33 quotes
Chuang Tzu is not concerned with words and formulas about reality, but with the direct existential grasp of reality in itself.
The Way of Chuang-Tzŭ (1965)
This new language of prayer has to come out of something which transcends all our traditions, and comes out of the immediacy of love.
The humor, the sophistication, the literary genius, and philosophical insight of Chuang Tzu are evident to anyone who samples his work.
The Way of Chuang-Tzŭ (1965)
All problems are resolved and everything is clear. The rock, all matter, all life, is charged with dharmakaya… everything is emptiness and everything is compassion.
The Asian Journal of Thomas Merton (1975)
The whole idea of compassion is based on a keen awareness of the interdependence of all these living beings, which are all part of one another, and all involved in one another.
Everybody makes fun of virtue, which by now has, as its primary meaning, an affectation of prudery practiced by hypocrites and the impotent.
The Seven Storey Mountain (1948)
There is a logic of language and a logic of mathematics.
The Secular Journal of Thomas Merton (1959)
The biggest human temptation is … to settle for too little.
There is no evil that is not fostered and encouraged for the sake of making money.
The Seven Storey Mountain (1948)
I am able to approach the Buddhas barefoot and undisturbed, my feet in wet grass, wet sand.
The Asian Journal of Thomas Merton (1975)
One might compare the journey of the soul to mystical union, by way of pure faith, to the journey of a car on a dark highway.
The Ascent to Truth (1951)
The very contradictions in my life are in some ways signs of God's mercy to me.
Persons are not known by intellect alone, not by principles alone, but only by love. It is when we love the other, the enemy, that we obtain from God the key to an understanding of who he is, and who we are.
Advertising treats all products with the reverence and the seriousness due to sacraments.
Love is our true destiny. We do not find the meaning of life by ourselves alone — we find it with another.
Love and Living (1979)
True happiness is not found in any other reward than that of being united with God. If I seek some other reward besides God Himself, I may get my reward but I cannot be happy.
We drive by night. Nevertheless our reason penetrates the darkness enough to show us a little of the road ahead. It is by the light of reason that we interpret the signposts and make out the landmarks along our way.
The Ascent to Truth (1951)
To say that I am made in the image of God is to say that Love is the reason for my existence, for God is love.
Love is my true identity. Selflessness is my true self. Love is my true character. Love is my name.
Seeds of Contemplation (1949)
The logic of the poet — that is, the logic of language or the experience itself — develops the way a living organism grows: it spreads out towards what it loves, and is heliotropic, like a plant.
The Secular Journal of Thomas Merton (1959)
I simply like Chuang Tzu because he is what he is and I feel no need to justify this liking to myself or to anyone else. He is far too great to need any apologies from me.
The Way of Chuang-Tzŭ (1965)