Daily Zen - Thursday, September 19

If one reaches the point where 

understanding fails, this is not 

a tragedy: it is simply a reminder 

to stop thinking and start looking. 

Perhaps there is nothing to figure out after all:

perhaps we only need to wake up.

~ Thomas Merton

Daily Zen - Friday, January 19

The more you try to avoid suffering,

the more you suffer, because smaller

and more insignificant things 

begin to torture you in proportion

to your fear of being hurt.

~ Thomas Merton

Daily Zen - Friday, June 16

When we live superficially...we are always 

outside of ourselves, always divided and 

pulled in many directions...we find 

ourselves doing many things that we do 

not really want to do…needing things we

do not really need, exhausting ourselves

 for what we secretly realize to be worthless

and without meaning in our lives.

~ Thomas Merton

Daily Zen - Wednesday, February 8

Buddhist meditation, but above all that of Zen, 

seeks not to explain, but to pay attention, 

to become aware, to be mindful…

to develop a certain kind of consciousness 

that is above and beyond deception by

verbal formulas or by emotional excitement. 

~ Thomas Merton

Daily Zen - Friday, November 18

If one reaches the point where understanding

 fails, this is not a tragedy; it is simply a

reminder to stop thinking and start looking.

Perhaps there is nothing to figure out at all; 

perhaps we only need to wake up.

~ Thomas Merton 

Weekend Zen, September 17-18

Let us come alive

to the splendor that

is all around us,

and see the beauty

in ordinary things.

~ Thomas Merton

Weekend Zen, June 25-26

Our real journey in life 

is interior. It is a matter

of growth, deepening, and

of an even greater surrender 

to the creative action of love

and grace in our hearts. 

~ Thomas Merton

Daily Zen - Thursday, December 9

Buddha's doctrine was not a doctrine,

but a way of being in the world.

His religion is not a set of beliefs and

convictions or rites and sacraments,

but an opening to love.

~ Thomas Merton

Daily Zen - Wednesday, August 25

Buddhist meditation, but above all Zen,

seeks not to explain, but to pay attention, 

to become aware, to be mindful, in other

words to develop a certain kind of 

consciousness that is above and beyond

deception by verbal formulas –– 

or by emotional excitement.

~ Thomas Merton 

Daily Zen - Friday, February 12

When we live superficially, when we

are always outside ourselves, never quite 

"with" ourselves,...we find ourselves doing

many things that we do not really want to 

do...exhausting ourselves for what we 

secretly realize to be worthless and 

without meaning in our lives.

~ Thomas Merton 

Daily Zen - Wednesday, October 21

Nirvana is found 

in the midst of

the world around us,

and truth is not

somewhere else.

~ Thomas Merton

Daily Zen - Tuesday, July 7

The whole idea of compassion

is based on a keen awareness

of the interdependence of all these

living beings, which are all part of one

another, and all involved in one another.

~ Thomas Merton

Daily Zen - Thursday, January 16

Our real journey 

in life is interior.

~ Thomas Merton

Weekend Zen, September 28-29

You do not need to know precisely

what is happening, or exactly where

it is all going. What you need is to 

recognize the possibilities and challenges

presented by the present moment, and to 

embrace them with courage, faith, and hope. 

~ Thomas Merton

Weekend Zen, March 16-17

The whole idea of compassion

is based on a keen awareness

of the interdependence of all

these living beings, which are 

all part of one another, and all

involved in one another.

~Thomas Merton

Daily Zen - Monday, November 19

Your life is shaped by the end you live for.

You are made in the image of what you desire.

~ Thomas Merton

Daily Zen - Friday, June 1

Art enables us to 

find ourselves and 

lose ourselves 

at the same time.

~ Thomas Merton

Daily Zen - Tuesday, May 15

May we all grow in grace and peace,

and not neglect the silence that is

printed in the center of our being.

It will not fail us.

~ Thomas Merton

Daily Zen - Thursday, February 1

The whole idea of compassion

is based on a keen awareness of 

the interdependence of all these living beings, 

which are all part of one another, 

and all involved in one another. 

~ Thomas Merton

Daily Zen - Tuesday, August 9

What we have to be

is what we are.

~ Thomas Merton