 자세히보기
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Book Review: 'Democracy In Chains,' By Nancy MacLean : NPR



Book Review: 'Democracy In Chains,' By Nancy MacLean : NPR




'Democracy In Chains' Traces The Rise Of American Libertarianism
June 18, 20177:00 AM ET


GENEVIEVE VALENTINE



Democracy in Chains

The Deep History of the Radical Right's Stealth Plan for America

by Nancy MacLean


Hardcover, 334 pagespurchase
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Editor's note, Aug. 28: NPR is aware that questions were raised about Nancy MacLean's scholarship after the publication of Democracy in Chains. We've addressed the issue in an Ombudsman column, which you can find here.

Obscuring census data to give "conservative districts more than their fair share of representation." Preventing access to the vote. Decrying "socialized medicine." Trying to end Social Security using dishonest vocabulary like "strengthened." Lionizing Lenin. Attempting to institute voucher programs to "get out of the business of public education." Increasing corporatization of higher education. Harboring a desire, at heart, to change the Constitution itself.

This unsettling list could be 2017 Bingo. In fact, it's from half a century earlier, when economist James Buchanan — an early herald of libertarianism — began to cultivate a group of like-minded thinkers with the goal of changing government. This ideology eventually reached the billionaire Charles Koch; the rest is, well, 2017 Bingo.

This sixty-year campaign to make libertarianism mainstream and eventually take the government itself is at the heart of Democracy in Chains. It's grim going; this isn't the first time Nancy MacLean has investigated the dark side of the American conservative movement (she also wrote Behind the Mask of Chivalry: The Making of the Second Ku Klux Klan), but it's the one that feels like it was written with a clock ticking down.
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It's grim going; this isn't the first time Nancy MacLean has investigated the dark side of the American conservative movement ... but it's the one that feels like it was written with a clock ticking down.

Still, it takes the time to meticulously trace how we got here from there. Charles and his brother David Koch have been pushing the libertarian agenda for more than 20 years. A generation before them, Buchanan founded a series of enclaves to study ways to make government bend. Before that, critic and historian Donald Davidson coined the term "Leviathan" in the 1930s for the federal government, and blamed northeasterners for "pushing workers' rights and federal regulations. Such ideas could never arise from American soil, Davidson insisted. They were 'alien' European imports brought by baleful characters." And going back another century, the book locates the movement's center in the fundamentalism of Vice President John C. Calhoun, for whom the ideas of capital and self-worth were inextricably intertwined. (Spoilers: It was about slavery.)

Buchanan headed a group of radical thinkers (he told his allies "conspiratorial secrecy is at all times essential"), who worked to centralize power in states like Virginia. They eschewed empirical research. They termed taxes "slavery." They tried repeatedly to strike down progressive action — school integration, Social Security — claiming it wasn't economically sound. And they had the patience and the money to weather failures in their quest to win.

As MacLean lays out in their own words, these men developed a strategy of misinformation and lying about outcomes until they had enough power that the public couldn't retaliate against policies libertarians knew were destructive. (Look no further than Flint, MacLean says, where the Koch-funded Mackinac Center was behind policies that led to the water crisis.) And it's painstakingly laid out. This is a book written for the skeptic; MacLean's dedicated to connecting the dots.



We are, 'Democracy in Chains' is clear, at a precipice.

She gives full due to the men's intellectual rigor; Buchanan won the Nobel for economics, and it's hard to deny that he and the Koch brothers have had some success. (Alongside players like Dick Armey and Tyler Cowen, there are cameos from Newt Gingrich, John Kasich, Mitt Romney, and Antonin Scalia.) But this isn't a biography. Besides occasional asides, MacLean's much more concerned with ideology and policy. By the time we reach Buchanan's role in the rise of Chilean strongman Augusto Pinochet (which backfired so badly on the people of Chile that Buchanan remained silent about it for the rest of his life), that's all you need to know about who Buchanan was.

If you're worried about what all this means for America's future, you should be. The clear and present danger is hard to ignore. When nearly every radical belief the Buchanan school ever floated is held by a member of the current administration, it's bad news.

But it's worth noting that the primary practice outlined in this book is the leveraging of money to protect money — and the counter-practice is the vocal and sustained will of the people. We are, Democracy in Chains is clear, at a precipice. At the moment, the first practice is winning. If you don't like it, now's the time to try the second. And if someone you know isn't convinced, you have just the book to hand them.

Genevieve Valentine's latest novel is Icon.
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Thomas Merton. The Asian Journal of Thomas Merton (New Directions Books)

Thomas Merton

The Asian Journal of Thomas Merton (New Directions Books)




"This is quintessential Merton."―The Catholic Review.

"The moment of takeoff was ecstatic...joy. We left the ground―I with Christian mantras and a great sense of destiny, of being at last on my true way after years of waiting and wondering..." With these words, dated October 15. 1968, the late Father Thomas Merton recorded the beginning of his fateful journey to the Orient.

His travels led him from Bangkok, through India to Ceylon, and back again to Bangkok for his scheduled talk at a conference of Asian monastic orders.
There he unequivocally reaffirmed his Christian vocation.
His last journal entry was made on December 8, 1968, two days before his untimely, accidental death. Amply illustrated with photographs he himself took along the way and fully indexed, the book also contains a glossary of Asian religious terms, a preface by the Indian scholar Amiya Chakravarty, a foreword and postscript by Brother Patrick Hart of the Abbey of Gethsemani, as well as several appendices, among them the text of Merton's final address. Black-and-white photographs throughout




Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review


This volume, the journal Merton kept on the journey to Asia where his life ended, also is a culmination of his long spiritual journey as a writer. "His ecumenism was total," the editors remind us, "and we find him ranging from Tantric Buddhism to Zen, and from Islam and Sufism to Vedanta." The book, however, is not dryly academic; rather, as the foreword suggests, "Merton's pilgrimage to Asia was an effort to deepen his own religious and monastic commitment." Merton himself was clear about this sense of pilgrimage; so too was he clear that this meant in no way a break with his Christian roots. "I think we have now reached a stage ... of religious maturity," he writes, "at which it may be possible for someone to remain perfectly faithful to a Christian and Western monastic commitment, and yet to learn in depth from say, a Buddhist discipline and experience." This book is the fruit of such learning. Including descriptions of his meetings with the young Dalai Lama, the book is meticulously edited and supplied with useful explanatory notes and appendices, including transcriptions of talks that Merton gave during his trip. Most movingly, however, the journal itself concludes with the narrative of his transformative experiences in Ceylon where he visited three colossal figures of Buddha carved from huge stones. "Surely," he writes, "my Asian pilgrimage has come clear and purified itself." A few days later he passed away.
--Doug Thorpe
Review


Painstakingly edited by a team of scholarly admirers, but still tantalizingly unfinished, the journal is a collage of Asian images, sacred and profane....And the book itself is a kind of mandala, drawing the reader deep into a philosophical analysis, then abruptly forcing him out into the physical world. "See all Editorial Reviews


Product details

Series: New Directions Books

Paperback: 445 pages
Publisher: New Directions; Reprint edition (February 28, 1975)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0811205703
ISBN-13: 978-0811205702
Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 1.3 x 8 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars 34 customer reviews


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5.0 out of 5 stars
Merton was ahead of his time.
ByTeresa Walstonon November 10, 2015
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I have read one Catholic writing putting down Thomas Merton as not 'Catholic' enough. I was very gratified by Pope Francis' statement regarding Merton (while the pope visited the US) which indicates that some of the great religious minds, including Merton, believe we should be more knowledgeable and respectful of other religions. He said that Merton was definitely on the right track to be able to converse with other religious people. It has been my experience that each religion does (even if many are not paying attention) inform the other, i.e., when the Catholic Monastic traditions were failing, the learned from Buddhist what meditation is and applied it in a somewhat varied form to Christianity. If a religion is 'true' it should be able not only to tolerate other religions, but also embrace them.

7 people found this helpful

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4.0 out of 5 starsback and forth brilliance
Bywordworkeron February 28, 2018
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If you read this book as I have, you will be flipping from footnotes to appendices and back to the main content. Nevertheless, due to Merton's untimely death, I feel the editors did a highly praiseworthy job of piecing together snippets of his musings, notes, conversations, ramblings and research to arrive at coherent conclusions. Additionally, many of the featured authorities and laymen offer lines of brilliant reflection and analysis. I wish I had time to read many of the works listed in the bibliography, though I did purchase a book of Merton's photos as a sort of companion piece. If you, like I, am an ardent fan or follower of his, I'd suggest reading some of his other lauded tomes. An unparalleled scholar, his humanness meshed with his piety delivers a brilliance that will forever be foreshadowed by his unexpected passing. I feel he had many miles to go before reaching conclusions taking shape in this work, and the last of those would have had profound influence where the merging of Eastern and Western beliefs are concerned.

One person found this helpful

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5.0 out of 5 stars... 
not heard of Thomas Merton before I learned a great deal from this fascinating book
ByTimothy R. Moriartyon May 2, 2016
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Having not heard of Thomas Merton before I learned a great deal from this fascinating book. It reads like a travel journal with random thoughts, descriptions, and opinions interjected throughout. Merton was incredibly interested in moving outside of his comfort zone and examining the Easter spiritual traditions and customs of Buddhism and Hinduism through the eyes of a Catholic monk from Kentucky. His travels took him to Calcutta, New Delhi, Madras, Ceylon, Bangkok and The Himalayas. I found the book to be engaging and one I did not want to put down. The book is filled with reference notes, annotations, and appendices that provide for a thorough understanding of what he was encountering including descriptions of all those he met along the way. It is important to remember that this was an ongoing effort by Merton and in no way may represent what was to be the final result. He died tragically while on his journey and it would have been interesting to see what the book might have been like had he had a chance to review and complete his journal entries. His untimely death ended a story that I did not want to end. Every time I picked it up I was taken to a new place through description and narrative that was both insightful and unusual. He included the smallest of details that added to the mystery of his travel. You never knew what he might encounter next:

“…my Asian pilgrimage has come clear and purified itself. I mean, I know and have seen what I was obscurely looking for. I don’t know what else remains but I have now seen and have pierced through the surface and have got beyond the shadow and the disguise. This is Asia in its purity, not covered with garbage, Asian or European or American, and it is clear, pure, complete. It says everything; it needs nothing. And because it needs nothing it can afford to be silent, unnoticed, undiscovered. It does not need to be discovered. It is we, Asians included, who need to discover it. The whole thing is very much a Zen garden, a span of bareness and openness and evidence, and the great figures, motionless, yet with the lines in full movement, waves of vesture and bodily form, a beautiful and holy vision. The rest of the ‘city’, the old palace complex, I had no time for. We just drove around the roads and saw the ruined shapes, and started on the long drive home to Kandy.”

I believe after reading this book you will come away with an experience that will transcend structured religious thought or practice. It opened my mind to all the possibilities yet framed it from a contemplative viewpoint that one would find beneficial regardless of faith or tradition. I especially liked the poetic nature of his daily log. Enjoy!

2 people found this helpful

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5.0 out of 5 stars
Offers Insight That I Didn't Expect
Bylightshowon February 17, 2014
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I have read very little of Thomas Merton and knew little about him except that he was a monk and famous and very open minded and not so much religious as spiritual.He was attracted to Eastern spiritual traditions -- Buddhism especially -- and his journal of his journey to the East shows a man I think who was wavering, was intensely drawn to Buddhism and if he had lived I can imagine that he would have, perhaps, left the church to become a Buddhist. That's just a guess of course. From his journal it appears that he was very fond of drinking and I wonder if he had a problem with it. I didn't know how he died until I read this book -- he was electrocuted they think when he tried to turn off or on a fan that was in the bathroom where he was taking a bath. He was a very brilliant person and am glad that his diary was published. He was quite open about his feelings in his journal, also was a poet.

2 people found this helpful

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5.0 out of 5 stars
Fascinating journal of Christian monk encountering the East
ByIncantessimoVINE VOICEon March 15, 2004
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This book is a must-read for fans of Merton, and for anyone interested in encounters between Western Christianity and Eastern religions (particularly Hinduism and Buddhism).
Merton achieved incredible realizations and great insight into Buddhism despite the fact that he lived most of his life as a monk and hermit isolated at Gethsemani Abbey in Kentucky, USA. At the end of his life, invited to present a paper in Bangkok on the renewal of monasticism, Merton made what he called his 'Asian pilgrimage' and finally set out to see firsthand what he had studied in books. This journal took him all across Asia, to various holy sites, and to encounters with numerous religious communities. He met, along the way, such people as H.H. the Dalai Lama and Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. He records all of this, his encounters, and even more interestingly, his own reflection on Buddhism and Christianity, in this wonderful gem of a journal.
What would have happened had Merton lived a few more years? I often ask myself this. He was exploring not just the surface of Buddhism (even now, many decades later, the presentation of Buddhism in the West can be very superficial), but delving into its very heart -- mandalas, tantras, and so on, and probing into what their nature was and what this might mean for Christianity to encounter a spirituality that seemed at once totally foreign and alien, and yet at the same time the very essence of what Christianity means.
Merton was a brilliant individual. He does not succumb to easy platitudes such as "It's all the same thing" or anything like that. He respects difference. But he does also certainly see a deep and dazzling dynamic unity -- a truth -- that penetrates all of this -- and not just this, but every moment of our lives. That living power -- that is what is important, and he witnessed to this in his life and writings.

62 people found this helpful

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5.0 out of 5 starsThomas Merton, the Spiritual Adventurer
ByBeth Lon September 10, 2014
Format: Hardcover|Verified Purchase
For any reader of Thomas Merton, The Asian Journal of Thomas Merton is an essential study. This is especially true if a person reads any of the Merton & Buddhism, Merton & Sufism, etc.volumes. In Asian Journal Thomas Merton shares his thoughts, focus and place of his lectures, interactions with the Dali Lama, and so much more.
Merton was a spiritual adventurer and this is essential reading.

2 people found this helpful

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5.0 out of 5 starsThe Asian Journal of Thomas Merton
ByKLKotaon January 17, 2012
Format: Paperback|Verified Purchase
I had owned this book once before. I lost my copy in hurricane Katrina. I am throughly enjoying reading the book again. In fact, I think I am getting more from the book now than I did years ago. Thomas Merton was such an outstanding, inspiring person. The pictures that accompany the text add a lot to understanding Merton's journey to the East. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in monasticism and in particular taking a look at Eastern monasticism through western eyes.

One person found this helpful

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5.0 out of 5 starsExcellent for Merton Fans
ByBrianon April 10, 2016
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Superb. Captivating. Persons who already have a background of familiarity with Merton and his works will enjoy this much. I question whether others would be able to appreciate this work. Excellent, but not for many, is my opinion.


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4.0 out of 5 starsInterfaith dialogue
ByAmazon Customeron February 1, 2017
Format: Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase
Very committed beautiful presentation on understanding different faiths and dealing with interfaith dialogue.

One person found this helpful

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3.0 out of 5 starsOk but not Merton's best stuff.
BySteve DeGangion December 27, 2014
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This book is in two parts. The first part includes Merton's journal (at the end of his life) when he traveled to Bangkok ultimately. He has interesting notes but I found the detail on the spiritual practices of the East to be more than what I cared for. The second part of the book has complimentary material on the religion of the East. Again this was stuff I wasn't interested in. I know from other readings/journals of Merton that he continued his orthodox Christian faith to the end of his life and the contemplation via the Eastern techniques was a supplemental vehicle for him.

3 people found this helpful
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Amazon.com: Customer reviews: The Way of Chuang Tzu (Second Edition)

The Way of Chuang Tzu (Second Edition)











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Classic writings from the great Zen master in exquisite versions by Thomas Merton, in a new edition with a preface by His Holiness the Dalai Lama.Working from existing translations, Thomas Merton composed a series of his own versions of the classic sayings of Chuang Tzu, the most spiritual of Chinese philosophers. Chuang Tzu, who wrote in the fourth and third centuries B.C., is the chief authentic historical spokesperson for Taoism and its founder Lao Tzu (a legendary character known largely through Chuang Tzu’s writings). Indeed it was because of Chuang Tzu and the other Taoist sages that Indian Buddhism was transformed, in China, into the unique vehicle we now call by its Japanese name―Zen.

The Chinese sage abounds in wit and paradox and shattering insights into the true ground of being. Thomas Merton, no stranger to Asian thought, brings a vivid, modern idiom to the timeless wisdom of Tao.




Editorial Reviews

Review


“A most admirable introduction to this less known but important source book of Taoism.”
- Alan Watts, The New York Times Book Review

“Thomas Merton is the saintly man who caused the Dalai Lama to come to admire Christianity as the equal of his beloved Buddhism.”
- Robert Thurman

“Merton is an artist, a Zen.”
- Thich Nhat Hanh
About the Author


Thomas Merton (1915-1968) entered the Cistercian Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky, following his conversion to Catholicism and was ordained Father M. Louis in 1949. During the 1960s, he was increasingly drawn into a dialogue between Eastern and Western religions and domestic issues of war and racism. In 1968, the Dalai Lama praised Merton for having a more profound knowledge of Buddhism than any other Christian he had known. Thomas Merton is the author of the beloved classic The Seven Storey Mountain.


Product details

Paperback: 160 pages
Publisher: New Directions; Second edition (March 30, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0811218511
ISBN-13: 978-0811218511
Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.5 x 8 inches
Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars 94 customer reviews
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5.0 out of 5 starsThe Trappist mystic's take on a Taoist Classic
ByBernie GourleyTop Contributor: Fantasy BooksTOP 1000 REVIEWERon March 24, 2016
Format: Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase
“The Way of Chuang Tzu” is Thomas Merton’s take on Chuang Tzu’s lessons of Taoism. One might ask why a person should learn about Taoism from a Trappist monk any more than one would learn the teachings of St. Francis of Assisi from a Zen monk. Maybe you should and maybe you shouldn’t, but I think Merton did a remarkable job in putting this book together and that there’s a lot to be learned from it. Some may find a fresh fusion in Merton’s approach to Chuang Tzu.

What I like most about this version of Chuang Tzu’s teachings is that Merton doesn’t foul it up with a bunch of analysis. Because the lessons are short and—admittedly, in some cases—arcane, there’s a temptation to write in a bunch of explanation and analysis—both to hit a page quota and to prove how smart the translator is. Ironically, some don’t seem to see the irony of rambling on in explication of Taoism—a philosophy that advocates simplicity and rebukes the wordy for their arrogance. Merton doesn’t fall into this trap. He offers a few pages of introduction as context for the reader, and then moves straight into 62 lessons of Chuang Tzu.

I’d say the introduction is useful, particularly for individuals without a great deal of background in Taoism. In it, Merton gives insight into potentially confusing topics like wu-wei (actionlessness), the yin/yang dichotomy, and the divergence of Taoists from Confucian scholars on the four-fold Ju philosophy of virtue. However, the intro can also be skipped if you do know a about Chinese philosophy, and don’t care to read a commentary on Taoism inflected with Trappist worldview. (Taoists may want to skip the intro if they’re prone to becoming infuriated by an outsider proposing that their life philosophy took a wrong turn along the way. Merton suggests that one shouldn’t confuse Chuang Tzu’s Taoism with what the system has become, the implication being that it was a sound philosophy and became voodoo hokum in modern times.) Merton does inevitably project some of his own worldview as a Christian monk into Chuang Tzu’s teachings. Some might find this to make for a refreshing commentary on it, and others may find it a bit off the mark on occasion.

Merton’s poetic background serves him well here as many of the lessons are in poetic form—partially or totally. Translating poetry is one of the most difficult linguistic tasks imaginable. Merton has the added challenge of never having read the original. He doesn’t read any Chinese languages. He did, however, consult four different translations in three different languages (English, French, and German.) This, of course, means that besides Merton being in the text, there’s a further seepage of Western framing into these Eastern teachings. I’ll leave it to the reader to decide whether this is a good or bad thing, and arguments could be made either way.

One of the strengths of Chuang Tzu’s lessons is his use of the narrative form. That is, the Taoist sage liked to use stories to impart his wisdom, like the wheelwright who insults the Emperor but then ends up teaching him a valued lesson. One of my favorites is the story about the Prince of Chu sending out high ranking emissaries to appoint Chuang Tzu to a ministerial post. Chuang Tzu explains why he is turning down the offer by way of an allegory about a turtle.

Chuang Tzu also uses dialogue to get his point across in a way that is easy to follow and clear. A prime example of this is the discussion between Chuang Tzu and Hui Tzu about the happiness of fishes, which has an almost Socratic ring to it. The combination of story and dialogue makes Chuang Tzu’s lessons sometimes easier to follow than the “Tao Te Ching” of Lao Tzu. Lao Tzu tends to be more arcane by way of his use of short, declarative statements that are vaguer and abstract (that could be a good thing, but given vast loss of cultural context it might be confusing as well.)

I’d recommend this book for anyone interested in Taoism. I enjoyed the Merton’s sparse approach, and think that he does a good job conveying Chuang Tzu’s lessons.

11 people found this helpful

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5.0 out of 5 starsThis book is an excellent starting place in the study of the early writings ...
ByBret Blakesleeon March 4, 2015
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This book is an excellent starting place in the study of the early writings of the Tao.

I have a lot of different translations of the works of Chuang Zi. None of them are exactly like the others. Translating from ancient Chinese must be a real challenge since all of them are quite different . Most of them however get the gist of the subject. Merton may get it more than many who try to translate word for word. This is a transliteration of Chuang's work. Kind of like Edward FitzGerald's transliteration of Omar khayyam's Rubaiyat. FitzGerald didn't translate Khayyam's work. But he did a truly remarkable job of getting the meaning of several of Khayyam's quatrains.

And this is a remarkable book in the very same manner. I always have an extra or two on hand to give away to people who might get something from it. I've given away more than 50 to date. I think that much of it. Yes, Merton does see the Tao through Christian eyes but I allow for this and translate it back to the Tao in my head. Or, at least, my image of the Tao which, by definition, must be imperfect. But, as I said, I've read (and re-read) several translations of the Chuang Tzu, the Lieh Tzu, the Tao Te Ching, the Analects, the Doctrine Of The Mean, the Han Fei Tzu, the I Ching, and several other early works of the Tao, the Chan, and Zen, All of which come directly from these books.

And Merton gets it. He doesn't get it all. Or, maybe, he doesn't present it all here, I can’t actually speak to what Merton gets or doesn’t get. But this book is an excellent starting place in the study of the early writings of the Tao. It's easy to read and easy to comprehend, but there is a lot in it. Every time you read it you will get something new out of it. Like most beginnings it can be re-examined and studied at most places along the way and It never fails to offer a good foundation. If you don't start here, it offers an alternative foundation that will, at least, be interesting.

You can do a lot worse than buy this book. Reading it until you get all the meaning out of it will reward you greatly. Have fun. It’s worth it.

[You will notice this book has only 1 (at this time of this review) negative review. I think that review speaks for itself. But like most of his ilk he seems uncomfortable with the English language and it’s uses, and sees conspiracy everywhere because he understands nothing. ‘Nuff said ‘bout this.]

16 people found this helpful

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5.0 out of 5 starsAn Important Ecumenical Work
ByLawrence Weberon March 23, 2014
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The Way of Chuang Tzu, by Thomas Merton, is the product of five years of immersion, study, prayer, and reflection on the work of Zhuangzi, one of the towering figures in Chinese Taoism (Daojia) who lived sometime between the Fourth and Third Century BC.

According to Merton, the notes based on his meditative readings, "have acquired a shape of their own and have become, as it were, 'imitations' of Chuang Tzu." Merton goes on to describe these imitations as personal spiritual interpretations and should not be mistaken for scholarship.
What evolves then becomes a multi-layered tapestry of the poetic, intuitive, provocative, and complex. Merton has found a kindred spirit in Chuang Tzu, and there is little doubt that Merton and Master Chuang share a viewpoint of life that may be common to many monastics across a broad spectrum of religious and philosophical disciplines. This kinship needs no justification by Merton, a towering figure of Twentieth Century Catholicism in his own right; and Merton goes on to say that he "may be pardoned for consorting with a Chinese recluse who shares the climate and peace of my own kind of solitude, and who is my own kind of person."

To attempt an understanding of Chuang Tzu, it is essential to understand the world in which he lived. Confucianism was the dominant Chinese philosophy of Chuang Tzu's time; and while Chuang Tzu often ridiculed Confucianism as too restrictive, it would be too simplistic to state that Taoism stood in direct contrast to Confucianism. According to Merton, "if Chuang Tzu reacted against the Ju doctrine [of Confucianism], it was not in the name of something lower-the animal spontaneity of the individual who does not want to be bothered with a lot of tiresome duties-but in the name of something altogether higher. This is the most important fact to remember when we westerners confront the seeming antinomianism of Chuang Tzu or of the Zen masters." While Confucius could advocate for Tao, Chuang Tzu believed that he was not referring to what he believed was the "great Tao" which is invisible and incomprehensible-the Eternal Tao.

For Chuang Tzu, the Eternal Tao was the source of all things. Chuang Tzu critiqued Confucius because he refused to focus his teachings on the Eternal Tao simply because it was unknowable. According to Chuang Tzu, only when one was connected in some way to the Eternal Tao (a connection beyond both words and silence), could one truly begin to understand how to live. Merton interprets Confucian understanding of Tao to be an "ethical Tao" or a "Tao of man," and he equates this understanding to be on par with the Christian interpretation of the Golden Rule. Merton concludes that this interpretation of Tao is not the Eternal Tao that Chuang Tzu espouses. Chuang Tzu eventually discarded this Confucian interpretation as illusory; where everything is distilled and categorized into a universal ethic of Tao (The Tao of Fatherhood is given as an example).

Merton brilliantly synthesizes Chuang Tzu's critique of the Confucian ethic of the "Superior Man" with the example of the heroic and the virtuous public servant by explaining that even the good and the noble person:

Engages in a self-conscious and deliberate campaign to 'do his duty' in the belief that this is right and therefore productive of happiness. He sees 'happiness' and 'the good' as 'something to be attained,' and thus he places them outside himself in the world of objects. In so doing, he becomes involved in a division from which there is no escape: between the present, in which he is not yet in possession of what he seeks, and the future in which he thinks he will have what he desires...

Chuang Tzu believed that abstractions such as "happiness," "virtue," and "justice" were concepts placed into the world of objects to be attained, and should be considered ambiguous at best, dangerous at worst. Here he means that whatever one considers good (the good) to be attained (as outside of one's self), the more the good becomes abstracted and unattainable. Instead, Chuang Tzu advocated Wu Wei, or non-action.

According to Chuang Tzu, Wu Wei is not concerned with conscious planning; in fact self-conscious action of any type is restrictive and stands opposed to the Eternal Tao. When you are in harmony with the Eternal Tao, right action, virtue, and good, which always manifest at the appropriate time without self-conscious deliberation, will intuitively become known to you, and you will act with Tao in full freedom. This concept of Wu Wei is reminiscent of the Gospel passage from Saint Matthew, "Then Jesus said to his disciples, "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me (MT 16:24)." Dying to one's self or dying to one's self-consciousness is essential. Similarly, Saint Paul echoes this theme in Galatians 2:20 when he says, "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me." It is not difficult to imagine the phrase sounding like this: I no longer live, but Tao (the Eternal Tao) lives in me.

Here is where I believe Merton finds a kindred spirit in Chuang Tzu. Merton recognizes that Chuang Tzu is actually moving into an area of mysticism which goes beyond mere object good, into metaphysical truth. He does not disdain virtue, good, happiness etc...He transcends them. I like that Merton recognizes in Chuang Tzu a man who challenges Merton's own vocation to solitude and contemplation, and I admire Merton all the more for confronting Chuang Tzu's critiques of contemplation and the interior life by deeply connecting his monasticism with Tao. "The true tranquility sought by the 'man of tao' is Ying ning, tranquility in the action of non-action, in other words, a tranquility which transcends the division between activity and contemplation by entering into union with the nameless and invisible Tao." I believe Merton equates this with divine union.

Finally, it is critical to understand that for Chuang Tzu, Tao is found everywhere; in the same way that Christians believe that God is both omnipresent and omniscient (Proverbs 15:3 The eyes of the Lord are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good). Merton connected to this abstraction personally. In living out Wu Wei, Chuang Tzu advocated a non-action that was in complete harmony with Tao-in other words-perfect action. Merton described this as "action not carried out independently of Heaven and earth...in perfect harmony with the whole. It is not mere passivity, but it is action that seems both effortless and spontaneous because performed "rightly," in perfect accordance with our nature and with our place in the scheme of things. It is completely free because there is in it no force and no violence. It is not "conditioned" or "limited" by our own individual needs and desires, or even by our own theories and ideas."

Today, when I read John 17:21, "that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me," it is not difficult to think that Thomas Merton, perhaps more than any Catholic during the last century, truly recognized the common spiritual unity (the oneness of each other's souls as grounded in the Triune-One) we all share as brothers and sisters in this world. Reading The Way of Chuang Tzu, truly contemplating Merton’s interpretive message which is rooted in his own Christology, and then living it out through Chuang Tzu's idea of non-action, becomes a great way to continue the wonderful ecumenical work Merton engaged in so selflessly when he recognized how interconnected he was with his brother Chuang Tzu, and how God (Eternal Tao) ultimately connects all of us together in the oneness of mystery and truth.

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5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars
By♫NewHorizons♫on February 6, 2018
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Thomas Merton's takes on Chuang Tzu. I've read this countless times over the past couple decades. Delightful.

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4.0 out of 5 starsThe Way of Chang Tzu by Thomas Merton
Byiwishmikeyon February 15, 2013
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I have read many of Thomas Merton's works. I enjoy his introductions in the main, but this time I thought the introduction "awfully wordy;" not incorrect, or poorly thought out; just full of verbiage. This is my only complaint.

The approach with Taoism, by a Cistercian Monk seemingly moving away from dogma -- but not really away from dogma -- a kind of Chuang Tzu approach is welcomed in a world where Catholicism is being challenged more and more. I am a lapsed Catholic that "religiously" prays the Liturgy of the Hours.

This book gives a novel way of approaching whatever we consider reality. It does not suggest a way to God, it suggests an approach in living and thinking.

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5.0 out of 5 starsEastern wisdom from Christian perspective
ByGerry O'Sullivanon December 15, 2014
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Thomas Merton's interpretations of Chuang Tsu's writings on Tao and Confucianism provide a wonderful vehicle for the contemplation of Self, Selflessness, No-Being and any other labels you want to tag onto the Meaning of Life. As an aspirational Buddhist, I found it offered me a refreshing perspective on my learnings. And you can pick it up and leave it off anywhere throughout the text. Most highly recommended.

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5.0 out of 5 starsGreat Translation and Format
ByP. Gormanon December 5, 2015
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Love this book and especially this format. Would like to see more, as this one is currently out of print and hard to find. Regardless, Merton retells these stories more credibly than other translations I've read.

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5.0 out of 5 starsAnother Merton winner
ByBarbara Duquette Sylvainon February 26, 2018
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Merton does it again, makes you think, smile, wonder and admire. You'll ponder his poems long after you put the book on the shelf.


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5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars
Bypure_honeyon June 17, 2016
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A book that should be in the curriculum of every well rounded individual.

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5.0 out of 5 starsMy favorite of the many out there
ByGavin G. Dillardon February 18, 2015
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Merton's translation is infinitely readable. My favorite of the many out there. His intro is brilliant as well—except for that one part about comparing Changzi to the Apostle Paul (go figure!).

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