The Thomas Merton Center at Bellarmine University

MERTON'S CORRESPONDENCE WITH:
Wu, John C. H. (Wu Jingxiong), 1899-1986

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Descriptive Summary

Record Group: Section A - Correspondence

Dates of materials: 1961-1968, 1983

Volume: 122 item(s); 178 pg(s)

Scope and Content

Merton was familiar with some of John Wu's books, including his autobiography Beyond East and West. Merton writes to Wu to seek his help in studies of Oriental philosophy. They collaborated on a volume of sayings by Chuang Tzu. Merton, though he had been reading and studying Taoist texts in translation, did not have knowledge of the Chinese language. Drawing from various English texts and Wu's word-by-word literal translations, Merton makes his own interpretation of Chuang Tzu's writings in English, The Way of Chuang Tzu. Responding to Merton's letter of July 1962, Wu was quite impressed with Merton's translation, stating, "I am not flattering when I say that this is exactly what Chuang Tzu would write had he learned English."

Biography

Born in Ningpo, China, Jingxiong (or Ching-hsiung) Wu attended law schools in the United States and Europe in the late 1920's becoming a friend of the young Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., later to become a U.S. Supreme Court Justice. He had westernized his name, going by John. He became a wealthy lawyer and judge in Shanghai, but had a spiritual crisis in the late 1930's. During this time, he read St. Thèrése of Lisieux's Story of a Soul. This had a profound effect on Wu. Some sources give this time as his conversion to Christianity and baptism, others say his baptism was earlier but that this was still a crucial time in his faith life. In the late 1940's, he lived in Rome with his wife Teresa and his 13 children while serving as Chinese delegate to the Vatican. As an official of President Chiang Kai-shek, he was not able to return to China after the Communist revolution. A scholar of jurisprudence, philosophy, literature, religious studies, and cultural studies, he served as dean of the College of Chinese Culture in Taiwan and a research professor at Seton Hall University in South Orange, New Jersey. (Sources: [1]The Hidden Ground of Love, p. 611. Augustine, John. [2] "John C. H. Wu." Website of Christ the Eternal Tao. Accessed at Bellarmine University Library, Louisville, KY, 26 Sep. 2006. ‹http://www.geocities.com/johnaugus/taowu.html›. [3] Elkins, James R. "John C. H. Wu." Strangers to Us All: Lawyers and Poetry. Website of College of Law, West Virginia University. 2 Sep. 2001. Accessed at Bellarmine University Library, Louisville, KY, 26 Sep. 2006. ‹http://www.wvu.edu/~lawfac/jelkins/lp-2001/wu.html›)

Usage Guidelines and Restrictions

Related Information and Links

See all letters published between John C. H. Wu and Merton in Merton & the Tao: Dialogues with John Wu and the Ancient Sages, pp. 173-346; and see also Cold War Letters #82 and other letters from Merton to Wu published in The Hidden Ground of Love, pp. 611-635. See also the "Meeus, Charles L., Fr." and the "Wu, John, Jr." files.

Other Finding Aids

If the person in correspondence with Merton has full text records in the Merton Center Digital Collections, there will be a numeric link to them below.
   

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