The Joy of Encountering Christ

The Joy of Encountering Christ Thomas Merton and Zen is based on Merton'spioneering work of integrating Christian spirituality with Eastern religionsespecially Zen Buddhism. The author espouses perennial philosophywhich says that human beings have an identical dynamism of the spiritoriented to God. Christ is equivalent to Atman in Advaita Vedanta andthe Buddha-nature in Zen. We don't have an individual life apart fromChrist; our true self is Christ who lives within us. Merton's spirituality issummarized using the thirteenth century Buddhist philosopher Dogen'sdictum: To know Christ is to know true self. To know the true self isto know the false self. To know the false self is to cast off the body andmind by means of contemplation.Merton single-handedly lifted up Christian spirituality and madecontemplation a household word by firmly establishing that Zen providesthe epistemological and structural impetus for directly experiencing God.Contemplation is the process of manifesting the hidden wholeness-body mind and spirit by emptying the ego-self so that Christ takesownership of our interior selves. Without the wisdom and insights fromAsian religious traditions the Christian proclamation fails to convey itsfull meaning and remains divided between God and man heaven andearth and mind and body.