Why, in the world, was he in the downtown Louisville, Kentucky ??
That's the place I roamed for a few years during my training.
It's a bit crowded and rat-racy place.

If Thomas Merton felt such a profound inspiration in that busy inhumane corner
of the world, what could he have felt on the quiet beautiful foot-trails
in the mountains or deserts in the western US ?
When we meet another hikers on those lonely trails where we are unburdened
by the earthly rules, desires, and formalities, we really feel to belong each other.
I wish he (and you, too) was there on those trails.

Hahn Joong-nim,
I admire you for having remarkable depth of spirituality, knowledge, and holiness.

Thomas Merton's teachings always cause me urge for profound awakening. In our soul,
pure glory of God is present with nothingness and absolute poverty, as he states. "It is
like a pure diamond blazing with the invisible light of heaven".

나 선배님,
항상 격려의 말씀 감사 드립니다.
The above line you quoted is indeed so profound and beautiful and truthful that
it uplifts our spirit and deepens our faith.
It seems to describe Buddha's enlightenment, yet goes one step farther
towards God via Jesus.
I believe that is the difference between Buddhism and Christianity,
and the common denominator is the deep compassion for your neighbor which
both Buddha and Jesus preached.

Webmaster,
I suspected you would be familiar with downtown Louisville.
He lived at a monastery near Louisville at a place , called Gethesmane for some thirty years.
The last few years he lived as a hermit in the mountain.

 

Quotes By Thomas Merton

 Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.


Every moment and every event of every man's life on earth plants something in his soul.


Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance, order, rhythm and harmony.


If you want to study the social and political history of modern nations, study hell.


Love is our true destiny. We do not find the meaning of life by ourselves alone-we find it with another.


Pride makes us artificial and humility makes us real.


Solitude is not something you must hope for in the future. Rather,
it is a deepening of the present, and unless you look for it in the present you will never find it.


Learn how to meditate on paper. Drawing and writing are forms of meditation.


“The least of the work of learning is done in the classroom”


“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.”


We are so obsessed with doing that we have no time and no imagination left for being.
As a result, men are valued not for what they are but for what they do or what they have-for their usefulness.


“We have what we seek, it is there all the time, and if we give it time, it will make itself known to us.”