Thomas Merton's Encounter with Buddhism and Beyond: His Interreligious Dialogue, Inter-Monastic Exchanges, and Their LegacyThomas Merton recognized the value and possibility of contemplative dialogue between monastics and contemplatives of other religious traditions and hoped that, through such dialogue, monastics would strive for 'inter monastic communion' and a bonding of the broader 'spiritual family.' He held out hope that this bond would demonstrate the fundamental unity of humanity to a world that was becoming ever more materialistic and divided. Among other themes