In 1959, Merton began a dialogue with D.T. Suzuki which was published in Merton's Zen and the Birds of Appetite as "Wisdom in Emptiness".
In keeping with Merton's idea that non-Christian faiths had much to offer Christianity in terms of experience and perspective and little or nothing in terms of doctrine, Merton distinguished between Zen Buddhism, an expression of history and culture, and Zen [REF].