Encounter: Thomas Merton and D. T. Suzuki.

Thomas Merton (1915-1968) was a writer and Trappist monk at Our Lady of Gethsemani Abbey in Kentucky. His writings include such classics as The Seven Storey Mountain, New Seeds of Contemplation, and Zen and the Birds of Appetite. Merton is the author of more than seventy books that include poetry, personal journals, collections of letters, social criticism, and writings on peace, justice, and ecumenism.

Daisetz T. Suzuki was one of the most influential scholars in bringing Zen Buddhism to the West. He was born in Kanazawa, Japan. He taught at universities in Europe, Japan and the United States. Merton rarely traveled during his years at Gethsemani Abbey, but received permission in 1964 to visit Suzuki at Columbia University in New York. (Source: «The Hidden Ground of Love», pp. 560-561.)