Word: dzogchen
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1970-1979
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...many spiritual encounters in his travels included three talks with the Dalai Lama. But Merton seemed most at home with a master of the ancient Tibetan Buddhist way of Dzogchen, a mystical method that like Zen stresses the ability to achieve sudden illumination. "The parting note was a kind of compact that we would both do our best to make it [to complete Buddhahood] in this life." Yet what Merton found most striking in his exploration of Buddhism was the realization that the contemplative ways of the East were for him only an analogue of his own methods. Though...
Just a few days after meeting the Dzogchen master, Merton was in solitary retreat near Darjeeling. "I have a definite feeling," he wrote then, that the Asian trip "was something I didn't need to do," that there was "too much movement. Too much 'looking for' something." Yet even to learn that, he felt, the journey had been worth it. Later in the day he seemed profoundly content. "The sun is high, at the zenith. Clear soft sound of a temple bell, far down in the valley. Voices of children near the cottages above...