The Theme of Le Point Vierge in the Writings of Louis Massignon
Griffith, S. H. (1990) Thomas Merton, Louis Massignon, and the challenge of Islam, Merton Annual, 3, pp. 151–172.
Originally published in 1922, with a second edition in 1954, the book is now available in an English translation: Massignon, L. (1997) Essay on the Origins of the Technical Language of Islamic Mysticism, translated by B. Clark (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press).
Massignon, L. (1954) Essai sur les origines du lexique technique de la mystique musulmane (Paris: J. Vrin), p. 138; Merton, T. (1973) The Asian Journal of Thomas Merton, edited by N. Burton, P. Hart & J. Laughlin (New York: New Directions), p. 263.
The book was republished posthumously, in a completely revised edition, in 1969, and in 1982 an English translation was published: Massignon, L. (1982) The Passion of al‐Hallaj: Mystic and Martyr of Islam, translated by H. Mason, 4 vols (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press). An abridged edition in English translation is available in Massignon, L. (1994) Hallaj, Mystic and Martyr, translated, edited and abridged by H. Mason (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press).
Mason, H. (1969) Merton and Massignon, Muslim World, 59, p. 317.
Massignon, L. (1957) Akhbar al‐Hallaj; recueil d'oraisons et d'exhortations du martyr mystique de l'Islam, Husayn ibn Mansur Hallaj (Paris: J. Vrin); idem (1955, 1985) Husayn Mansur Hallaj, Diwan (Paris: Seuil).
Herbert Mason to Sidney H. Griffith, 21 October 1988.
Massignon, L. (1962) Parole donnée, edited by V.‐M. Monteil (Paris: Julliard; republ. Paris: Seuil, 1983). See also Mason, H. (Ed.) (1989) Testimonies and Refections: Essays of Louis Massignon (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press).
Mason, H. (1988) Memoir of a Friend: Louis Massignon (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press), p. 152.
See n. 3 above.
Merton, T. (1965) The Way of Chuang Tzu (New York: New Directions).
A very helpful selection of passages from Merton's writings on the theme of unity, especially religious unity, is available in Merton, T. (2000) Essential Writings, edited by C. M. Bochen (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis), esp. pp. 140–186.
R. E. Daggy (Ed.) (1988) Encounter: Thomas Merton and D. T. Suzuki (Monterey, KY: Larkspur Press), p. 74.
See this letter published in Merton, T. (1993) The Courage for Truth: Letters to Writers, edited by C. M. Bochen (New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux), p. 79.
Merton, T. (1997) Dancing in the Water of Life: Seeking Peace in the Hermitage, The Journals of Thomas Merton, vol. 5, 1963–1965, edited by R. E. Daggy (San Francisco, CA: Harper), p. 125. Also published in Merton, T. (1988) A Vow of Conversation: Journals, 1964–1965, edited by N. B. Stone (New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux), p. 62; Daggy, Encounter, pp. 89–90.
Merton, Dancing in the Water of Life, p. 166. Also published in Merton, A Vow of Conversation, p. 100.
Merton mentions these talks in two letters to Abdul Aziz, 16 January 1968 and 24 April 1968. In both of them he says, 'For more than a year now I have been giving weekly talks on Sufism to the monks here.' See Merton, T. (1985) The Hidden Ground of Love: Letters, edited by W. H. Shannon (New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux), pp. 66–67. He says that he based his lectures on books which Abdul Aziz sent him.
Griffin, J. H. (1993) Follow the Ecstasy: the Hermitage Years of Thomas Merton (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis), p. 64. See Merton, T. (1997) Learning to Love: Exploring Solitude and Freedom, The Letters of Thomas Merton, vol. 6, edited by C. M. Bochen (San Francisco, CA: Harper), p. 9.
Merton wrote a review of M. Lings, A Moslem Saint of the Twentieth Century, Shaikh Ahmad al‐'Alawi (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1961); republished as A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century, Shaikh Ahmad al‐'Alawi: His Spiritual Heritage and Legacy (2nd edn, revised & enlarged, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1973). See Merton's letter to Lings in Merton, Hidden Ground of Love, pp. 453‐454. The review was published in Collectanea Cisterciensia, 27 (1965), pp. 81‐82, and republished in Baker, R. & Henry, G. (Eds.) (1999) Merton and Sufism: the Untold Story. A Complete Compendium (Louisville, KY: Fons Vitae), pp. 308‐309.
Mott, M. (1984) The Seven Mountains of Thomas Merton (Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin), p. 462.
ibid..
Merton, T. (2002) Survival or Prophecy? The Letters of Thomas Merton and Jean Leclercq (New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux), pp. 144–145.
Mott, Seven Mountains, p. 468.
Merton, Learning to Love, p. 200. Mott, Seven Mountains, p. 468.
Merton, Learning to Love, p. 206. Mott, Seven Mountains, p. 468.
For the most comprehensive collection of studies on Merton, Sufism and Islam see Baker & Henry, Merton & Sufism.
Merton, T. (1992) The Springs of Contemplation: a Retreat at the Abbey of Gethsemani (New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux), p. 266.
See n. 22 above.
See Renard, J. (Ed. & Trans.) (1986) Ibn Abbad of Ronda: Letters on the Sufi Path, Classics of Western Spirituality (New York: Paulist Press).
Merton, T. (1966) Raids on the Unspeakable (New York: New Directions), pp. 141–151. Merton's translations were not made on the basis of the original Arabic, but from the French versions of Paul Nwiya, SJ, a friend and colleague of Louis Massignon. See Nwiya, P. (1958) Lettres de direction spirituelle; les Rasail as‐Sughra de Ibn 'Abbad de Ronda (Beirut: Institute of Oriental Studies); idem (1961) Ibn 'Abbâd de Ronda (Beirut: Institute of Oriental Studies). Merton wrote a review of the latter book, originally intended for publication in Collectanea Cisterciensia, 29 (1967), but excluded in the end in favor of other notices. The review is now published in Baker & Henry, Merton and Sufism, pp. 313–314. Merton was aware of the possible influence of the way of thinking and modes of expression to be found in the work of Ibn 'Abbad on the later work of St John of the Cross. On this theme see now López‐Baralt, L. (1990) San Juan de la Cruz y el Islam, 2nd edn (Madrid: Hiperión).
Merton, T. (1951) The Ascent to Truth (New York: Harcourt Brace).
Merton, Hidden Ground of Love, pp. 43–67.
Abdul Aziz's letters to Merton are available in Bellarmine University's Thomas Merton Center. Shannon quotes from Abdul Aziz's letter of 4 April 1963 in Merton, Hidden Ground of Love, p. 54, n.* On this correspondence see Griffith, S. H. (1999) 'As one spiritual man to another': the Merton–Abdul Aziz correspondence, in: Baker & Henry, Merton and Sufism, pp. 101–129.
Merton, Hidden Ground of Love, p. 46.
ibid., pp. 57–58.
See ibid., pp. 62–64.
ibid., p. 61.
Merton gave lectures for the novices in the Gethsemani community before vespers on Sundays. He often lectured on Sufism during the years 1966–1968. See Dieker, B. (1999) Merton's Sufi lectures to Cistercian novices, 1966–68, in: Baker & Henry, Merton and Sufism, pp. 130–162.
Merton, T. (1949) Seeds of Contemplation (New York: New Directions).
Merton, Hidden Ground of Love, p. 44.
ibid., p. 44, n. *.
ibid., pp. 45–46.
ibid., p. 58.
ibid.
ibid.
ibid., p. 54.
ibid.
ibid., p. 61.
On this topic see Rissanen, S. (1993) Theological Encounter of Oriental Christians with Islam during Early Abbasid Rule (Åbo: Åbo Akademi University Press), and the articles collected in Griffith, S. H. (2002) The Beginnings of Christian Theology in Arabic (Variorum Reprints; Aldershot: Ashgate).
Merton, Hidden Ground of Love, p. 57.
ibid., p. 49.
ibid.
ibid., pp. 50–51.
ibid., p. 52.
See Cantwell Smith, W. (1962) The Meaning and End of Religion: a Revolutionary Approach to the Great Religious Traditions (New York: Harpers); idem (1981) On Understanding Islam: Selected Studies, Religion and Reason, 19 (The Hague: Mouton); idem (1981) Towards a World Theology (Philadelphia, PA: Westminster). See also Cragg, K. (1956) The Call of the Minaret (New York: Oxford University Press; 2nd edn Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1986); idem (1984) Muhammad and the Christian: a Question of Response (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis); idem (1985) Jesus and the Muslim: an Exploration (London: George Allen & Unwin). See also Lamb, C. (1997) The Call to Retrieval: Kenneth Cragg's Christian Vocation to Islam (London: Grey Seal).
Merton, Hidden Ground of Love, p. 53.
Merton to Ad Reinhardt, 31 October 1963, in: Merton, T. (1989) The Road to Joy: the Letters of Thomas Merton to New and Old Friends, edited by R. E. Daggy (New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux), p. 281.
Merton, T. (1992) The Springs of 'Contemplation': a Retreat at the Abbey of Gethsemani (New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux), p. 266.
See Merton, T. (1967) Mystics and Zen Masters (New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux).
Merton's reading notebooks are on deposit in the Thomas Merton Center at Bellarmine University in Louisville, KY. Notebook 18 is especially pertinent to his Sufi lectures.
See Dieker, B. (1999) Merton's Sufi lectures to Cistercian novices, 1966–68, in: Baker & Henry, Merton and Sufism, pp. 130–162.
See the remarks of Graham, T. (1996) The 'strange subject': Thomas Merton's views on Sufism, Sufi, 30, pp. 31–40.
See Merton, T. (1989) Thomas Merton in Alaska: Prelude to the Asian Journal. The Alaskan Conferences, Journals and Letters (New York: New Directions), esp. The life that unifies, pp. 143–155.
Merton's letters to Reza Arasteh are published in Merton, Hidden Ground of Love, pp. 40–43. The correspondence began in 1965, but four of the seven letters were written from January to May of 1968, not long before his journey to Alaska in September. Most of them deal with topics raised in Arasteh's books, Rumi the Persian: Rebirth in Creativity and Love (Lahore: Sh. Muhammad Ashraf, 1963) and Final Integration in the Adult Personality: a Measure for Peace (Leiden: Brill, 1965). Merton wrote a review of the latter, originally published in Monastic Studies, 6 (1968), pp. 87–99, and later incorporated into Merton, T. (1971) Contemplation in a World of Action (New York: Doubleday), pp. 219–231, and republished in Baker & Henry, Merton and Sufism, pp. 266–267. Earlier Merton had also written a review of an article by Reza Arasteh (1965), Final integration in the adult personality, American Journal of Psychoanalysis, 25, pp. 61–73, published in Collectanea Cisterciensia, 29 (1967), pp. 179–180, and now republished in Baker & Henry, Merton and Islam, pp. 312–313. In the summer of 1968, Merton published an article by Arasteh, The art of rebirth, in the second number of his newly established 'little magazine' called Monks Pond. See Daggy, R. E. (1989) Monks Pond: Thomas Merton's Little Magazine (Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky), pp. 89–93. Merton talked about this article in his letters to Arasteh of 30 December 1967 and 22 March 1968. See Merton, Hidden Ground of Love, pp. 41–42.
Merton, Contemplation in a World of Action, p. 222.
ibid., p. 225.
ibid.
ibid., pp. 227–228.
Merton, Hidden Ground of Love, p. 64.
ibid.
ibid., pp. 63–64.
See Bonnie Thurston, B. (1994) Thomas Merton's interest in Islam: the example of dhikr, American Benedictine Review, 45, pp. 131–141, republished in Baker & Henry, Merton and Sufism, pp. 40–50.
See Ernst, C. (1997) The Shambhala Guide to Sufism: an Essential Introduction to the Philosophy and Practice of the Mystical Tradition of Islam (Boston, MA: Shambhala), esp. p. 60.
Merton, Raids on the Unspeakable, pp. 146–147. Republished in Baker & Henry, Merton and Sufism, pp. 290–291.
Merton, Hidden Ground of Love, p. 64.
One example of Merton's reading in this vein is the treatise of the Sufi writer al‐Tirmidhi (d. c. 932), A Treatise on the Heart. See the relevant portions of the text in Nicholas Heer's translation in Baker & Henry, Merton and Sufism, pp. 79–88.
See Griffith, S. H. (1990) Merton, Massignon, and the challenge of Islam, Merton Annual, 3 (New York: AMS Press), pp. 151–172; republished in Baker & Henry, Merton and Sufism, pp. 51–78. For a discussion of the fuller significance of the phrase le point vierge in Massignon's thought, who derived it in turn from the Muslim mystic al‐ 
allāj (d. 922), see Buck, D. C. (2002) Dialogues with Saints and Mystics in the Spirit of Louis Massignon (London: Khaniqahi Minatullahi Publications), esp. pp. 185–209.
Merton, T. (1968) Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander (New York: Doubleday, 1968), p. 158.
Merton, Hidden Ground of Love, p. 64.
The Theme of Le Point Vierge in the Writings of Louis Massignon
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