The Way of Chuang Tzu

by Thomas Merton

“That which is called the Christian religion existed among the ancients and never did not exist from the beginning of the human race until Christ came in the flesh

There are quite a few western readers who have in one way or another heard about Zen and even tasted a little of it with the tip of the tongue. But tasting is one thing and swallowing is another, especially when, having only tasted, one proceeds to identify the thing tasted with something else which it seems to resemble.

Chuang Tzu himself would be the first to say that you cannot tell people to do whatever they want when they don’t even know what they want in the first place!