Contemplative Fire

August 4th, 2016 by Charles Cameron

[ by Charles Cameron — two poems, one from Thomas Merton, one from today ]

.

About an hour ago I posted Economics as if spirit matters most, with a DoubleQuote drawing a parallel between Zen Buddhist monastic tradition and that of the Desert Fathers of the Church.

Here’s another Buddhist / Christian juxtaposition, this time in the form of excerpts from two longer poems about fires — one of which, the Soberanes wildfire between Carmel and Big Sur, is still raging as we speak:

SPEC DQ contemplative fire

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Anam Thubten is a Tibetan Buddhist teacher, and it is his Sweetwater Sanctuary retreat that was destroyed in the Soberanes fire. Thomas Merton was a Catholic Trappist monk, and the barn that burned was at his home monastery, the Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsamani in Kentucky.

Both poems are worth readong in full.

Sources:

  • Anam Thubten, Dancing With Nature’s Wrath

  • Thomas Merton, Elegy for the Monastery Barn

    • Posted in Buddhism, Charles Cameron, christianity, disaster, Doublequotes, monasticism, poetry, tibet, Uncategorized | Comments Off on Contemplative Fire

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