Jennifer Lewis Priestley

Thomas Merton

January 8, 2017

I would like to mention four Americans… Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Dorothy Day and Thomas Merton.

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Week Of

Dorothy Day

Thomas Merton

Google Trend Results by Week

The Reverend Canon Ulla Monberg

The Seven Storey Mountain

Published in 1948.

First printing planned for 7,500 copies…

Pre-publication sales exceeded 20,000.

By May 1949, 100,000 copies were in print.

Original hardcover edition eventually sold over 600,000 copies, and paperback sales exceeded 5 million copies.

The book has remained continuously in print since 1948.

Translated into more than fifteen languages.

On the National Review's list of the 100 best non-fiction books of the century.

Listed as 100 Christian Books That Changed the Century (2000).

Amazon ranking holds steady around #3,100 (There are over 11million books for sale on Amazon).

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1930 1950 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015

COUNT OF MEN IN US CATHOLIC RELIGIOUS ORDERS Source: cara.georgetown.edu

Publication of the Seven Storey Mountain

“one can find the deeper roots of one’s own religious tradition by becoming immersed in other religions--and then returning “home” to see one’s own heritage in a transformed way, with a transformed consciousness.”

Thomas Merton and The Dalai Lama

"The Dalai Lama is most impressive as a person. He is strong and alert… A very solid, energetic, generous, and warm person, very capably trying to handle enormous problems…The whole conversation was about religion and philosophy and especially ways of meditation…and to consult qualified Tibetan scholars, uniting study and practice. (Asian Journal, p.101)”.

In turn, the Dalai Lama would later say about Merton that…“more striking than his outward appearance which was memorable in itself, was the inner life which he manifested. I could see that he was a truly humble and deeply spiritual man. This was the first time I had been struck by such a feeling of spirituality by anyone who professed Christianity…As a result of meeting with him, my attitude toward Christianity was much changed… Thomas Merton is someone Buddhists can look up to.”

The Dalai Lama visited Merton’s grave in 1994…

The Dalai Lama kneels at the grave of Merton, along with Abbot Timothy Kelly, and prays. When he rises from the ground, he says: “Now our spirits are one; I am at peace.”

Thomas Merton and Vietnamese Buddhist Monk Thich Nhat Hanh