monks and spends an additional three years as a "junior professed" monk. After these three years the monk can request to take his final, solemn vows, and become a "fully professed" monk. Gethsemani Farms Gethsemani once sustained itself solely through donations, by growing its own foods and selling timber. Today, in keeping with the observance of the Rule of St. Benedict, the monks of Gethsemani raise money for the monastery by producing fruitcake and fudge; they also collect royalties received from sales of Thomas Merton's books. The fruitcake is made with Kentucky bourbon as well as cherries, pineapples, raisins, dates and nuts. The months of November and December are particularly busy for Gethsemani Farms, with the monks receiving and filling large orders for the holiday season. Retreats The tradition of Gethsemani accepting guests is in keeping with ancient Benedictine culture. Guests have ample opportunity to roam the abbey grounds. The trails, woodlands and expansive fields are suitable for quiet walks and reflection. Gethsemani has a retreat house with 30 rooms complete with private baths and air conditioning. Both men and women are welcome. Male visitors are discouraged, and female visitors are barred, from entering the enclosure. Speaking is allowed only in designated areas. Cemetery Like many other monastic graveyards, the cemetery at Gethsemani is marked by uniform crosses. It rests on a buttressed embankment and overlooks the valley and woodlands below. The monks are buried in the traditional Trappist manner, in their monastic habit and without a casket. Thomas Merton's grave is located here and it is often arrayed with various mementos left by visitors. His grave marker reads, in the same basic style as all the others there: "Fr. Louis Merton, Died Dec. 10, 1968." Monastic interreligious dialogue Gethsemani Encounter I For the week of July 22–27, 1996, The Abbey of Gethsemani played host to its first groundbreaking dialogue between monastics of various Catholic and Buddhist orders. Among the issues discussed were topics on prayer, meditation, work ethics, and monastic roles. According to the 14th Dalai Lama—who was present at the encounter—these discussions were important in paving the way for future dialogues between the two religions. The idea to establish such a connection between them first came about at the Parliament of the World's Religions in 1993, when Julian von Duerbeck and Wayne Teasdale asked the Monastic Interreligious Dialogue (MID) to host an interfaith dialogue between Buddhists and Catholics;