Gandhi on Non-Violence: A Selection From the Writings of Mahatma Gandi [Paperback]

Mahatma Gandhi (Author), Thomas Merton (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1965

In this book, Merton has selected the basic statements of principle and interpretation which make up Gandhi's philosophy of non-violence (AHIMSA) and non-violent action (SATYAGRAHA). The Gandhi text follows that established by the Navaijivan Trust with sections dealing with "Principles of non-violence", "Non-violence, true and false", "Spiritual dimensions of non-violence". "The political scope of non-violence", and "The purity of non-violence".

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Thomas Merton (1915-1968) entered the Cistercian Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky, following his conversion to Catholicism and was ordained Father M. Louis in 1949. During the 1960s, he was increasingly drawn into a dialogue between Eastern and Western religions and domestic issues of war and racism. In 1968, the Dalai Lama praised Merton for having a more profound knowledge of Buddhism than any other Christian he had known. Thomas Merton is the author of the beloved classic The Seven Storey Mountain. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 82 pages
• Publisher: New Directions; First Printing, Worn edition (May 1965)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811200973
• ISBN-13: 978-0811200974
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,243,867 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Lacks Context, April 20, 2001

By 

R. Davis "rddrn" (Madison, AL US) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Gandhi on Non-Violence: A Selection From the Writings of Mahatma Gandi (Paperback)

This book was disappointing. Although the quotations are excellent, by themselves they are little more than random sentences. Without the context of Gandhi's story, without knowing what his life and actions were all about, having a book with some words he said is practically meaningless. As I read the quotations, I found myself referring to Louis Fischer's biography of Gandhi, and Gandhi's own autobiography to find out what the quotes meant when Gandhi actually said or wrote them. When I got too lazy to look up the quote somewhere else, the words merely passed before my eyes in a way that could not be described as reading. The entire volume has an engineered, overprocessed quality because of the topical, rather than chronological or situational, arrangement of entries.

The introductory essay seemed to run on forever, but it is an interesting insight into Gandhi's motives and choices. Generally, though, it is verbose and tedious, not at all the engaging and lively reading I would hope would be associated with such a charismatic subject.

I can see this volume being useful for gathering direct quotes for a paper or speech about Gandhi, but without background information found in other materials, the meaning behind the quotes in this book will be next to impossible to understand.

In short, for general reading on Gandhi's life, find another volume. Get this only if you're looking for sound bytes arranged by topic for use as one liners.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars POWERFUL ANTIDOTE FOR COOPERATIVE PEACE IN AN ERA OF INTERPERSONAL AND INTERNATIONAL MASS DESTRUCTION, November 17, 2006

By 

C. Scanlon "least helpful reviewer" (among us humans) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Gandhi on Non-Violence: A Selection From the Writings of Mahatma Gandi (Paperback)

I deeply regret other reviewers cannot appreciate the historic context of this book{s writing forty yeares ago and of our reading it now in an era of overwhelming and genocidal thoughtless unreflective imperialist violence.

Please study carefully Jim Forrest's excellent introduction to Thomas Merton's Peace in a Post-Christian Era to understand why he had to take this round-about way to address pressing issues of war and peace while under obedience to not personally address them.

His preface is neither "tedious" nor "verbose" as another reviewer here calls it. It is a profoundly stirring call to action written as succinctly and clearly, as comprehensively and completely as possible. We need to hear it now more than ever in our age of total destruction of populations in Iraq, the Afghan, Palestine, etc., as well as in our radically individualized society n which we hate everyone else on the road or in the supermarket line or even silent in Church, and cut them all with a killing coldness.

Rather than removed from context, Merton fully and masterfully, as the long time spiritual teacher he was in the Novitiate, places the quotes from Gandhi into the most universal context which must touch even us now here today, with the slightest effort at meditation and reflection on our part. Here this message these two great spiritual masters send to us across the generations, purely and unadulterated.

this is what it is: a collection of one-liners by Gandhi on non-violence with an extensive and comprehensive and LEARNED explanation by THOMAS MERTON (sorry for screaming, non-violently) for God's sake of the concept of ahimsa, or non-violence in society.

Where's the down side? Why so many sad and unsatisified reviewers here?

If you want more context, certainly get further reading. Amazon offers a very complete Gandhi library, and Merton of course. If you find Merton too scholarly and thoughtful, well, heck, he was a MONK and a Novice MAster and a contemplative Catholic Trappist well known for his erudition and compassion. ANd perhaps this was the only way he could express his firmly Catholic based faith against war and ofr peace in a time and nation eager and profitting from war (as it ever more deeply does).

We urgently need at this time both these voices: Merton's elaborations and Gandhi even spoonfed. Merton "verbose and tedious"??!! I weep for our fallen civilization.

We owe a great deal of gratitude to the Amazon for presenting this great and essential New Directions book. Please visit the entire New Directions catalogue as published in the back of this excellent epigrammatic collection.

Merton interpreting Gandhi and ahimsa for us, the American public. Where's the downside, people?

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good book to begin with, February 24, 2000

By 

Guillermo Mathé - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gandhi on Non-Violence: A Selection From the Writings of Mahatma Gandi (Paperback)

If you want to start with Ghandi's experience on non-violence, this is a good book to begin with. Altough brief, the thoughts and feelings of Ghandi are clearly shown.