Please see italicized words:
Neither the Dharma nor the Tao are a theistic god, yet most Freemasons would accept them as sufficient to take the Masonic oath.
Good luck with your journey.
I knew a guy, that was a member of the lodge George Washington was “raised” at, that left freemasonry after affirming his atheism. He just didn’t feel right with the rituals and community all oriented towards theism in practice, he felt like an outsider. I hope that’s not the case for you, but I share the story anyway so that you don’t waste your time if it might be.
Thanks, this is interesting information. My grandfather was a mason, but I never knew anything about it.
1 Like
Thank you. I wouldn’t become a Freemason until my kids are older and more independent, so I’ll have more time for things like lodge meetings.
I have many family members and friends who are and were Masons (and also christians mostly of the baptist or similar variety). Seems to me they were in it mainly for the business connections or parties. There is a significant vetting process of becoming a member. You may or may not be able to get in as a Buddhist, but I can’t understand why you would want to. The secrecy and ritual practices seem counter to the dhamma.
2 Likes
I thought masonery is technically a gnostic christian cult, the only one to survive. That’s how it’s listed on that big tree of religions picture
https://000024.org/religions_tree/religions_tree_8.html
(zoom out to see it better)
Is there reason to believe they would deny membership to a Buddhist because of his religion?
Having secret handshakes and code words doesn’t in and of itself seem anti-Buddhist to me. And Buddhism has its own fair share of ritual and ceremony.
It is a non-sectarian, interfaith organization.
All of them, or just the freemasonrly branch ? It’s actually cool that at least some gnostics survived to this day.
Unfortunately, afaik editions of the Gnostic Gospels are too new a discovery for the Masons to have been using/venerating them as holy books. Most of them were discovered between the turn of the century and 1960. Hence the hippy crazy of the 60s with largely untenable “Early Gnosticism” theories about Jesus.
I believe you might be right. I’ve found that Gospel of Thomas quite interesting. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exIiPeJUskw
Yet, I believe it is an exageration to claim they relate super much to buddhist teachings. They are ambiguous so you can read whatever we want from them. If we are to look objectively at them, they look like a kind of Mahayana sect and nothing more. A kind of monism or something like that.
But it is quite clear Jesus and early christians were more like this that like what today christians understand them to be. This understanding that christians have now come mostly from Mitharism and Judaism. The sect that was more cult-like and more simple, more for the masses and more suitable for an empire to have as a religion was the one that got mainstream. The empire made it the official religion and brutally killed off the other sects.
And as you said, the masonry probably has nothing to do with this anyway. Probably all that makes them gnostic are a bunch of cool rituals that make them look more mysterious.
PS: If you can believe it, something like 80% of that Ghospel of Thomas is also found in the bible lol.
Mine too.
1 Like
Just to be clear, if the Grand Lodge of England accepts Buddhists who swear an oath on a Buddhist scripture like the Dhammapada as members, that pretty much sets the standard of what is allowed for Buddhists in the United States and other countries under the English system of Freemasonry as well. Rejecting Buddhists for their faith would be contrary to the non-sectarian character of the organization.
There is very little consistency in Freemasonry. Because each Masonic jurisdiction is independent, each sets its own procedures. The wording of the ritual, the number of officers present, the layout of the meeting room, etc. varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.
…Each Masonic Lodge exists and operates according to a set of ancient principles known as the Landmarks of Freemasonry. These principles have thus far eluded any universally accepted definition.
Some of these folk will require a stricter sort of belief in a Supreme Being than another, which seems to be a core value. The OP seems to be designed as a defense against the claim that lack of Supreme Being a la theism is a barrier to Freemason membership.
It’ll depend on how your lodge sees it. However, since it seems like you can shop around for the lodge & Rite you want, there’s no real problem at all.
This hasn’t been answered, however, and is prima facie an equivocation. WHY is a Buddhist going to seek Freemasonic engagements? Social networking might make sense; what else?
I smell a perennialism close by…
Just because they publicly say you can swear an oath on the dhammapada doesn’t mean you would be accepted or respected as a member. Of course they need to publicly not discriminate. You’re going to need to investigate more than just their public face. The tradition is highly steeped in judeo christian identity, ritual, and symbol (and yes, their rituals are far more elaborate than anything theravada buddhism does). I was told years ago by a friend who was a mason that atheists would not be able to join (I at that time considered myself an atheist)–not that I was interested. He also told me a lot of it was drinking and business connections. That said, I don’t think Masons are bad people or there is anything nefarious about them.
It may be worth reviewing what the suttas say about secrecy, dealing with other religions, rituals (wrong grasping and understanding as an obstacle to stream entry), etc.
1 Like
From what I know about the masonery in my country, it’s just a place to build connections like dharmacorps said. Maybe you need connections in a certain field for your business, why not go to this organization doing exactly that for you ? From what I know, they are very open about it on the inside. I know a guy that joined because his father got him in. He was asked what does he work and he said “I’m a thief” and everybody appreciated it.
It’s an organization know for secrecy. It’s a public, legal organization where you can go and find the connections you need for corruption in any field you need. Whatever you do stays inside otherwise you will get in trouble with a lot of people. It’s such a perfect organization for corruption connections.
All this funkiness about rituals and religions is not really what they are about, at least not in my country.
I also forgot to add that there was a report by our secret services that not only is it a corruption organization but also under the influence of russia. Russia is known to always back corrupt forces in eastern european countries and try to gain influence through the fact that they can buy such people. It’s also the fact that corrupt politicians are always anti-EU and USA, the forces that are tying to help us in the anti-corruption fight. By delegitimizing them, they can dismiss their criticism in front of the voters.
A huge number of important politicians are masons, the ones that are generally known to be corrupt. And they come from all parties of course.
The Masons are all about shuffleboard. Shuffleboard is integral to Masonry. They say the results of one shuffleboard game presided over by the Grand Inspector General can determine the results of the next 5 years of Oscar nominations!
1 Like
I jest.
Or do I?
3 Likes
Because Buddhists believe in a transcendent moral order (I am not interested in getting into another semantic argument), the Dharma, they are not regarded as atheists by Freemasonry.