"Remarkable"

Merton Meets the Dzogchen Master

G.I. Gurdjieff wrote a book entitled “Meetings with Remarkable Men.” There was even a movie based on the book. While the contemplative writer Thomas Merton did not know Mr. Gurdjieff as far as we know, he Merton was remarkable and he knew many remarkable individuals.

Recently I came across a statement of Merton’s that was remarkable. It was in Harold Talbott’s book TENDREL: A Memoir of New York and the Buddhist Himalayas.

In 1968 Merton left his monastery in Kentucky and traveled to India where his guide was Mr. Talbott - a young man at the time. There, Merton meets a Tibetan Dzogchen master Chatral Rinpoche in Darjeeling - shown below with Merton. After meeting Rinpoche Merton says to Talbott, “that is the greatest man I have ever met.’’ Why? Talbott does not tell us but Merton’s experience would seem to stand on its own. And quite a statement it is given the many remarkable people Merton knew.

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