Compassion

This audio collection of chants fulfills a wish made by both His Holiness the Dali Lama and the late Thomas Merton to bring the East and West together in compassion.

Compassion is an audio meditation. In June of 1999, Brother Paul Quenon, a novice who lived at the Abbey of Gethsemani in Trappist, KY, with the late Trappist monk Thomas Merton, and Venerable Geshe Lobsang Tenzin, director of Tibet's Drepun Loseling Institute, arranged for musicians from the West and monks from the East to descend into Mammoth Cave, the largest cave system in the world, with 360 miles of cave explored and mapped, in south Central Kentucky. For the next five days, in the Star Chamber of Mammoth Cave and also in the Furnace Mountain Zen Temple near Clay City, KY, as well as the Abbey of Gesthemane, the world renowned Drepung Loseling Monks and the Abbey of Gethsemani Schola recreated authentic chants from their religious traditions.

Inspired by the friendship between His Holiness and Thomas Merton, the musical group under the leadership of renowned musician Michael Fitzpatrick, forged Compassion out of these ancient Eastern and Western chant traditions. The audio meditation has since been presented at the United Nations Millennium World Peace Summit for Religious & Spiritual Leaders and at a performance at Closing Ceremony of a U.N. Summit.