Foreign prefaces of Thomas Merton.

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.

Harry J. Cargas was writing from the Department of English at Saint Louis University in Missouri. He was the former editor of «Queen's Work», who published Merton's introduction to the Japanese edition of «The Seven Storey Mountain». He was a decorated combat veteran who had become a pacifist and liked Merton's writings on non-violence.