The picture above was sent to me recently by a dear friend. It shows the only meeting between two of my spiritual heroes: Thomas Merton and D. T. Suzuki. I read my first book by Merton when I was 14 years old, The Seven Storey Mountain, his autobiography. I read my first book by Suzuki when I was 17, An Introduction to Zen Buddhism. The same year, I read their only collaboration, Zen and the Birds of Appetite. Over forty years later I recently re-read that collaboration, with