Copyright © 1968, 1969, 1970, 1973, 1975 by The Trustees of The Merton Legacy Trust
Copyright © 1965, 1968 by The Abbey of Gethsemani, Inc.
Introduction Copyright © 1995 by George Woodcock
Copyright © 1995 by New Directions Publishing Corporation
Excerpts from Mystics and Zen Masters by Thomas Merton.
Copyright © 1967 by the Abbey of Gethsemani. Reprinted by permission of Farrar, Straus & Giroux, Inc.

All rights reserved. Except for brief passages quoted in a newspaper, magazine, radio, television, or website review, no part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Publisher.

Publisher’s Note: This book is dedicated to the memory of George Woodcock, who before his death wrote “Thomas Merton and the Monks of Asia,” the general introduction, as well as the short preface to the last chapter, “On Varieties of Buddhism.” The short paragraph following that preface, as well as the other chapter introductions were prepared in house. The material selected in Thoughts on the East has been taken from the following Thomas Merton works: passages for the chapter on Taoism, from The Way of Chuang Tzu (New Directions, 1965); for the chapter on Zen Buddhism, from Mystics & Zen Masters (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1976, by permission) and from Zen & The Birds of Appetite (New Directions, 1968); for the chapter on Hinduism as well as on the varieties of Buddhism, from The Asian Journal of Thomas Merton (New Directions, 1975); and for the chapter on Sufism, from The Geography of Lograire (New Directions, 1969).

First published as a New Directions Bibelot in 1995.

The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:
Merton, Thomas, 1915–1968.
Thoughts on the East / Thomas Merton ; with an introduction by George Woodcock,
p. cm.
“A New Directions bibelot.”
ISBN: 978-0-8112-2417-8 (e-book)
I. Christianity and other religions —Asian. 2. Asia—Religion. 3. Spiritual life—Comparative studies. 4. Mysticism—Comparative studies. 5. Monastic and religious life—Comparative studies. 6. Merton, Thomas, 1915–1968—Views on Asian religions. 7. East and West. 1. Title. BR l28.A77M47 1995
291—dc2095–5377
CIP

ISBN 978-0-8112-1293-9

New Directions Books are published for James Laughlin
by New Directions Publishing Corporation,
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