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try collection by merton a man in the divided sea which combined with thirty poems attracted some recognition for him the same year merton s manuscript for the seven storey mountain was accepted by harcourt brace company the seven storey mountain merton s autobiography was written during two hour intervals in the monastery scriptorium as a personal project 32 on march 19 1947 he took his solemn vows binding for life he also began corresponding with a carthusian at st hugh s charterhouse in england merton had harbored an appreciation for the carthusian order since coming to gethsemani in 1941 and would later come to consider leaving the cistercians for that order 33 in 1948 the seven storey mountain was published to critical acclaim with fan mail to merton reaching new heights merton also published several works for the monastery that year which were guide to cistercian life cistercian contemplatives figures for an apocalypse and the spirit of simplicity that year saint mary s college indiana also published a booklet by merton what is contemplation merton published as well that year a biography exile ends in glory the life of a trappistine mother m berchmans o c s o merton s abbot dunne died on august 3 1948 while riding on a train to georgia dunne s passing was painful for merton who had come to look on the abbot as a father figure and spiritual mentor on august 15 the monastic community elected dom james fox a former us navy officer as their new abbot in october merton discussed with him his ongoing attraction to the carthusian and camaldolese orders and their eremitical way of life to which fox responded by assuring merton that he belonged at gethsemani fox permitted merton to continue his writing merton now having gained substantial recognition outside the monastery on december 21 merton was ordained as a subdeacon from 1948 on merton identified himself as an anarchist 34 on january 5 1949 merton took a train to louisville and applied for american citizenship published that year were seeds of contemplation the tears of blind lions the waters of siloe 35 and the british edition of the seven storey mountain under the title elected silence on march 19 merton became a deacon in the order and on may 26 ascension thursday he was ordained a priest saying his first mass the following day in june the monastery celebrated its centenary for which merton authored the book gethsemani magnificat in commemoration in november merton started teaching mystical theology to novices at gethsemani a duty he greatly enjoyed by this time merton was a huge success outside the monastery the seven storey mountain having sold over 150 000 copies it is on national review s list of the 100 best nonfiction books of the twentieth century 36 in this particularly prolific period of his life merton is believed to have been suffering from loneliness and stress one incident indicative of this is his drive with the monastery s jeep acting in a possibly manic state during which he almost caused a head on collision 37 in 1953 he published a journal of monastery life titled the sign of jonas merton became well known for his dialogues with other faiths and his non violent stand during the race riots and vietnam war of the 1960s by this time he had adopted a broadly human viewpoint concerned about issues like peace racial tolerance and social equality in a letter to nicaraguan liberation theologian ernesto cardenal who had entered gethsemani but left in 1959 to study theology in mexico merton wrote the world is full of great criminals with enormous power and they are in a death struggle with each other it is a huge gang battle using well meaning lawyers and policemen and clergymen as their front controlling papers means of communication and enrolling everybody in their armies 38 he developed a personal radicalism which was political but not overtly sympathetic to marxism even though his cistercian critic louis lekai identified merton s adherence to marxian slogans 39 merton was above all devoted to non violence he regarded his viewpoint as based on simplicity and expressed it as a christian sensibility his new seeds of contemplation was published in 1961 merton finally achieved the solitude he had long desired while living in a hermitage on the monastery grounds in 1965 over the years he had occasional battles with some of his abbots about not being allowed out of the monastery despite his international reputation and voluminous correspondence with many well known figures of the day at the end of 1968 the new abbot flavian burns allowed him to undertake a tour of asia during which he met the dalai lama in india on three occasions and also the tibetan buddhist dzogchen master chatral rinpoche followed by a solitary retreat near darjeeling india in darjeeling he befriended tsewang yishey pemba a prominent member of the tibetan community 40 then in what was to be his final letter he noted in my contacts with these new friends i also feel a consolation in my own faith in christ and in his dwelling presence i hope and believe he may be present in the hearts of all of us 41 merton s role as a writer is explored in novelist mary gordon s on merton 2019 42 personal life edit the grave of thomas merton his grave marker reads fr louis merton died dec 10 1968 according to his book the seven storey mountain the youthful merton loved jazz but by the time he began his first teaching job he had forsaken all but peaceful music later in life whenever he was permitted to leave gethsemani for medical or monastic reasons he would catch what live jazz he could mainly in louisville or new york city in april 1966 merton underwent surgery to treat debilitating back pain while recuperating in a louisville hospital he fell in love with margie smith 43 a student nurse assigned to his care he referred to her in his diary as m he wrote poems to her and reflected on the relationship in a midsummer diary for m merton struggled to maintain his vows while being deeply in love it is not known if he ever consummated the relationship note 1 death edit on december 10 1968 merton was at a red cross retreat facility named sawang khaniwat thai สวางคนิวาส in samut prakan a province near bangkok thailand attending a monastic conference 44 45 46 after giving a talk at the morning session he was found dead later in the afternoon in the room of his cottage lying on his back with a standing fan having fallen and lying across his body a police test revealed that a defective electric cord was installed inside its stand the flow of electricity was strong enough to cause the death of a person if he touched the metal part 47 his associate jean leclercq stated in all probability the death of thomas merton was due in part to heart failure in part to an electric shock 48 since there was no autopsy there was no suitable explanation for the wound in the back of merton s head which had bled considerably 49 arriving from the cottage next to merton s the primate of the benedictine order and presiding officer of the conference rembert weakland anointed merton 50 merton s body was flown back to the united states on board a us military aircraft returning from vietnam he is buried at the gethsemani abbey 51 the spring 2024 issue of the catholic historical review published the official thai reports on thomas merton s death the official cause of death was a natural cause sudden heart failure and not accidental electrocution the police report states that merton was dead before he came into contact with a faulty fan that was found lying across his body 52 spirituality beyond catholicism edit eastern religions edit merton was first exposed to and became interested in eastern religions when he read aldous huxley s ends and means in 1937 the year before his conversion to catholicism 53 throughout his life he studied buddhism confucianism taoism hinduism sikhism jainism and sufism in addition to his academic and monastic studies 54 while merton was not interested in what these traditions had to offer as doctrines and institutions he was interested in what each said of the depth of human experience he believed that for the most part christianity had forsaken its mystical tradition in favor of cartesian emphasis on the reification of concepts idolization of the reflexive consciousness flight from being into verbalism mathematics and rationalization 55 of all of the eastern traditions merton wrote most about zen having studied the desert fathers and other christian mystics he found parallels between the language of christian mystics and zen philosophy 56 in 1959 merton began a dialogue with d t suzuki which was published nearly ten years later in merton s zen and the birds of appetite as wisdom in emptiness merton wrote then that any attempt to handle zen in theological language is bound to miss the point calling his final statements an example of how not to approach zen 57 merton struggled to reconcile the western and christian impulse to catalog and put into words with the ideas of christian apophatic theology and the unspeakable nature of the zen experience zhong fushi mentions having met merton who allegedly said to him zen is a way of perceiving the substantial reality of all things their goodness their beauty and their oneness ichinyo zhong interpreted this as merton aligning zen buddhism with an enlightenment of the aristotelian thomistic transcendentals common to everything that has or is or will exist 58 in keeping with his idea that non christian faiths had much to offer christianity in experience and perspective and little or nothing in terms of doctrine merton distinguished between zen buddhism an expression of history and culture and zen 56 by zen merton meant something not bound by culture religion or belief merton was influenced by aelred graham s book zen catholicism of 1963 59 note 2 native american spirituality edit this section may rely excessively on sources too closely associated with the subject potentially preventing it from being verifiable and neutral please help improve this article by replacing such sources with more appropriate citations to reliable independent sources july 2026 learn how and when to remove this message merton also explored native american spirituality he wrote a series of articles on native american history and spirituality for the catholic worker the center magazine theoria to theory and unicorn journal 60 he explored themes such as native american fasting 60 17 and missionary work 60 37 legacy edit marker commemorating thomas merton in louisville kentucky merton s influence has grown since his death and he is widely recognized as an important 20th century catholic mystic and thinker 61 62 however some scholars question his lineage as a mystic and assert merton is known primarily as a writer on contemplation rather than on mysticism 63 interest in his work contributed to a rise in spiritual exploration beginning in the 1960s and 1970s in the united states merton s letters and diaries reveal the intensity with which their author focused on social justice issues including the civil rights movement and proliferation of nuclear arms 64 he had prohibited their publication for 25 years after his death publication raised new interest in merton s life 65 the abbey of gethsemani benefits from the royalties of merton s writing 66 in addition his writings attracted much interest in catholic practice and thought and in the trappist vocation in recognition of merton s close association with bellarmine university the university established an official repository for merton s archives at the thomas merton center on the bellarmine campus in louisville kentucky 67 the thomas merton award a peace prize has been awarded since 1972 by the thomas merton center for peace and social justice in pittsburgh pennsylvania 68 in tribute to the centennial of merton s birth the festival of faiths in louisville in 2015 honored his life and work with sacred journey s the legacy of thomas merton 69 an annual lecture in his name is given at his alma mater columbia university in which the columbia chaplaincy invites a prominent catholic to speak 70 the campus ministry building at st bonaventure university the school where merton taught english briefly between graduating from columbia university with his m a in english and entering the trappist order is named after him st bonaventure university also holds an important repository of merton materials worldwide 71 bishop marrocco thomas merton catholic secondary school in downtown toronto ontario canada which was formerly named st joseph s commercial and was founded by the sisters of st joseph is named in part after him 72 some of merton s manuscripts that include correspondence with his superiors are located in the library of the monastery of the holy spirit in conyers georgia antony theodore has provided details of his encounters with asian spiritual leaders and the influence of confucianism taoism zen buddhism and hinduism on merton s mysticism and philosophy of contemplation 73 merton was one of four americans mentioned by pope francis in his speech to a joint meeting of the united states congress on september 24 2015 francis said merton was above all a man of prayer a thinker who challenged the certitudes of his time and opened new horizons for souls and for the church he was also a man of dialogue a promoter of peace between peoples and religions 74 in 2023 columbia university opened the thomas merton institute for catholic life at the church of notre dame 75 76 in november 1974 the thomas merton family center in bridgeport connecticut was founded as the thomas merton house of hospitality inspired by merton s life writings and commitment to social justice established by a small prayer group led by sacred heart university s fr john giuliani and student volunteers the center opened in an abandoned fire station and offered sit down meals to individuals experiencing poverty and homelessness over the decades the program expanded into a comprehensive service hub now known as the thomas merton family center providing a soup kitchen food pantry case management shower facilities and additional support services for vulnerable residents of bridgeport 77 in popular culture edit merton s life was the subject of the glory of the world a play by charles l mee roy cockrum a former monk who won the powerball lottery in 2014 helped finance the production of the play in new york prior to new york the play was shown in louisville kentucky 78 in the 2017 movie first reformed written and directed by paul schrader ethan hawke s character a middle aged protestant minister is influenced by merton s work 79 the title of the 2004 film original child bomb comes from merton s poem of the same name see also edit international thomas merton society list of works about thomas merton thomas merton bibliography notes edit this issue is discussed in detail in shaw mark 2009 beneath the mask of ...