He corresponded with Louis Massignon on the connections between non-violence and Sufism, while his interest in Buddhism led to a meeting with the Dalai Lama.
He argued that St. John of the Cross' greatest gift was his ability to find joy in emptiness and liberty in suffering.  He corresponded with Louis Massignon on the connections between non-violence and Sufism, while his interest in Buddhism led to a meeting with the Dalai Lama. He reiterated that Saint Thomas declared the contemplative life to be superior to the active life and championed the view of God as Being Itself, an idea he adapted from Etienne Gilson.  His namesake collection which includes such religiously themed books of verse as The Strange Island and Figures for an Apocalypse, is housed at Bellarmine University.  This student of Mark van Doren published a 1948 book that described his conversion and his subsequent life at a Cistercian Monastery at Gethsemani, in Kentucky.  For 10 points, identify this Trappist monk and author of the spiritual autobiography, Seven Storey Mountain.
He argued that St. John of the Cross' greatest gift was his ability to find joy in emptiness and liberty in suffering.  
Thomas Merton