THE ZEN PHOTOGRAPHY OF THOMAS MERTON Seeing the extraordinary in the ordinary By Dr. Paul Pearson Although he is generally remembered for the books he wrote, Thomas Merton’s artistic output must not be overlooked. Over the course of his life, Merton’s art, like his prose and poetry, developed, dramatically at times. In his book Disputed Questions, Merton had written that “in an age of concentration camps and atomic bombs,” beauty, both religious and artistic, “cannot be a mere appeal to conventional pleasures of the imagination and senses.” So, in the late fifties and sixties, as both his relationship to the world changed and as he began to dialogue with other faiths, most notably Zen Buddhism, a marked change took place in Merton’s art. He began exploring Zen calligraphy, primitive printing techniques, brush drawings he would call “graffiti” and photography. What does Merton mean by Zen photography? One definition of Zen suggests that its purpose is to make us wonder and to answer that wondering with the deepest expression of our own nature. To learn to see the extraordinary in the ordinary, what Thich Nhat Hanh would call “the miracle of mindfulness.” Learning to appreciate the present moment, to appreciate what is right in front of us, rather than always having our mind on results or on the next thing we have to do. The art of photography demands such awareness, such mindfulness from the photographer. Merton’s friend, the poet Ron Seitz, recalls that Merton said to him at one point when they were out together photographing that he needed to “stop looking” and to “start seeing” – looking implies you already have something in mind, whereas seeing is “being open and receptive to what comes to the eye; your vision total and not targeted.” Instead of looking for God in the spectacular sunset, the breathtaking view or in a sacred space, or in some preconceived way, we have to stop and see God in the ordinary, everyday things of our life; we have to learn to see God in the present moment. The Rule of St. Benedict teaches the monk to find God in the ordinary and commonplace, in the monotony of the life. Benedict instructs his monks to treat all the property of the monastery as if they are the sacred vessels of the altar and, I would suggest, the whole world around us. The Church Fathers called this intuition of the Divine through the reflection of God in nature “natural contemplation” – theoria physike. The mindfulness to see in this way allows us to discover the hidden wholeness, the spark of God in creation. Merton’s Zen photographs can help us to learn to see, to find the Divine exactly where we are. To see, as he says in New Seeds of Contemplation, that “a tree gives glory to God by being a tree” – a root by being a root, a paint can by being a paint can. Zen photography helps us to open our eyes; it calls out from us “the importance, the urgency of seeing, fully aware, experiencing what is here… what is given by God and hidden by society.” Editor’s note: Dr. Paul Pearson is director of the Thomas Merton Center at Bellarmine University, which holds the world’s largest collection of Merton’s manuscripts, letters, journals, tapes, drawings, memorabilia and photographs – including these photos, which were featured in A Hidden Wholeness, an exhibit in the McGrath Gallery May 7-June 2. This article is excerpted from an essay Dr. Pearson originally wrote for the Dialogue Australasia Network, an initiative to develop values, philosophy and religious studies with relevance in Australasian schools. To view the complete exhibit, visit www.bellarmine.edu/magazine/mertonphotos. 22 BELLA RMINE MAGAZINE
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