Buying Options

Digital List Price:	$14.78
Print List Price:	$13.95
Kindle Price:	$10.92 Save $3.86 (28%)
	includes VAT*

Promotions apply when you purchase

Deliver to your Kindle or other device

Added to

Unable to add item to List. Please try again.

Enter a promotion code or Gift Card

Share <Embed>

Zen and the Birds of Appetite (New Directions Paperbook) by [Merton, Thomas]

Follow the Author

Thomas Merton

Zen and the Birds of Appetite (New Directions Paperbook) Kindle Edition

by Thomas Merton (Author)

51 customer reviews

See all 5 formats and editions Hide other formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

Kindle

"Please retry"

$10.92

—

Hardcover

"Please retry"

—

$99.99

$74.95

Paperback

"Please retry"

$11.93

$8.13

$3.00

Merton, one of the rare Western thinkers able to feel at home in the philosophies of the East, made the wisdom of Asia available to Westerners.

"Zen enriches no one," Thomas Merton provocatively writes in his opening statement to Zen and the Birds of Appetite—one of the last books to be published before his death in 1968. "There is no body to be found. The birds may come and circle for a while... but they soon go elsewhere. When they are gone, the 'nothing,' the 'no-body' that was there, suddenly appears. That is Zen. It was there all the time but the scavengers missed it, because it was not their kind of prey." This gets at the humor, paradox, and joy that one feels in Merton's discoveries of Zen during the last years of his life, a joy very much present in this collection of essays. Exploring the relationship between Christianity and Zen, especially through his dialogue with the great Zen teacher D.T. Suzuki, the book makes an excellent introduction to a comparative study of these two traditions, as well as giving the reader a strong taste of the mature Merton. Never does one feel him losing his own faith in these pages; rather one feels that faith getting deeply clarified and affirmed. Just as the body of "Zen" cannot be found by the scavengers, so too, Merton suggests, with the eternal truth of Christ.

Length: 164 pages	Word Wise: Enabled	Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled
Page Flip: Enabled

Similar books to Zen and the Birds of Appetite (New Directions Paperbook)

Customers who bought this item also bought

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

This shopping feature will continue to load items. In order to navigate out of this carousel please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading.

Thomas Merton

100

Kindle Edition
$8.73
Thomas Merton

77

Kindle Edition
$9.99
Thomas Merton

33

Kindle Edition
$9.99
Thomas Keating

7

Kindle Edition
$7.83
Thomas Merton

19

Kindle Edition
$9.99
Red Pine

41

Kindle Edition
$8.42

Product details

File Size: 2508 KB
Print Length: 164 pages
Publisher: New Directions (July 27, 2010)
Publication Date: July 27, 2010
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC
Language: English
ASIN: B007PKRK0G
Text-to-Speech: Enabled

X-Ray:

Not Enabled

Word Wise: Enabled
Lending: Not Enabled
Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #341,568 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #46 in Asian Art History
- #48 in Religious Essays
- #128 in Zen Philosophy (Kindle Store)

Would you like to tell us about a lower price?

Be the first video

Your name here

51 customer reviews

Review this product

Write a customer review

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

James Kenney

There is an innocence, almost a naivete, to this book that helps convey the ineffable essence of the mystical experience

March 5, 2018

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

A difficult but intriguing book, by a famously open minded explorer of Christianity and the Eastern way of finding "salvation" in the here and now, via Zen meditation. Thomas Merton's prose is tangled, so the book is harder to read than it needed to be, however, discussions of mysticism both East and West are notoriously hard to follow and understand.

What comes through most clearly is Thomas Merton himself: his sincerity, gentleness and genuine desire to understand, and to share that understanding, of the nature of this peculiar experience we call "life." There is an innocence, almost a naivete, to this book that helps convey the ineffable essence of the mystical experience, and its life consequences for those struck by its lightning.

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

Comment

inch worm

Courageous and insightful

February 29, 2016

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Thomas Merton here takes on the difficult task of finding common ground between the tenets of Zen Buddhism and the Christian monastic tradition. Speaking personally as a practising Zen Buddhist I found it more illuminating with regard the similarities of the Christian tradition. I
learnt a good deal about the ins and outs of what Merton would probably not see as mysticism but nevertheless the aspects of
Christian worship which is often kept from the lay people and is more profound fare for the consumption of the monks. This is an honest book and more of such searching for common ground between the religions can only be a good thing in my view.

I feel that the penetration of the depths of Zen Buddhism and in particular the purpose behind much of the deliberately illogical and obtuse aspects of it was only patchily understood but nevertheless it is a rewarding and interesting read if a little wordy and intellectual.

10 people found this helpful

Helpful

Comment

heypancho

Are Christianity and Zen Incompatible?

March 20, 2014

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

If one is speaking of Christianity and Zen Buddhism at the core, Merton says, yes, they are incompatible. Buddhism would deny that there is value in the personality, that it must be deconstructed and absorbed into the One, while Christianity says the purpose of the Incarnation was to take down only what was false in man and give new life to his original design, his core being. Christian unity with God is not personal dissolution but the removal of all barriers between knowing and being known. (To be fair, not all Zen masters agree with the above classical Buddhist outlook-- D.T. Suzuki, for example.)

When separated from Buddhism and seen as a discipline and a way of perceiving, Zen can be extremely useful to anyone who is seeking to know God and the true soul/spirit beneath the false self or the "old man", whichever you prefer. The world we live in (and the self that perceives it) really is one of pretense and illusion-- even in religion-- and the more tools we have to remove the masks and facades, the better. Merton's book is very helpful in removing some common fears and misconceptions about using these tools, and in increasing communication between people and cultures who use different words to describe a common goal.

10 people found this helpful

Helpful

Comment

Benjamin Vineyard

How does Merton connect Zen (distinct from Buddhism) to the story of Jesus?

April 19, 2013

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Zen and the Birds of Appetite (Thomas Merton)
April 8, 2013
Book Reaction

Initial Question:
How does Merton connect Zen (distinct from Buddhism) to the story of Jesus? What's "broken" and how does Merton suggest redemption and repair?

Musings Influenced by the Book:
Zen is not a thing; it's more of an absence. Within the Christian experience, it is the absence of resistance to Christ living in us and through us. Zen is not an obedience, but an alive-ness to what is, an absence of the question - it simply is.

Stripped of its Buddhist story, Zen as a reality fits within the Christian experience. Zen is the experienced reality of St. Paul's phrase, "It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me." The ancient Christians referred to this as "union" with God - an expression of life that lived from the core of the human person and seen from within as an inability to discern the origin of action: was it God or me who did this? This blur, this lack of question, and this free expression of what is (without resistance) is living "Zen."

My favorite quote:
"...liberation from his inordinate self-consciousness, his monumental self-awareness, his obsession with self-affirmation, so that he may enjoy the freedom from concern that goes with being simply what he is and accepting things as they are in order to work with them as he can." *Zen and the Birds of Appetite* p. 31

The general take away:
Awakening is the goal. This is something Christians have always talked about. The Christian sense of awakening differs from the traditional Buddhist story with regards to what one awakens to.

For the Christian, awakening is coming to the sense of the Father's divine love and present care and seeing all things that would flounder that reality purge away. It is in the life of Christ living in us that we come to see this love and have it live through us.

For the Buddhist, the awakening is more of a coming to see that all things are life and that there is no individual "me" - I am the Life, you are the Life, and all things that exist are life in this moment.

11 people found this helpful

Helpful

Comment

Bro. John

An Important Collection

June 5, 2013

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

This is a collection of essays published over the years dealing with Thomas Merton's great interest in Eastern Religion, especially Buddhism and more precisely Zen Buddhism. Merton had perhaps one of the clearest understanding of Zen, and in the ways which it came close to touching western mysticism in some of the Rhenish Mystics (Ekhart and Ruysbroek) and even St. John of the Cross. The final Essay is a dialogue between Merton and the great Japanese Zen Master D. T. Suzuki, a treasure of a document. Two of the greatest minds of the twentieth century coming together from totally different cultures and meeting in the harmonious atmosphere as two monks having tea together. A wonderful read.

6 people found this helpful

Helpful

Comment

Set up an Amazon Giveaway

Amazon Giveaway allows you to run promotional giveaways in order to create buzz, reward your audience, and attract new followers and customers. Learn more about Amazon Giveaway

This item: Zen and the Birds of Appetite (New Directions Paperbook)

Set up a giveaway

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

This shopping feature will continue to load items. In order to navigate out of this carousel please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading.

Thomas Merton

100

Kindle Edition
$8.73
Thomas Keating

7

Kindle Edition
$7.83
Thomas Merton

77

Kindle Edition
$9.99
Thomas Merton

19

Kindle Edition
$9.99
Lois Farfel Stark

14

Kindle Edition
$7.99
Ram Dass

32

Kindle Edition
$9.99

Feedback

If you need help or have a question for Customer Service, contact us.

Would you like to report poor quality or formatting in this book? Click here

Would you like to report this content as inappropriate? Click here

Do you believe that this item violates a copyright? Click here

Buying Options

Follow the Author

Similar authors to follow

Zen and the Birds of Appetite (New Directions Paperbook) Kindle Edition

Customers who bought this item also bought

Sponsored products related to this item

Product details

Related Video Shorts (0)

Be the first video

Sponsored products related to this item

51 customer reviews

Review this product

Read reviews that mention

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Set up an Amazon Giveaway

What other items do customers buy after viewing this item?

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

Buying Options

Sorry, there was a problem.

Sorry, there was a problem.

Follow the Author

Similar authors to follow

Zen and the Birds of Appetite (New Directions Paperbook) Kindle Edition

Customers who bought this item also bought

Sponsored products related to this item

Product details

Related Video Shorts (0)

Be the first video

Sponsored products related to this item

51 customer reviews

Review this product

Read reviews that mention

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Set up an Amazon Giveaway

What other items do customers buy after viewing this item?

Customers who viewed this item also viewed