Then the silence of the extraordinary faces.
Polonnaruwa 2 December 1968
I visited Polonnaruwa on Monday.
Heavy rain in Kandy,
and on all the valleys and paddy land…
as we go down to the eastern plains.
Polonnaruwa under trees
The path dips down to Gal Vihara…
Barefoot and undisturbed,
My feet in wet grass, wet sand…
Then the SILENCE of the extraordinary faces
I was knocked over with a rush
of relief and thankfulness
at the obvious clarity of the figures
and the fluidity of shape and line…
I don’t know when in my life I have ever had
such a sense of beauty and spiritual validity
running together in one aesthetic
ILLUMINATION…
Lundi, j’ai visité Polonnaruwa…
Pluie diluvienne sur Kandy,
Sur les vallées et sur les rizières,
Tandis que nous descendons vers les plaines orientales.
Sous les arbres, Polonnaruwa.
Le chemin descend vers Gal Vihara…
Pieds nus et calme
Dans l’herbe et le sable mouillé…
Alors vient le silence de ces extraordinaires visages…
Me voici submergé par une vague immense
De paix et de reconnaissance.
Evidence de la clarté des visages
Et de la fluidité des formes et des lignes.
Jamais de ma vie je n’aurai ressenti
Un sentiment si profond de beauté et de force spirituelle
Fondues dans une seule et même esthétique
ILLUMINATION.
I have left my monastery to come here not just as a research scholar or even as an author.
I come as a pilgrim who is anxious to obtain not just information, not just “facts” about other monastic traditions, but to drink from ancient sources of monastic vision and experience.
I seek not only to learn more about religion and about monastic life, but to become a better and more enlightened monk myself.
Merton visited Gal Vihara on Monday, December 2,
eight days before his death.
On Thursday, December 5, he entered in his journal his description of his experience there,
in the presence of the great statues …
____________________________________________________________________________________________
Références Suriyakantha Bibliothèque
FARCET, Gilles. Thomas Merton, un trappiste face à l’Orient. Albin Michel, 1990. Préface de Marie-Madeleine Davy.
GOONETHILEKE, H.A.I. Images of Sri Lanka through American Eyes. Colombo, 1976.
MERTON, Thomas. La nuit privée d’étoiles. Editions Albin Michel, 1951.
MERTON, Thomas. Nul n’est une île. Editiond du Seuil, Sagesses, 1956.
MERTON, Thomas. La paix monastique. Albin Michel, Spiritualités vivantes, 1961.
MERTON, Thomas. Zen, Tao et Nirvâna. Fayard, 1968. Préface par Marco Pallis.
MERTON, Thomas. The Asian Journal. A New Directions Book, 1968.
MERTON, Thomas. La sagesse du désert. Albin Michel, Spiritualités vivantes, 1987.
MERTON, Thomas. Journal d’Asie. Criterion, 1990. Préface de Jean-Yves Leloup.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Research