He became a friend of Buddhist Thich Nhat Hanh, praised Chogyam Trungpa who founded Shambhala Buddhism in the United States and was also an acquaintance of the current Dalai Lama.
His theology attempted to unify the tenets of the Roman Catholic faith with other philosophical trends including existentialism[web 2] In this context, he was an advocate of the non-discursive style of contemplative prayer, which he saw as a direct confrontation of finite and irrational man with his ground of being.
Cistercian monk Thomas Keating, a founder of Centering Prayer, was abbot all through the 1960s and 1970s at St. Joseph's Abbey in Spencer, Massachusetts.
Keating tells of meeting many young people, some who stumbled on St. Joseph's by accident, many of them born Catholic, who had turned to Eastern practices for contemplative work.
The earliest Christian writings that clearly speak of contemplative prayer come from the 4th-century monk St. John Cassian, who wrote of a practice he learned from the Desert Fathers (specifically from Isaac[citation needed]).
During the 16th century, Carmelite saints Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross wrote and taught about advanced Christian prayer, which was given the name infused contemplation.
"[web 4] Pope Francis listed Merton as one of four great Americans in a speech before the U.S. Congress in September 2015 and encouraged sowing dialogue and peace in his contemplative style.
[web 5] In 1989, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, led by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI) issued Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on Some Aspects of Christian Meditation.
[web 6] The letter addresses problematic elements found in some modern prayer methods, many of which have been influenced by Eastern religions and the New Age movement.