John C. h. Wu - The Golden Age of Zen: Zen Masters of the Tang Dynasty

JOHN C. H. WU (WU CHING-HSIUNG) was born in Ningpo, China, in 1899. He was a respected author, lawyer, juristic philosopher, educator, and prominent Catholic layman. During his distinguished professional and academic career he was, by turns, president of the Special High Court at Shanghai, the principal author of the constitution of Nationalist China, and founder of the Tien Hsia Monthly. A well-loved translator of the Psalms and the New Testament into Chinese, he also published a popular translation of the Tao Te Ching into English. During 1947-48 Wu served as Chinese minister to the Holy See in Rome. In his work on Eastern religions Wu worked closely with the great Buddhist scholar D. T. Suzuki, and the renowned Trappist monk Thomas Merton, both of whom were his close personal friends. Suzuki was particularly impressed with the thorough scholarship and deep insight of Wus The Golden Age ofZen.

THOMAS MERTON (Father Louis) was born in France in 1915, the son of a New Zealand father and a well-to-do American mother. After studying at Cambridge University in the UK, and Columbia University in the USA, Merton became attracted to the monastic ideal of the Trappists and in 1948 was accepted as a novice at Gethsemani monastery in Kentucky. He soon became known throughout the world for his numerous and varied writings, and he influenced countless souls through his profound spiritual reflections in such works as New Seeds ofContemplation (1961), in addition to his works of social and political criticism such as Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander (1966). Many recognized him as one of the earliest and most moving contributors to meaningful inter-religious dialogue. He was both a committed Christian and one who appreciated the riches of other spiritual traditions. His Mystics and Zen Masters (1967) and Zen and the Birds of Appetite (1968) contain many of his essays on Eastern subjects, particularly Zen, whilst his The Way ofChuang Tzu (1965)the translation of which he described as the most enjoyable project of his lifeis a delightful rendering into English of the essential teachings of the renowned Chinese Taoist sage. It seems that Thomas Mertons prominence as a contemplative monk and public thinker has only increased since his tragic and untimely death in 1968.

KENNETH KRAFT is Professor of Religion Studies at Lehigh University, specializing in Japanese Zen and the new field of engaged Buddhist studies. In 1984-85, he was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard Universitys Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies. At Lehigh, he has served as Chair of the Religion Studies department and as director of the College Seminar Program. Kraft has also taught at the University of Pennsylvania, Swarthmore College, and the Stanford University Japan Center in Kyoto. His book Eloquent Zen: Daito and EarlyJapanese Zen (1992) was selected as an Outstanding Academic Book by Choice magazine whilst his anthology of present-day Zen masters and scholars, Zen: Tradition and Transition (1988), is widely used in college courses. He has lived in Japan for five years and traveled extensively throughout Asia.