5/20/2023 0 Comments Thomas merton way of chuang tzu![]() ![]() Merton points out that Chuang Tzu's Taoism is not "the popular, degenerate amalgam of superstition, alchemy, magic, and health-culture which Taoism later became." Instead, Chuang Tzu's Taoism values an inner unity, a hiddenness of the true man, and a practical asceticism that Merton also finds in Christian mysticism. Merton assures us that his book "is not a new apologetic subtlety (or indeed a work of jesuitical sleight of hand) in which Christian rabbits will suddenly appear by magic out of a Taoist hat." Yet Merton's paraphrase demonstrates how Chuang Tzu's writings closely resemble the apophatic thought of some Christian theologians and mystics that Merton writes about elsewhere. The content of their philosophies is similar, too. Merton and Chuang Tzu both were hermits to some extent, and both spiritual philosophers of sorts, perhaps with Merton heavier on the spiritual side and Chuang Tzu more the philosopher. Merton sees Chuang Tzu as his kindred spirit. ![]()
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