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Rudolf Steiner e.Lib
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The Mission of Christian Rosenkreutz
Rudolf Steiner e.Lib Document
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The Mission of Christian Rosenkreutz
Schmidt Number: S-2665
On-line since: 8th December, 2003
VII. THE MISSION OF GAUTAMA BUDDHA ON MARS
Friends have expressed the wish that I should speak today on the
subject of the lecture here a year ago, when it was said that the
Initiation of Christian Rosenkreutz took place in very special
circumstances in the thirteenth century and that since then this
Individuality has worked unceasingly in the spiritual life. Today we
shall hear still more of Christian Rosenkreutz as we study the great
task which devolved upon him at the dawn of the age of intellect in
order that provision might be made for the future of humanity.
A being like Christian Rosenkreutz, who is present in the world as a
great and eminent occultist has to reckon with the conditions peculiar
to his epoch. The intrinsic character of spiritual life as it is in
the present age, arose for the first time when modern natural science
came upon the scene with men like Copernicus, Giordano Bruno, Galileo
and others. Human beings today are taught about Copernicus in their
early schooldays and the impressions then received remain with them
their whole life long. In earlier times it was quite different.
Try to picture what a contrast there is between a man of the modern
age and one who lived centuries ago. Before the days of Copernicus,
everyone believed that the Earth remains at rest in cosmic space with
the sun and the stars revolving around it. The very ground slipped
from under men's feet when Copernicus came forward with the doctrine
that the Earth is moving with tremendous speed through the universe!
We should not underestimate the effects of such a revolution in
thinking, accompanied as it was by a corresponding change in the life
of feeling. All the thoughts and ideas of men were suddenly different
from what they had been before the days of Copernicus! And now let us
ask: What has occultism to say about this revolution in thinking?
One who asks from the standpoint of occultism, what kind of
world-conception can be derived from the Copernican tenets, will have
to admit that although these ideas can lead to great achievements in
the realm of natural science and in external life, they are incapable
of promoting any understanding of the spiritual foundations of the
world and the things of the world for truth to tell there has
never been a worse instrument for understanding the spiritual
foundations of the world than the ideas of Copernicus never in
the evolution of the human mind! The reason for this is that all these
Copernican concepts are inspired by Lucifer. Copernicanism is one of
the last attacks, one of the last great attacks made by Lucifer upon
the evolution of man. In earlier, pre-Copernican thought, the external
world was, indeed, maya: but much traditional wisdom, much truth
concerning the world and the things of the world still survived. Since
Copernicus, however, man has maya around him not only in his material
perceptions but his concepts and ideas in themselves are maya.
Today men regard it as self-evident that the sun stands firmly at the
centre with the planets revolving around it in elliptics. In no far
distant future, however, it will be realised that the view of the
world of stars held by Copernicus is much less correct than the
earlier, Ptolemaic view. The view of the world held by the school of
Copernicus and Kepler is, in many respects, convenient, but as an
explanation of the macrocosm it is not the truth.
And so Christian Rosenkreutz, confronted by a world conception which
is itself a maya, an illusion, was obliged to take a stand with regard
to it. It devolved upon him to rescue occultism in an age when all the
concepts of science were themselves maya for with its material
globes in cosmic space the Copernican world system was maya, even as
concept. Thus towards the end of the sixteenth century, there took
place one of those Conferences of which we heard here a year ago in
connection with the Initiation of Christian Rosenkreutz himself in the
thirteenth century. In this later occult Conference of leading
Individualities, [footnote: See East in the Light of the West,
Chapter VI, etc.] Christian Rosenkreutz was associated with certain
other great Individualities concerned with the leadership of humanity.
There were present not only personalities in incarnation on the
physical plane but entelechies operating in the spiritual worlds; and
the Individuality who in the sixth century before Christ had been
incarnated as Gautama Buddha also participated.
The occultists of the East rightly believe for they know it to
be the truth that the Buddha who in his twenty-ninth year rose
from the rank of Bodhisattva to that of Buddha, had incarnated then
for the last time in a physical body. It is absolutely true that when
the individuality of a Bodhisattva becomes a Buddha, he no longer
appears on the Earth in physical incarnation. But this does not mean
that he ceases to be active in the affairs of the Earth. The Buddha
continues to work for the Earth, although he is never again present in
a physical body but sends down his influence from the spiritual world.
The Gloria heard by the Shepherds in the fields proclaimed
from the spiritual world that the forces of Buddha were streaming into
the astral body of the Child Jesus described in St. Luke's Gospel. The
words of the Gloria came from Buddha who was working in the astral
body of the Child Jesus. This wonderful message of Peace and Love is
an integral part of Buddha's contribution to Christianity. But later
on too, the Buddha works into the deeds of men not physically
but from the spiritual world and he has co-operated in measures
that have been necessary for the sake of progress in the evolution of
humanity.
In the seventh and eighth centuries, for example, there was a very
important centre of Initiation in the neighbourhood of the Black Sea,
in which the Buddha taught, in his spirit-body. In such Schools there
are teachers who live in the physical body; but it is also possible
for the more advanced pupils to receive instruction from one who
teaches in an ether-body only. Among the pupils of the Buddha at that
time was one who incarnated again a few centuries later. We are
speaking, therefore, of a physical personality who centuries later
lived again in a physical body and is known to us as St. Francis of
Assisi. The quality characteristic of Francis of Assisi and of the
life of his monks which has so much similarity with that of the
disciples of Buddha is due to the fact that Francis of Assisi
himself was a pupil of Buddha.
It is easy to perceive the contrast between the qualities
characteristic of men who like Francis of Assisi were striving
fervently for the Spirit and those engrossed in the world of industry,
technical life and discoveries of modern civilisation. Many there
were, including occultists, who suffered deeply at the thought that in
the future two separate classes of human beings would inevitably
arise. They foresaw the one class wholly given up to the affairs of
practical life, convinced that security depends entirely upon the
production of means of nourishment, the construction of machines, and
so forth; whereas the other class would be composed of men who, like
Francis of Assisi, withdraw altogether from the practical affairs of
the world for the sake of the spiritual life. Left to itself, without
intervention, history would inevitably have taken this course. But in
the wise counsels of the spiritual worlds, steps were taken to avert
the worst form of this evil on the Earth.
A Conference of the greatest and most advanced Individualities was
called together by Christian Rosenkreutz. His most intimate pupil and
friend, the great teacher Buddha, participated in these counsels and
in the decisions reached. At that spiritual Conference it was resolved
that henceforward Buddha would dwell on Mars and there unfold his
influence and activity. Buddha transferred his work to Mars in the
year 1604. And on Mars he performed a deed similar to that performed
by Christ on the Earth in the Mystery of Golgotha. Christian
Rosenkreutz had known what the work of Buddha on Mars would signify
for the whole Cosmos, what his teachings of Nirvana, of liberation
from the Earth would signify on Mars. The teaching of Nirvana was
unsuited to a form of culture directed primarily to practical life.
Buddha's pupil, Francis of Assisi, was an example of the fact that
this teaching produces in its adepts complete remoteness from the
world and its affairs. But the content of Buddhism which was not
adapted to the practical life of man between birth and death was of
high importance for the soul between death and a new birth. Christian
Rosenkreutz realised that for a certain purification needed on Mars,
the teachings of Buddha were pre-eminently suitable. The Christ Being,
the Essence of Divine Love, had once come down to the Earth to a
people in many respects alien, and in the seventeenth century, Buddha,
the Prince of Peace, went to Mars the planet of war and
conflict to execute his mission there. The souls on Mars were
warlike, torn with strife. Thus Buddha performed a deed of sacrifice
similar to the deed performed in the Mystery of Golgotha by the Bearer
of the Essence of Divine Love. To dwell on Mars as Buddha was a deed
of sacrifice offered to the Cosmos. He was as it were the lamb offered
up in sacrifice on Mars and to accept this environment of strife was
for him a kind of crucifixion. Buddha performed this deed on Mars in
the service of Christian Rosenkreutz. Thus do the great Beings who
guide the world work together, not only on the Earth but from one
planet to another.
Since the Mystery of Mars was consummated by Gautama Buddha, human
beings have been able to receive different forces from Mars during the
corresponding period between death and a new birth. Not only does a
man bring with him into a new birth quite different forces from Mars,
but because of the influence exercised by the spiritual deed of
Buddha, forces also stream from Mars into men who practise meditation
as a means for reaching the spiritual world. When the modern pupil of
Spiritual Science meditates in the sense indicated by Christian
Rosenkreutz, forces sent to the Earth by Buddha as the Redeemer of
Mars, stream to him.
Christian Rosenkreutz is thus revealed to us as the great Servant of
Christ Jesus; but what Buddha, as the emissary of Christian
Rosenkreutz, was destined to contribute to the work of Christ Jesus
this had also to come to the help of the work performed by
Christian Rosenkreutz in the service of Christ Jesus. The soul of
Gautama Buddha has not again been in physical incarnation on the Earth
but is utterly dedicated to the work of the Christ Impulse. What was
the word of Peace sent forth from the Buddha to the Child Jesus
described in the Gospel of St. Luke? Glory in the Heights and on
the Earth Peace! And this word of Peace, issuing
mysteriously from Buddha, resounds from the planet of war and conflict
to the soul of men on the Earth.
Because all these things had transpired, it was possible to avert the
division of human beings into the two distinct classes
consisting on the one hand of men of the type of Francis of Assisi and
on the other, men who live wholly in materialism. If Buddha had
remained in direct and immediate connection with the Earth he would
not have been able to concern himself with the men of practical
affairs; and his influence would have made the others into monks
like Francis of Assisi. Through the deed of Redemption performed by
Gautama Buddha on Mars, it is possible for us, when we are passing
through the Mars-period of existence between death and a new birth, to
become followers of Francis of Assisi without causing subsequent
deprivation to the Earth. Grotesque as it may seem, it is true
nevertheless, that since the seventeenth century, every human being in
the Mars-existence is, for a time, a Buddhist, a Franciscan, an
immediate follower of Francis of Assisi. Francis of Assisi has since
made only one brief incarnation on Earth as a child; he died in
childhood and has not again incarnated. He is intimately linked with
the work of Buddha on Mars and is one of his most eminent followers.
We have thus placed before our souls a picture of what came to pass
through that great Conference at the end of the sixteenth century,
resembling what had happened on Earth in the thirteenth century, when
Christian Rosenkreutz gathered his faithful around him. Nothing less
was accomplished than this. It was possible to avert from
humanity the threatened separation into two classes, so that men might
remain inwardly united. And those who are intent upon esoteric
development, in spite of their absorption in practical life, can
achieve their goal because the Buddha is working from the sphere of
Mars and not from the sphere of the Earth. Those forces which help to
promote a healthy esoteric life are also attributable to the work and
influence of Buddha.
In my book,
Knowledge of the Higher Worlds and its Attainment,
I have dealt with the methods that are appropriate for meditation
today. The essential point is that in Rosicrucian training,
development is such that the human being is not torn away from the
earthly activities demanded of him by karma. Rosicrucian esoteric
development can proceed without causing the slightest disturbance in
any situation or occupation. Because Christian Rosenkreutz was able to
transfer the work of Buddha from the Earth to Mars, it has become
possible for the influences of Buddha, from outside the Earth, to pour
down to men.
Again, then, we have heard of one of the spiritual deeds of Christian
Rosenkreutz but to understand these deeds of the thirteenth and
sixteenth centuries we must find our way to their esoteric meaning and
significance. It would be good if people were to realise how entirely
consistent the progress of Theosophy in the West has been since the
founding of the Middle European Section of the Theosophical Society.
Here in Switzerland, lecture-courses have been given on the four
Gospels. The substance of all these lectures is contained in germ in
my book
Christianity as Mystical Fact,
written twelve years ago. The book
Knowledge of the Higher Worlds and its Attainment
describes the Western path of development that is compatible with
practical activities of every kind. Today I have indicated that a
basic factor in these matters is the mission assigned to Gautama
Buddha by Christian Rosenkreutz, for I have spoken of the significant
influence which the transference of Buddha to Mars made possible in
our solar system. And so stone after stone fits into its proper place
in our Western Theosophy, for it has been built up consistently and in
obedience to principle and everything that comes later harmonises with
what went before. Inner consistency is essential in any conception of
the world, if it is to stand upon the ground of truth. And those who
are able to draw near to Christian Rosenkreutz see with wondering
veneration by what consistent paths he has carried through the great
mission entrusted to him. In our time this is the
Rosicrucian-Christian path of development. That the great teacher of
Nirvana is now fulfilling a mission outside the Earth, on Mars
this too is one of the wise and consistent deeds of Christian
Rosenkreutz.
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Last Modified: 02-Nov-2024
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