“The great difference between Christianity and Buddhism arises at this juncture. From the metaphysical point of view, Buddhism seems to take ’emptiness’ as a complete negation of all personality, whereas Christianity finds in purity of heart and ‘unity of spirit,’ a supreme and transcendent fulfillment of personality. This is an extremely complex and difficult question which I am not prepared to discuss.

“But it seems to me that most discussions on the point, up to now, have been completely equivocal. Very often, on the Christian side, we identify ‘personality’ with the illusory and exterior ego-self, which is certainly not the true Christian ‘person.’ On the Buddhist side there seems to be no positive idea of personality at all; it is a value which seems to be completely missing from Buddhist thought. Yet it is certainly not absent from Buddhist practice….” (p. 54)

Merton, Thomas. “The Recovery of Paradise.” (1959) in Selected Essays. Edited with an introduction by Patrick F. O’Connell. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2013.