View source for Paper 94 - The Melchizedek Teachings in the Orient

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==PAPER 94: THE MELCHIZEDEK TEACHINGS IN THE ORIENT==

94:0.1 The early [[teachers]] of the [[Salem]] [[religion]] penetrated to the remotest [[tribes]] of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Africa Africa] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasia Eurasia], ever preaching [[Machiventa]]'s [[gospel]] of man's [[faith]] and [[trust]] in the one [[universal]] [[God]] as the only price of obtaining [[divine]] [[favor]]. [[Melchizedek]]'s [[covenant]] with [[Abraham]] was the [[pattern]] for all the early [[propaganda]] that went out from [[Salem]] and other [[centers]]. [[Urantia]] has never had more [[enthusiastic]] and aggressive missionaries of any [[religion]] than these [[noble]] men and women who carried the teachings of Melchizedek over the entire [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_hemisphere Eastern Hemisphere]. These missionaries were recruited from many peoples and races, and they largely spread their teachings through the [[medium]] of [[native]] [[converts]]. They [[established]] [[training]] centers in different parts of the world where they taught the natives the [[Salem]] religion and then commissioned these [[pupils]] to [[function]] as teachers among their own people.

==94:1. THE SALEM TEACHINGS IN VEDIC INDIA==

94:1.1 In the days of [[Melchizedek]], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epic_India India] was a [[cosmopolitan]] country which had recently come under the [[political]] and [[religious]] [[dominance]] of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-Iranian_peoples Aryan]-[https://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Paper_78#78:4._THE_ANDITES Andite] [[invaders]] from the north and west. At this time only the northern and western portions of the [[peninsula]] had been extensively permeated by the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aryan Aryans]. These [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vedic_Sanskrit Vedic] newcomers had brought along with them their many [[tribal]] [[deities]]. Their religious [[forms]] of [[worship]] followed closely the [[ceremonial]] [[practices]] of their earlier [https://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Paper_78#78:4._THE_ANDITES Andite] forebears in that the [[father]] still functioned as a [[priest]] and the [[mother]] as a priestess, and the [[family]] [[hearth]] was still utilized as an [[altar]].

94:1.2 The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vedic_Sanskrit Vedic cult] was then in [[process]] of [[growth]] and [[metamorphosis]] under the direction of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahmin Brahman] [[caste]] of [[teacher]]-[[priests]], who were [[gradually]] assuming [[control]] over the expanding [[ritual]] of [[worship]]. The [[amalgamation]] of the onetime thirty-three [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aryan_deities Aryan deities] was well under way when the [[Salem]] missionaries penetrated the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_India north of India].

94:1.3 The [[polytheism]] of these [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aryan Aryans] [[represented]] a [[degeneration]] of their earlier [[monotheism]] occasioned by their separation into [[tribal]] [[units]], each tribe having its venerated god. This [[devolution]] of the original monotheism and [[trinitarianism]] of [https://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Paper_78#78:4._THE_ANDITES Andite] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesopotamia Mesopotamia] was in [[process]] of resynthesis in the early centuries of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000_BC second millennium before Christ]. The many gods were [[organized]] into a [[pantheon]] under the [[triune]] [[leadership]] of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyaus_Pita Dyaus pitar], the lord of heaven; [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indra Indra], the tempestuous lord of the [[atmosphere]]; and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agni Agni], the three-headed [[fire]] god, lord of the [[earth]] and the vestigial [[symbol]] of an earlier [[Trinity]] [[concept]].

94:1.4 Definite [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henotheism henotheistic] [[developments]] were paving the way for an evolved [[monotheism]]. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agni Agni], the most [[ancient]] [[deity]], was often exalted as the father-head of the entire [[pantheon]]. The [[deity]]-father principle, sometimes called [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prajapati Prajapati], sometimes termed [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahma Brahma], was submerged in the [[theologic]] battle which the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahmin Brahman priests] later fought with the [[Salem]] teachers. The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahman Brahman] was conceived as the [[energy]]-[[divinity]] principle activating the entire [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vedas Vedic] [[pantheon]].

94:1.5 The [[Salem]] missionaries preached the one [[God]] of [[Melchizedek]], the [[Most High]] of heaven. This portrayal was not altogether disharmonious with the emerging [[concept]] of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahma Father-Brahma] as the source of all gods, but the [[Salem]] [[doctrine]] was nonritualistic and hence ran directly counter to the [[dogmas]], [[traditions]], and teachings of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahmin Brahman priesthood]. Never would the Brahman priests [[accept]] the [[Salem]] teaching of [[salvation]] through [[faith]], [[favor]] with [[God]] apart from ritualistic observances and [[sacrificial]] [[ceremonials]].

94:1.6 The rejection of the [[Melchizedek]] [[gospel]] of [[trust]] in [[God]] and [[salvation]] through [[faith]] marked a vital turning point for [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epic_India India]. The Salem missionaries had contributed much to the loss of [[faith]] in all the ancient [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vedas Vedic gods], but the [[leaders]], the priests of Vedism, refused to accept the [[Melchizedek]] teaching of one God and one [[simple]] [[faith]].

94:1.7 The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahmin Brahmans] culled the [[sacred]] [[writings]] of their day in an [[effort]] to combat the [[Salem]] teachers, and this compilation, as later revised, has come on down to [[modern]] times as the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rig-Veda Rigveda], one of the most [[ancient]] of sacred [[books]]. The second, third, and fourth Vedas followed as the Brahmans sought to crystallize, formalize, and fix their [[rituals]] of [[worship]] and [[sacrifice]] upon the peoples of those days. Taken at their best, these [[writings]] are the equal of any other body of similar [[character]] in [[beauty]] of [[concept]] and [[truth]] of [[discernment]]. But as this superior [[religion]] became contaminated with the thousands upon thousands of [[superstitions]], [[cults]], and [[rituals]] of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_India  southern India], it progressively [[metamorphosed]] into the most variegated [[system]] of [[theology]] ever developed by [[mortal]] man. An examination of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vedas Vedas] will disclose some of the highest and some of the most debased [[concepts]] of [[Deity]] ever to be conceived.

==94:2. BRAHMANISM==

94:2.1 As the [[Salem]] missionaries penetrated southward into the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dravidian_people Dravidian Deccan], they encountered an increasing [[caste]] system, the [[scheme]] of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aryan Aryans] to prevent loss of racial [[identity]] in the face of a rising tide of the secondary [https://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Paper_64#64:6._THE_SIX_SANGIK_RACES_OF_URANTIA Sangik peoples]. Since the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahmin Brahman priest] caste was the very [[essence]] of this [[system]], this social order greatly [[retarded]] the [[progress]] of the [[Salem]] [[teachers]]. This [[caste]] system failed to save the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aryan_race Aryan race], but it did succeed in perpetuating the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahmin Brahmans], who, in turn, have [[maintained]] their religious [[hegemony]] in [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India India] to the present time.

94:2.2 And now, with the weakening of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vedism Vedism] through the rejection of higher [[truth]], the [[cult]] of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aryan_race Aryans] became subject to increasing inroads from the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deccan Deccan]. In a desperate effort to stem the tide of racial [[extinction]] and religious [[obliteration]], the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahmin Brahman] [[caste]] sought to exalt themselves above all else. They taught that the [[sacrifice]] to [[deity]] in itself was all-efficacious, that it was all-compelling in its [[potency]]. They [[proclaimed]] that, of the two [[essential]] divine principles of the [[universe]], one was [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahman Brahman] the deity, and the other was the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahmin Brahman priesthood]. Among no other [[Urantia]] peoples did the [[priests]] presume to exalt themselves above even their [[gods]], to relegate to themselves the [[honors]] due their gods. But they went so absurdly far with these presumptuous claims that the whole precarious [[system]] collapsed before the debasing [[cults]] which poured in from the [[surrounding]] and less advanced [[civilizations]]. The vast [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vedism Vedic priesthood] itself floundered and sank beneath the black flood of [[inertia]] and pessimism which their own selfish and unwise presumption had brought upon all [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India India].

94:2.3 The undue [[concentration]] on [[self]] led certainly to a [[fear]] of the nonevolutionary perpetuation of [[self]] in an endless round of [[successive]] [[incarnations]] as man, beast, or weeds. And of all the contaminating [[beliefs]] which could have become fastened upon what may have been an emerging [[monotheism]], none was so stultifying as this [[belief]] in [[transmigration]]—the [[doctrine]] of the [[reincarnation]] of [[souls]]—which came from the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dravidian Dravidian Deccan]. This [[belief]] in the weary and monotonous round of repeated [[transmigrations]] robbed struggling [[mortals]] of their long-cherished [[hope]] of finding that [[deliverance]] and spiritual advancement in [[death]] which had been a part of the earlier [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vedism Vedic faith].

94:2.4 This philosophically debilitating teaching was soon followed by the [[invention]] of the [[doctrine]] of the [[eternal]] [[escape]] from [[self]] by submergence in the [[universal]] rest and [[peace]] of absolute [[union]] with [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahman Brahman], the oversoul of all [[creation]]. [[Mortal]] [[desire]] and [[human]] [[ambition]] were effectually ravished and virtually destroyed. For more than two thousand years the better [[minds]] of India have sought to [[escape]] from all [[desire]], and thus was opened wide the door for the entrance of those later [[cults]] and teachings which have [[virtually]] shackled the [[souls]] of many [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindus Hindu] peoples in the chains of [[spiritual]] hopelessness. Of all [[civilizations]], the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vedism Vedic-Aryan] paid the most terrible price for its rejection of the [[Salem]] [[gospel]].

94:2.5 [[Caste]] alone could not perpetuate the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aryan Aryan religio-cultural system], and as the inferior religions of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deccan Deccan] permeated the north, there developed an age of [[despair]] and hopelessness. It was during these [[dark]] days that the [[cult]] of taking no life arose, and it has ever since persisted. Many of the new cults were frankly [[atheistic]], claiming that such [[salvation]] as was [[attainable]] could come only by man's own unaided [[efforts]]. But throughout a great deal of all this unfortunate [[philosophy]], distorted remnants of the [[Melchizedek]] and even the [https://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Paper_74 Adamic teachings] can be traced.

94:2.6 These were the times of the compilation of the later [[scriptures]] of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinduism Hindu] faith, the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahamanas Brahmanas] and the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upanishads Upanishads]. Having rejected the teachings of [[personal]] [[religion]] through the personal [[faith]] [[experience]] with the one God, and having become contaminated with the flood of debasing and debilitating [[cults]] and creeds from the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deccan Deccan], with their [[anthropomorphisms]] and [[reincarnations]], the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahmin Brahmanic priesthood] experienced a [[violent]] [[reaction]] against these vitiating beliefs; there was a definite [[effort]] to seek and to find true [[reality]]. The Brahmans set out to deanthropomorphize the Indian concept of [[deity]], but in so doing they stumbled into the grievous [[error]] of depersonalizing the [[concept]] of [[God]], and they emerged, not with a lofty and [[spiritual]] [[ideal]] of the [[Paradise Father]], but with a distant and [[metaphysical]] idea of an all-[[encompassing]] [[Absolute]].

94:2.7 In their [[efforts]] at self-preservation the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahmin Brahmans] had rejected the one [[God]] of [[Melchizedek]], and now they found themselves with the [[hypothesis]] of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahman Brahman], that indefinite and illusive [[philosophic]] [[self]], that [[impersonal]] and impotent it which has left the [[spiritual]] life of India helpless and [[prostrate]] from that unfortunate day to the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/20th_century twentieth century].

94:2.8 It was during the times of the [[writing]] of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upanishads Upanishads] that [[Buddhism]] arose in [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India India]. But despite its successes of a thousand years, it could not [[compete]] with later [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinduism Hinduism]; despite a higher [[morality]], its early portrayal of God was even less well-defined than was that of Hinduism, which provided for lesser and [[personal]] [[deities]]. Buddhism finally gave way in [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_India northern India] before the onslaught of a militant [[Islam]] with its clear-cut [[concept]] of [[Allah]] as the supreme [[God]] of the [[universe]].

==94:3. BRAHMANIC PHILOSOPHY==

94:3.1 While the highest [[phase]] of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahamanism Brahmanism] was hardly a [[religion]], it was truly one of the most [[noble]] reaches of the [[mortal]] [[mind]] into the [[domains]] of [[philosophy]] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaphysics metaphysics]. Having started out to [[discover]] final [[reality]], the Indian mind did not stop until it had [[speculated]] about almost every [[phase]] of [[theology]] excepting the [[essential]] [[dual]] [[concept]] of [[religion]]: the [[existence]] of the [[Universal Father]] of all [[universe]] [[creatures]] and the [[fact]] of the [[ascending]] [[experience]] in the [[universe]] of these very [[creatures]] as they seek to [[attain]] the [[eternal]] Father, who has commanded them to be [[perfect]], even as he is perfect.

94:3.2 In the [[concept]] of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahman Brahman] the [[minds]] of those days truly grasped at the [[idea]] of some all-pervading [[Absolute]], for this [[postulate]] was at one and the same [[time]] identified as [[creative]] [[energy]] and [[cosmic]] [[reaction]]. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahman Brahman] was conceived to be beyond all definition, capable of being [[comprehended]] only by the [[successive]] negation of all [[finite]] [[qualities]]. It was definitely a [[belief]] in an absolute, even an [[infinite]], [[being]], but this [[concept]] was largely devoid of [[personality]] [[attributes]] and was therefore not experiencible by [[individual]] religionists.

94:3.3 [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahman Brahman]-[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narayana Narayana] was conceived as the [[Absolute]], the [[infinite]] IT IS, the primordial [[creative]] [[potency]] of the potential [[cosmos]], the [[Universal]] [[Self]] existing static and potential throughout all [[eternity]]. Had the [[philosophers]] of those days been able to make the next advance in [[deity]] conception, had they been able to conceive of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahman Brahman] as [[associative]] and [[creative]], as a [[personality]] approachable by created and [[evolving]] [[beings]], then might such a teaching have become the most advanced portraiture of [[Deity]] on [[Urantia]] since it would have [[encompassed]] the first five levels of [https://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Foreword#DEITY_AND_DIVINITY total deity function] and might possibly have envisioned the remaining two.

94:3.4 In certain [[phases]] the [[concept]] of the One Universal Oversoul as the [[totality]] of the summation of all [[creature]] [[existence]] led the Indian [[philosophers]] very close to the truth of the [[Supreme Being]], but this [[truth]] availed them naught because they failed to evolve any reasonable or [[rational]] [[personal]] approach to the [[attainment]] of their theoretic [[monotheistic]] goal of Brahman-Narayana.

94:3.5 The [[karma]] principle of [[causality]] [[continuity]] is, again, very close to the [[truth]] of the repercussional [[synthesis]] of all [[time-space]] [[actions]] in the [[Deity]] [[presence]] of the [[Supreme]]; but this postulate never provided for the [[co-ordinate]] [[personal]] [[attainment]] of [[Deity]] by the [[individual]] religionist, only for the [[ultimate]] engulfment of all [[personality]] by the Universal Oversoul.

94:3.6 The [[philosophy]] of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vedic_Brahmanism Brahmanism] also came very near to the [[realization]] of the indwelling of the [[Thought Adjusters]], only to become [[perverted]] through the misconception of [[truth]]. The teaching that the [[soul]] is the indwelling of the Brahman would have paved the way for an advanced [[religion]] had not this [[concept]] been completely vitiated by the [[belief]] that there is no [[human]] [[individuality]] apart from this indwelling of the [[Universal]] [[One]].

94:3.7 In the [[doctrine]] of the merging of the [[self]]-[[soul]] with the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Over-soul Oversoul], the theologians of India failed to [[provide]] for the [[survival]] of something [[human]], something new and [[unique]], something born of the [[union]] of the will of man and the will of God. The teaching of the [[soul]]'s return to the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahman Brahman] is closely [[parallel]] to the [[truth]] of the [[Adjuster]]'s return to the bosom of the [[Universal Father]], but there is something distinct from the [[Adjuster]] which also survives, the [[morontial]] [[counterpart]] of [[mortal]] [[personality]]. And this [[vital]] [[concept]] was fatally absent from [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upanishads#Philosophy Brahmanic philosophy].

94:3.8 [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upanishads#Philosophy Brahmanic philosophy] has approximated many of the [[facts]] of the [[universe]] and has approached numerous [[cosmic]] [[truths]], but it has all too often fallen [[victim]] to the error of failing to [[differentiate]] between the several [[levels]] of [[reality]], such as [[absolute]], [[transcendental]], and [[finite]]. It has failed to take into account that what may be [[finite]]-[[illusory]] on the [[absolute]] level may be absolutely real on the [[finite]] level. And it has also taken no cognizance of the [[essential]] [[personality]] of the [[Universal Father]], who is personally contactable on all levels from the [[evolutionary]] [[creature]]'s [[limited]] [[experience]] with [[God]] on up to the limitless experience of the [[Eternal Son]] with the [[Paradise Father]].

==94:4. THE HINDU RELIGION==

94:4.1 With the passing of the centuries in [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India India], the populace returned in [[measure]] to the [[ancient]] [[rituals]] of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vedas Vedas] as they had been [[modified]] by the teachings of the [[Melchizedek]] missionaries and crystallized by the later [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahmin Brahman priesthood]. This, the oldest and most [[cosmopolitan]] of the world's religions, has undergone further [[changes]] in response to [[Buddhism]] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jainism Jainism] and to the later appearing [[influences]] of [[Islam|Mohammedanism]] and [[Christianity]]. But by the time the teachings of [[Jesus]] arrived, they had already become so [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occident Occidentalized] as to be a "white man's religion," hence strange and foreign to the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu Hindu] mind.

94:4.2 [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu_philosophy Hindu theology], at present, depicts four descending [[levels]] of [[deity]] and [[divinity]]:

*1. 94:4.3 The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahman Brahman], the [[Absolute]], the Infinite One, the IT IS.
*2. 94:4.4 The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trimurti Trimurti], the supreme trinity of Hinduism. In this [[association]] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahma Brahma], the first member, is conceived as being self-created out of the Brahman—[[infinity]]. Were it not for close [[identification]] with the [[pantheistic]] Infinite One, Brahma could [[constitute]] the [[foundation]] for a [[concept]] of the [[Universal Father]]. Brahma is also identified with [[fate]].

*94:4.5 The [[worship]] of the second and third members, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siva Siva] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vishnu Vishnu], arose in the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1000_AD first millennium after Christ]. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siva Siva] is lord of life and death, god of [[fertility]], and master of destruction. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vishnu Vishnu] is extremely popular due to the [[belief]] that he periodically [[incarnates]] in [[human]] form. In this way, Vishnu becomes real and living in the [[imaginations]] of the Indians. Siva and Vishnu are each regarded by some as supreme over all.
*3. 94:4.6 [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vedism Vedic] and post-Vedic [[deities]]. M any of the [[ancient]] gods of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aryan Aryans], such as [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agni Agni], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indra Indra], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soma Soma], have [[persisted]] as secondary to the three members of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trimurti Trimurti]. Numerous additional gods have arisen since the early days of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vedism Vedic India], and these have also been incorporated into the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu Hindu] [[pantheon]].
*4. 94:4.7 The demigods: [[supermen]], semigods, [[heroes]], demons, [[ghosts]], evil spirits, sprites, monsters, goblins, and saints of the later-day [[cults]].

94:4.8 While [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinduism Hinduism] has long failed to vivify the Indian people, at the same time it has usually been a [[tolerant]] [[religion]]. Its great [[strength]] lies in the [[fact]] that it has proved to be the most [[adaptive]], amorphic religion to appear on [[Urantia]]. It is capable of almost unlimited [[change]] and possesses an unusual range of [[flexible]] [[adjustment]] from the high and semimonotheistic [[speculations]] of the [[intellectual]] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahmin Brahman] to the arrant [[fetishism]] and primitive [[cult]] [[practices]] of the debased and depressed classes of ignorant believers.

94:4.9 [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinduism Hinduism] has [[survived]] because it is [[essentially]] an integral part of the basic [[social]] fabric of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India India]. It has no great [[hierarchy]] which can be disturbed or destroyed; it is interwoven into the life [[pattern]] of the [[people]]. It has an [[adaptability]] to changing conditions that excels all other [[cults]], and it displays a [[tolerant]] [[attitude]] of [[adoption]] toward many other religions, [[Gautama Buddha]] and even [[Christ]] himself being claimed as [[incarnations]] of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vishnu Vishnu].

94:4.10 Today, in [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India India], the great need is for the portrayal of the [[Jesus|Jesusonian]] [[gospel]]—the Fatherhood of God and the sonship and consequent brotherhood of all men, which is [[personally]] realized in loving ministry and [[social]] [[service]]. In India the philosophical [[framework]] is existent, the [[cult]] [[structure]] is present; all that is needed is the vitalizing [[spark]] of the dynamic [[love]] portrayed in the [[original]] [[gospel]] of the Son of Man, divested of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occident Occidental] [[dogmas]] and [[doctrines]] which have tended to make [https://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Paper_120 Michael's life bestowal] a [https://books.google.com/books?id=5Iw5IZCTh-kC&printsec=frontcover&dq=white+man&hl=en&ei=PhCUTPimFMH48Abh_LyRDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=10&ved=0CFsQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=white%20man&f=false white man]'s religion.

==94:5. THE STRUGGLE FOR TRUTH IN CHINA==

94:5.1 As the [[Salem]] missionaries passed through [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asia Asia], spreading the [[doctrine]] of the [[Most High]] God and [[salvation]] through [[faith]], they [[absorbed]] much of the [[philosophy]] and religious [[thought]] of the various countries traversed. But the [[teachers]] commissioned by [[Melchizedek]] and his successors did not [[default]] in their [[trust]]; they did penetrate to all peoples of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasia Eurasian] continent, and it was in the middle of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000_BC second millennium before Christ] that they arrived in [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China China]. At See Fuch, for more than one hundred years, the Salemites maintained their headquarters, there [[training]] [[Chinese]] [[teachers]] who taught throughout all the [[domains]] of the [https://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Paper_64#64:6._THE_SIX_SANGIK_RACES_OF_URANTIA yellow race].

94:5.2 It was in direct [[consequence]] of this teaching that the earliest [[form]] of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taoism Taoism] arose in [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China China], a vastly [[different]] [[religion]] than the one which bears that name today. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Taoism Early or proto-Taoism] was a compound of the following [[factors]]:

*1. 94:5.3 The lingering teachings of [https://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Paper_45#45:4._THE_FOUR_AND_TWENTY_COUNSELORS Singlangton], which [[persisted]] in the [[concept]] of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanus#The_Jade_Palace Shang-ti], the [[God]] of [[Heaven]]. In the times of Singlangton the [[Chinese]] people became virtually [[monotheistic]]; they [[concentrated]] their [[worship]] on the One Truth, later known as the ''Spirit of Heaven'', the universe ruler. And the yellow race never fully lost this early [[concept]] of [[Deity]], although in subsequent centuries many subordinate gods and spirits insidiously crept into their [[religion]].
*2. 94:5.4 The [[Salem]] [[religion]] of a [[Most High]] [[Creator]] [[Deity]] who would [[bestow]] his [[favor]] upon mankind in response to man's [[faith]]. But it is all too true that, by the time the [[Melchizedek]] missionaries had penetrated to the lands of the yellow race, their [[original]] [[message]] had become considerably changed from the simple [[doctrines]] of [[Salem]] in the days of [[Machiventa]].
*3. 94:5.5 The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahman Brahman-Absolute] [[concept]] of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_philosophy#Hindu_philosophy Indian philosophers], coupled with the [[desire]] to [[escape]] all [[evil]]. Perhaps the greatest extraneous [[influence]] in the eastward spread of the [[Salem]] [[religion]] was exerted by the Indian teachers of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vedism Vedic faith], who injected their conception of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahman Brahman]—the Absolute—into the salvationistic [[thought]] of the Salemites.

94:5.6 This [[composite]] [[belief]] spread through the lands of the yellow and brown races as an underlying [[influence]] in religio-philosophic [[thought]]. In [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Japan Japan] this proto-Taoism was known as [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinto Shinto], and in this country, far distant from [[Salem]] of Palestine, the peoples learned of the [[incarnation]] of [[Machiventa]] [[Melchizedek]], who dwelt upon [[earth]] that the name of [[God]] might not be forgotten by [[mankind]].

94:5.7 In [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China China] all of these [[beliefs]] were later [[confused]] and compounded with the ever-growing [[cult]] of [[ancestor]] [[worship]]. But never since the time of [https://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Paper_45#45:4._THE_FOUR_AND_TWENTY_COUNSELORS Singlangton] have the [[Chinese]] fallen into helpless [[slavery]] to [[priestcraft]]. The yellow race was the first to emerge from [[barbaric]] [[bondage]] into orderly [[civilization]] because it was the first to achieve some measure of [[freedom]] from the abject [[fear]] of the gods, not even fearing the [[ghosts]] of the dead as other races feared them. China met her defeat because she failed to [[progress]] beyond her early [[emancipation]] from [[priests]]; she fell into an almost equally calamitous [[error]], the [[worship]] of [[ancestors]].

94:5.8 But the Salemites did not labor in vain. It was upon the [[foundations]] of their [[gospel]] that the great [[philosophers]] of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_philosophy sixth-century China] built their teachings. The [[moral]] atmosphere and the [[spiritual]] sentiments of the times of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laotse Lao-tse] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confucius Confucius] grew up out of the teachings of the [[Salem]] missionaries of an earlier age.

==94:6. LAO-TSE AND CONFUCIUS==  

94:6.1 About [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/600_BC six hundred years before the arrival of Michael], it seemed to [[Melchizedek]], long since departed from the [[flesh]], that the [[purity]] of his teaching on [[earth]] was being unduly jeopardized by general [[absorption]] into the older [[Urantia]] [[beliefs]]. It appeared for a time that his mission as a forerunner of [[Michael]] might be in [[danger]] of failing. And in the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/600_BC sixth century before Christ], through an [[unusual]] [[co-ordination]] of [[spiritual]] [[agencies]], not all of which are [[understood]] even by the [[Planetary government|planetary supervisors]], [[Urantia]] [[witnessed]] a most unusual presentation of manifold [[religious]] [[truth]]. Through the [[agency]] of several [[human]] [[teachers]] the [[Salem]] gospel was restated and revitalized, and as it was then presented, much has [[persisted]] to the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1934 times of this writing].

94:6.2 This [[unique]] century of [[spiritual]] [[progress]] was characterized by great [[religious]], [[moral]], and [[philosophic]] teachers all over the civilized world. In [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_China China], the two outstanding teachers were [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laozi Lao-tse] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confucius Confucius].

94:6.3 [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laozi Lao-tse] built directly upon the [[concepts]] of the [[Salem]] [[traditions]] when he declared [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tao Tao] to be the One First [[Cause]] of all [[creation]]. Lao was a man of great [[spiritual]] [[vision]]. He taught that "man's [[eternal]] [[destiny]] was everlasting [[union]] with Tao, [[Supreme]] [[God]] and Universal King." His [[comprehension]] of ultimate [[causation]] was most [[discerning]], for he wrote: "[[Unity]] arises out of the [[Absolute]] Tao, and from Unity there appears [[cosmic]] [[Duality]], and from such Duality, [[Trinity]] springs forth into existence, and Trinity is the primal [[source]] of all [[reality]]." "All [[reality]] is ever in [[balance]] between the [[potentials]] and the [[actuals]] of the [[cosmos]], and these are eternally [[harmonized]] by the spirit of [[divinity]]."

94:6.4 [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laozi Lao-tse] also made one of the earliest presentations of the [[doctrine]] of returning ''good'' for [[evil]]: "Goodness begets goodness, but to the one who is truly good, evil also begets goodness."

94:6.5 He taught the return of the [[creature]] to the [[Creator]] and pictured life as the [[emergence]] of a [[personality]] from the [[cosmic]] [[potentials]], while [[death]] was like the returning [[home]] of this [[creature]] [[personality]]. His [[concept]] of true [[faith]] was unusual, and he too likened it to the "[[attitude]] of a little [[child]]."

94:6.6 His [[understanding]] of the [[eternal]] [[purpose]] of [[God]] was clear, for he said: "The [[Absolute]] [[Deity]] does not [[Competition|strive]] but is always victorious; he does not [[coerce]] [[mankind]] but always stands ready to [[respond]] to their true [[desires]]; the will of God is [[eternal]] in [[patience]] and eternal in the [[inevitability]] of its [[expression]]." And of the true religionist he said, in [[expressing]] the [[truth]] that it is more [[blessed]] to give than to receive:" The good man seeks not to retain [[truth]] for himself but rather attempts to [[bestow]] these riches upon his fellows, for that is the [[realization]] of [[truth]]. The will of the [[Absolute]] [[God]] always benefits, never destroys; the [[purpose]] of the true believer is always to [[act]] but never to [[coerce]]."

94:6.7 [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laozi Lao]'s teaching of nonresistance and the distinction which he made between [[action]] and [[coercion]] became later perverted into the [[beliefs]] of "seeing, doing, and thinking nothing." But Lao never taught such [[error]], albeit his presentation of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonresistance nonresistance] has been a factor in the further [[development]] of the pacific predilections of the [[Chinese]] peoples.

94:6.8 But the popular [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taoism Taoism] of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/20th_century twentieth-century] [[Urantia]] has very little in common with the lofty sentiments and the [[cosmic]] [[concepts]] of the old philosopher who taught the [[truth]] as he perceived it, which was: That [[faith]] in the [[Absolute]] [[God]] is the [[source]] of that [[divine]] [[energy]] which will remake the world, and by which man [[ascends]] to [[spiritual]] [[union]] with [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tao Tao], the [[Eternal]] [[Deity]] and [[Creator]] Absolute of the [[universes]].

94:6.9 [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confucius Confucius] (Kung Fu-tze) was a younger contemporary of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laozi Lao] in [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shiji sixth-century China]. Confucius based his [[doctrines]] upon the better [[moral]] traditions of the long [[history]] of the yellow race, and he was also somewhat [[influenced]] by the lingering [[traditions]] of the [[Salem]] missionaries. His chief [[work]] consisted in the compilation of the [[wise]] sayings of [[ancient]] [[philosophers]]. He was a rejected teacher during his lifetime, but his [[writings]] and teachings have ever since exerted a great [[influence]] in [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China China] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan Japan]. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confucius Confucius] set a new [[pace]] for the [[shamans]] in that he put [[morality]] in the place of [[magic]]. But he built too well; he made a new [[fetish]] out of order and [[established]] a [[respect]] for [[ancestral]] [[conduct]] that is still [[venerated]] by the [[Chinese]] at the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1934 time of this writing].

94:6.10 The Confucian preachment of [[morality]] was predicated on the [[theory]] that the earthly way is the distorted [[shadow]] of the heavenly way; that the true [[pattern]] of temporal [[civilization]] is the [[mirror]] [[reflection]] of the eternal order of [[heaven]]. The [[potential]] [[God]] [[concept]] in [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confucianism Confucianism] was almost completely subordinated to the emphasis placed upon the Way of Heaven, the [[pattern]] of the [[cosmos]].

94:6.11 The teachings of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laozi Lao] have been lost to all but a few in the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orient Orient], but the [[writings]] of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confucius Confucius] have ever since constituted the basis of the [[moral]] [[fabric]] of the [[culture]] of almost a third of [[Urantia]]ns. These [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confucianism#Themes_in_Confucian_thought Confucian precepts], while perpetuating the best of the [[past]], were somewhat inimical to the very [[Chinese]] spirit of [[investigation]] that had produced those [[achievements]] which were so [[venerated]]. The [[influence]] of these [[doctrines]] was unsuccessfully combated both by the imperial efforts of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%27in_Shih_Huang_Ti Ch'in Shih Huang Ti] and by the teachings of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Ti Mo Ti], who proclaimed a [[brotherhood]] founded not on [[ethical]] [[duty]] but on the [[love]] of [[God]]. He sought to rekindle the [[ancient]] quest for new [[truth]], but his teachings failed before the vigorous [[opposition]] of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confucius#Disciples_and_legacy disciples of Confucius].

94:6.12 Like many other [[spiritual]] and [[moral]] [[teachers]], both [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confucius Confucius] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laozi Lao-tse] were [[eventually]] deified by their followers in those spiritually dark ages of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_history China] which intervened between the decline and [[perversion]] of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taosim Taoist faith] and the coming of the [[Buddhist]] missionaries from [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhism#Timeline India]. During these spiritually [[decadent]] centuries the [[religion]] of the yellow race [[degenerated]] into a pitiful [[theology]] wherein swarmed devils, dragons, and evil spirits, all betokening the returning [[fears]] of the unenlightened [[mortal]] [[mind]]. And [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China China], once at the head of human [[society]] because of an advanced [[religion]], then fell behind because of temporary failure to [[progress]] in the true path of the [[development]] of that [[God-consciousness]] which is indispensable to the true [[progress]], not only of the [[individual]] [[mortal]], but also of the intricate and [[complex]] [[civilizations]] which characterize the advance of [[culture]] and [[society]] on an [https://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Paper_49 evolutionary planet] of [[time and space]].

==94:7. GAUTAMA SIDDHARTHA==

94:7.1 Contemporary with [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laozi Lao-tse] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confucius Confucius] in [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_China China], another great teacher of [[truth]] arose in [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_India India]. [[Gautama Siddhartha]] was born in the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/600_BC sixth century before Christ] in the north Indian province of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nepal Nepal]. His followers later made it appear that he was the son of a fabulously [[wealthy]] ruler, but, in [[truth]], he was the heir apparent to the throne of a petty chieftain who ruled by sufferance over a small and secluded [[mountain]] valley in the southern [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Himalayas Himalayas].

94:7.2 [[Gautama]] formulated those [[theories]] which grew into the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhism#Buddhist_concepts philosophy of Buddhism] after six years of the futile [[practice]] of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoga Yoga]. [[Siddhartha]] made a determined but unavailing fight against the growing [[caste]] system. There was a lofty [[sincerity]] and a [[unique]] unselfishness about this young [[prophet]] prince that greatly appealed to the men of those days. He detracted from the [[practice]] of seeking [[individual]] [[salvation]] through [[physical]] affliction and [[personal]] [[pain]]. And he exhorted his followers to carry his [[gospel]] to all the world.

94:7.3 Amid the [[confusion]] and extreme [[cult]] [[practices]] of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_religion#Prehistory India], the saner and more moderate teachings of [[Gautama]] came as a refreshing relief. He denounced gods, [[priests]], and their [[sacrifices]], but he too failed to [[perceive]] the [[personality]] of the [[One]] [[Universal]]. Not believing in the [[existence]] of [[individual]] [[human]] [[souls]], [[Gautama]], of course, made a valiant fight against the time-honored [[belief]] in [[transmigration]] of the soul. He made a [[noble]] [[effort]] to deliver men from [[fear]], to make them feel at ease and at [[home]] in the great [[universe]], but he failed to show them the pathway to that real and [[supernal]] home of [[ascending]] [[mortals]]— [[Paradise]]—and to the expanding [[service]] of [[eternal]] [[existence]].

94:7.4 [[Gautama]] was a real [[prophet]], and had he heeded the instruction of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermit hermit] ''Godad'', he might have aroused all [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India India] by the [[inspiration]] of the revival of the [[Salem]] [[gospel]] of [[salvation]] by [[faith]]. Godad was descended through a [[family]] that had never lost the [[traditions]] of the [[Melchizedek]] missionaries.

94:7.5 At [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benares Benares] [[Gautama]] founded his school, and it was during its second year that a pupil, ''Bautan'', imparted to his teacher the [[traditions]] of the [[Salem]] missionaries about the [[Melchizedek]] [[covenant]] with [[Abraham]]; and while [[Siddhartha]] did not have a very clear [[concept]] of the [[Universal Father]], he took an advanced stand on [[salvation]] through [[faith]]—simple [[belief]]. He so declared himself before his followers and began sending his [[students]] out in groups of sixty to proclaim to the people of India "the glad tidings of [[free]] [[salvation]]; that all men, high and low, can [[attain]] bliss by [[faith]] in [[righteousness]] and [[justice]]."

94:7.6 [[Gautama]]'s [[wife]] believed her [[husband]]'s gospel and was the founder of an order of nuns. His son became his successor and greatly extended the [[cult]]; he grasped the new [[idea]] of [[salvation]] through [[faith]] but in his later years wavered regarding the [[Salem]] gospel of [[divine]] [[favor]] through [[faith]] alone, and in his old age his dying words were, "Work out your own [[salvation]]."

94:7.7 When proclaimed at its best, [[Gautama]]'s gospel of [[universal]] [[salvation]], free from [[sacrifice]], [[torture]], [[ritual]], and [[priests]], was a [[revolutionary]] and amazing [[doctrine]] for its time. And it came surprisingly near to being a revival of the [[Salem]] gospel. It brought succor to millions of despairing [[souls]], and notwithstanding its [[grotesque]] [[perversion]] during later centuries, it still [[persists]] as the hope of millions of [[human being]]s.

94:7.8 [[Siddhartha]] taught far more [[truth]] than has survived in the [[modern]] [[cults]] bearing his name. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhism#Buddhism_today Modern Buddhism] is no more the teachings of [[Gautama Siddhartha]] than is [[Christianity]] the teachings of [[Jesus]] of [[Nazareth]].

==94:8. THE BUDDHIST FAITH==

94:8.1 To become a [[Buddhist]], one merely made [[public]] profession of the [[faith]] by reciting the Refuge: "I take my refuge in the Buddha; I take my refuge in the Doctrine; I take my refuge in the Brotherhood."

94:8.2 [[Buddhism]] took [[origin]] in a historic [[person]], not in a [[myth]]. [[Gautama]]'s followers called him [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sasta Sasta], meaning master or teacher. While he made no [[superhuman]] claims for either himself or his teachings, his [[disciples]] early began to call him the [[enlightened]] one, the Buddha; later on, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sakyamuni Sakyamuni Buddha].

94:8.3 The [[original]] [[gospel]] of [[Gautama]] was based on the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_noble_truths four noble truths]:

*1. ''The noble truths of suffering''.
*2. ''The origins of suffering''.
*3. ''The destruction of suffering''.
*4. ''The way to the destruction of suffering''.

94:8.4 Closely linked to the [[doctrine]] of [[suffering]] and the [[escape]] therefrom was the philosophy of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eightfold_Path Eightfold Path]: right views, [[aspirations]], [[speech]], [[conduct]], livelihood, [[effort]], mindfulness, and [[contemplation]]. It was not Gautama's [[intention]] to attempt to destroy all [[effort]], [[desire]], and [[affection]] in the [[escape]] from [[suffering]]; rather was his teaching designed to picture to [[mortal]] man the futility of pinning all [[hope]] and [[aspirations]] entirely on [[temporal]] goals and [[material]] objectives. It was not so much that [[love]] of one's fellows should be shunned as that the true believer should also look beyond the [[associations]] of this [[material]] world to the [[realities]] of the [[eternal]] [[future]].

94:8.5 The [[moral]] commandments of [[Gautama]]'s preachment were five in number:

*1. 94:8.6 ''You shall not kill''.
*2. 94:8.7 ''You shall not steal''.
*3. 94:8.8 ''You shall not be unchaste''.
*4. 94:8.9 ''You shall not lie''.
*5. 94:8.10 ''You shall not drink intoxicating liquors''.

94:8.11 There were several additional or secondary commandments, whose [[observance]] was [[optional]] with believers.

94:8.12 [[Siddhartha]] hardly believed in the [[immortality]] of the [[human]] [[personality]]; his [[philosophy]] only provided for a sort of [[functional]] [[continuity]]. He never clearly defined what he meant to include in the [[doctrine]] of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nirvana Nirvana]. The [[fact]] that it could [[theoretically]] be experienced during [[mortal]] [[existence]] would indicate that it was not viewed as a [[state]] of complete [[annihilation]]. It implied a condition of [[supreme]] [[enlightenment]] and [[supernal]] bliss wherein all fetters binding man to the [[material]] world had been broken; there was [[freedom]] from the [[desires]] of [[mortal]] life and deliverance from all [[danger]] of ever again experiencing [[incarnation]].

94:8.13 According to the [[original]] teachings of [[Gautama]], [[salvation]] is achieved by [[human]] [[effort]], apart from [[divine]] help; there is no place for saving [[faith]] or [[prayers]] to [[superhuman]] powers. [[Gautama]], in his attempt to minimize the [[superstitions]] of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_india#Early_historic_period India], endeavored to turn men away from the blatant claims of [[magical]] [[salvation]]. And in making this [[effort]], he left the door wide open for his successors to misinterpret his teaching and to proclaim that all [[human]] striving for [[attainment]] is distasteful and painful. His followers overlooked the [[fact]] that the highest [[happiness]] is linked with the [[intelligent]] and [[enthusiastic]] pursuit of worthy goals, and that such [[achievements]] constitute true [[progress]] in [[cosmic]] [[self-realization]].

94:8.14 The great [[truth]] of [[Siddhartha]]'s teaching was his [[proclamation]] of a [[universe]] of absolute [[justice]]. He taught the best [[Atheism|godless]] [[philosophy]] ever [[invented]] by [[mortal]] man; it was the [[ideal]] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanism humanism] and most effectively removed all grounds for [[superstition]], [[magical]] [[rituals]], and [[fear]] of [[ghosts]] or [[demons]].

94:8.15 The great weakness in the [[original]] [[gospel]] of [[Buddhism]] was that it did not produce a [[religion]] of unselfish [[social]] [[service]]. The Buddhistic brotherhood was, for a long time, not a fraternity of believers but rather a [[community]] of student teachers. Gautama forbade their receiving [[money]] and thereby sought to prevent the [[growth]] of [[hierarchal]] tendencies. Gautama himself was highly [[social]]; indeed, his life was much greater than his preachment.

==94:9. THE SPREAD OF BUDDHISM==

94:9.1 [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhism Buddhism] prospered because it offered [[salvation]] through [[belief]] in the [[Buddha]], the [[enlightened]] one. It was more [[representative]] of the [[Melchizedek]] [[truths]] than any other [[religious]] system to be found throughout [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Asia eastern Asia]. But Buddhism did not become widespread as a [[religion]] until it was espoused in self-protection by the low-caste [[King|monarch]] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asoka Asoka], who, next to [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ikhnaton Ikhnaton in Egypt], was one of the most remarkable civil rulers between [[Melchizedek]] and [[Michael]]. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asoka Asoka] built a great [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurya_Empire#Ashoka_the_Great Indian empire] through the [[propaganda]] of his [[Buddhist]] missionaries. During a period of twenty-five years he [[trained]] and sent forth more than seventeen thousand missionaries to the farthest [[frontiers]] of all the known world. In one [[generation]] he made [[Buddhism]] the dominant [[religion]] of one half the world. It soon became [[established]] in [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibet Tibet], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashmir Kashmir],[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceylon Ceylon], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burma Burma], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Java Java], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siam Siam], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korea Korea], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China China], and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan Japan]. And generally speaking, it was a [[religion]] vastly superior to those which it supplanted or upstepped.

94:9.2 The spread of [[Buddhism]] from its homeland in [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epic_India India] to all of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asia Asia] is one of the thrilling [[stories]] of the [[spiritual]] [[devotion]] and missionary [[persistence]] of [[sincere]] religionists. The [[teachers]] of [[Gautama]]'s gospel not only braved the [[perils]] of the overland caravan routes but faced the [[dangers]] of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Sea China Seas] as they pursued their mission over the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asia Asiatic continent], bringing to all peoples the message of their [[faith]]. But this [[Buddhism]] was no longer the [[simple]] doctrine of [[Gautama]]; it was the miraculized gospel which made him a [[god]]. And the farther [[Buddhism]] spread from its highland [[home]] in India, the more unlike the teachings of [[Gautama]] it became, and the more like the [[religions]] it supplanted, it grew to be.

94:9.3 [[Buddhism]], later on, was much affected by [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taoism Taoism] in China, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinto Shinto] in Japan, and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christiainity Christianity] in Tibet. After a thousand years, in India Buddhism simply withered and expired. It became [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahman Brahmanized] and later abjectly [[surrendered]] to [[Islam]], while throughout much of the rest of the [[Orient]] it [[degenerated]] into a [[ritual]] which [[Gautama Siddhartha]] would never have recognized.

94:9.4 In the south the [[fundamentalist]] [[stereotype]] of the teachings of [[Siddhartha]] persisted in [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceylon Ceylon],  [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burma Burma], and the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam Indo-China peninsula]. This is the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinayana Hinayana] division of Buddhism which clings to the early or asocial [[doctrine]].

94:9.5 But even before the collapse in India, the Chinese and north Indian groups of [[Gautama]]'s followers had begun the [[development]] of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahayana Mahayana] teaching of the "Great Road" to [[salvation]] in contrast with the purists of the south who held to the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinayna Hinayana], or "Lesser Road." And these Mahayanists cast loose from the [[social]] [[limitations]] [[inherent]] in the [[Buddhist]] [[doctrine]], and ever since has this northern division of Buddhism continued to evolve in China and Japan.

94:9.6 [[Buddhism]] is a living, growing [[religion]] today because it succeeds in conserving many of the highest [[moral]] [[values]] of its adherents. It promotes calmness and self-control, augments [[serenity]] and [[happiness]], and does much to prevent sorrow and mourning. Those who believe this [[philosophy]] live better lives than many who do not.

==94:10. RELIGION IN TIBET==

94:10.1 In [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibet Tibet] may be found the strangest [[association]] of the [[Melchizedek]] teachings combined with [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhism Buddhism], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinduism Hinduism], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taoism Taoism], and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity Christianity]. When the Buddhist missionaries entered Tibet, they encountered a state of [[primitive]] [[savagery]] very similar to that which the early Christian missionaries found among the northern [[tribes]] of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Europe Europe].

94:10.2 These simple-minded [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibetans Tibetans] would not wholly give up their [[ancient]] [[magic]] and charms. [[Examination]] of the religious [[ceremonials]] of present-day [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibetan_Buddhism Tibetan rituals] reveals an overgrown brotherhood of [[priests]] with shaven heads who [[practice]] an elaborate [[ritual]] embracing bells, [[chants]], incense, processionals, rosaries, images, charms, pictures, holy water, gorgeous vestments, and elaborate choirs. They have rigid [[dogmas]] and crystallized [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creed creeds], [[mystic]] [[rites]] and special fasts. Their [[hierarchy]] embraces [[monks]], nuns, abbots, and the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Lama Grand Lama]. They pray to [[angels]], saints, a Holy Mother, and the gods. They [[practice]] [[confessions]] and believe in [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purgatory purgatory]. Their monasteries are extensive and their cathedrals [[magnificent]]. They keep up an endless repetition of [[sacred]] [[rituals]] and believe that such ceremonials bestow [[salvation]]. [[Prayers]] are fastened to a wheel, and with its turning they believe the [[petitions]] become efficacious. Among no other people of [[modern]] times can be found the [[observance]] of so much from so many religions; and it is [[inevitable]] that such a cumulative [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liturgy liturgy] would become inordinately cumbersome and intolerably burdensome.

94:10.3 The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibetans Tibetans] have something of all the leading world religions except the [[simple]] teachings of the [[Jesus|Jesusonian]] gospel: sonship with God, brotherhood with man, and ever-ascending [[citizenship]] in the [[eternal]] [[universe]].

==94:11. BUDDHIST PHILOSOPHY==
94:11.1 [[Buddhism]] entered [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China China] in the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1000_AD first millennium after Christ], and it fitted well into the [[religious]] [[customs]] of the yellow race. In [[ancestor]] [[worship]] they had long prayed to the dead; now they could also pray for them. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhism Buddhism] soon amalgamated with the lingering ritualistic [[practices]] of disintegrating [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taoism Taoism]. This new [[synthetic]] [[religion]] with its [[temples]] of [[worship]] and definite religious [[ceremonial]] soon became the generally accepted [[cult]] of the peoples of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China China], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korea Korea], and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan Japan].

94:11.2 While in some respects it is unfortunate that [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhism Buddhism] was not carried to the world until after [[Gautama]]'s followers had so [[perverted]] the [[traditions]] and teachings of the [[cult]] as to make of him a [[divine]] [[being]], nonetheless this [[myth]] of his human life, embellished as it was with a multitude of [[miracles]], proved very appealing to the auditors of the northern or [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayahana Mahayana] gospel of Buddhism.

94:11.3 Some of his later followers taught that [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sakyamuni Sakyamuni Buddha]'s spirit returned periodically to [[earth]] as a living [[Buddha]], thus opening the way for an indefinite perpetuation of Buddha images, [[temples]], [[rituals]], and impostor "living Buddhas." Thus did the [[religion]] of the great Indian protestant eventually find itself shackled with those very [[ceremonial]] [[practices]] and ritualistic [[incantations]] against which he had so fearlessly fought, and which he had so valiantly denounced.

94:11.4 The great advance made in [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhist_philosophy Buddhist philosophy] consisted in its comprehension of the [[relativity]] of all [[truth]]. Through the [[mechanism]] of this [[hypothesis]] Buddhists have been able to reconcile and correlate the divergencies within their own religious [[scriptures]] as well as the [[differences]] between their own and many others. It was taught that the small [[truth]] was for little minds, the large truth for great minds.

94:11.5 This [[philosophy]] also held that the [[Buddha]] ([[divine]]) [[nature]] resided in all men; that man, through his own endeavors, could [[attain]] to the [[realization]] of this inner [[divinity]]. And this teaching is one of the clearest presentations of the [[truth]] of the indwelling [[Adjusters]] ever to be made by a Urantian [[religion]].

94:11.6 But a great [[limitation]] in the original gospel of [[Siddhartha]], as it was [[interpreted]] by his followers, was that it attempted the complete [[liberation]] of the human [[self]] from all the [[limitations]] of the [[mortal]] nature by the [[technique]] of isolating the self from [[objective]] [[reality]]. True [[cosmic]] [[self-realization]] results from identification with cosmic [[reality]] and with the [[finite]] cosmos of [[energy]], [[mind]], and [[spirit]], bounded by [[space]] and conditioned by [[time]].

94:11.7 But though the [[ceremonies]] and outward observances of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhism Buddhism] became grossly contaminated with those of the lands to which it traveled, this [[degeneration]] was not altogether the case in the [[philosophical]] life of the great thinkers who, from time to time, [[embraced]] this system of [[thought]] and [[belief]]. Through more than two thousand years, many of the best minds of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asia Asia] have [[concentrated]] upon the problem of ascertaining absolute [[truth]] and the truth of the [[Absolute]].

94:11.8 The [[evolution]] of a high [[concept]] of the [[Absolute]] was achieved through many [[channels]] of [[thought]] and by devious paths of [[reasoning]]. The upward [[ascent]] of this [[doctrine]] of [[infinity]] was not so clearly defined as was the [[evolution]] of the [[God]] concept in [[Hebrew]] [[theology]]. Nevertheless, there were certain broad levels which the [[minds]] of the Buddhists reached, tarried upon, and passed through on their way to the envisioning of the Primal [[Source]] of [[universes]]:

*1. 94:11.9 1. ''The Gautama legend''. At the base of the [[concept]] was the historic [[fact]] of the life and teachings of [[Siddhartha]], the [[prophet]] prince of India. This legend grew in [[myth]] as it traveled through the centuries and across the broad lands of Asia until it surpassed the [[status]] of the [[idea]] of Gautama as the [[enlightened]] one and began to take on additional [[attributes]].
*2. 94:11.10 2. ''The many Buddhas''. It was reasoned that, if [[Gautama]] had come to the peoples of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_India India], then, in the remote past and in the remote [[future]], the races of [[mankind]] must have been, and undoubtedly would be, [[blessed]] with other teachers of [[truth]]. This gave rise to the teaching that there were many Buddhas, an unlimited and infinite [[number]], even that anyone could [[aspire]] to become one—to attain the [[divinity]] of a Buddha.
*3. 94:11.11 3. ''The Absolute Buddha''. B y the time the [[number]] of Buddhas was approaching [[infinity]], it became [[necessary]] for the [[minds]] of those days to reunify this unwieldy [[concept]]. Accordingly it began to be taught that all Buddhas were but the [[manifestation]] of some higher [[essence]], some Eternal One of [[infinite]] and unqualified [[existence]], some [[Absolute]] [[Source]] of all [[reality]]. From here on, the [[Deity]] concept of Buddhism, in its highest form, becomes [[divorced]] from the human [[person]] of [[Gautama Siddhartha]] and casts off from the [[anthropomorphic]] limitations which have held it in leash. This final [[conception]] of the Buddha Eternal can well be identified as the [[Absolute]], sometimes even as the infinite [[I AM]].

94:11.12 While this idea of [[Absolute]] [[Deity]] never found great popular [[favor]] with the peoples of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asia Asia], it did enable the [[intellectuals]] of these lands to unify their [[philosophy]] and to harmonize their [[cosmology]]. The [[concept]] of the Buddha Absolute is at times quasi-[[personal]], at times wholly [[impersonal]]—even an infinite [[creative]] [[force]]. Such concepts, though helpful to [[philosophy]], are not [[vital]] to religious [[development]]. Even an [[anthropomorphic]] [[Yahweh]] is of greater [[religious]] value than an infinitely remote [[Absolute]] of Buddhism or [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahman Brahmanism].

94:11.13 At times the [[Absolute]] was even thought of as contained within the [[infinite]] [[I AM]]. But these [[speculations]] were chill comfort to the hungry multitudes who craved to hear [[words]] of [[promise]], to hear the simple gospel of [[Salem]], that [[faith]] in [[God]] would [[assure]] [[divine]] [[favor]] and eternal [[survival]].

==94:12. THE GOD CONCEPT OF BUDDHISM==    

94:12.1 The great weakness in the [[cosmology]] of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhism Buddhism] was twofold: its contamination with many of the [[superstitions]] of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_India India] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_China China] and its sublimation of [[Gautama]], first as the [[enlightened]] one, and then as the Eternal Buddha. Just as [[Christianity]] has suffered from the [[absorption]] of much erroneous human [[philosophy]], so does [[Buddhism]] bear its human birthmark. But the teachings of [[Gautama]] have continued to evolve during the past two and one-half millenniums. The [[concept]] of [[Buddha]], to an enlightened Buddhist, is no more the [[human]] [[personality]] of Gautama than the [[concept]] of [[Jehovah]] is identical with the [[spirit]] [[demon]] of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mt._Horeb Horeb] to an [[enlightened]] [[Christian]]. Paucity of terminology, together with the sentimental retention of olden nomenclature, is often provocative of the failure to [[understand]] the true significance of the [[evolution]] of religious [[concepts]].

94:12.2 [[Gradually]] the [[concept]] of [[God]], as [[contrasted]] with the [[Absolute]], began to appear in [[Buddhism]]. Its sources are back in the early days of this differentiation of the followers of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinayana Lesser Road] and the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahayana Greater Road]. It was among the latter division of Buddhism that the [[dual]] [[conception]] of [[God]] and the [[Absolute]] finally matured. Step by step, century by century, the [[God]] concept has evolved until, with the teachings of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuzu_Nembutsu Ryonin], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honen_Shonin Honen Shonin], and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinran Shinran] in Japan, this [[concept]] finally came to fruit in the [[belief]] in [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amida_Buddha Amida Buddha].

94:12.3 Among these believers it is taught that the [[soul]], upon experiencing [[death]], may elect to enjoy a [[sojourn]] in [[Paradise]] prior to entering [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nirvana Nirvana], the [[ultimate]] of [[existence]]. It is proclaimed that this new [[salvation]] is attained by [[faith]] in the [[divine]] mercies and loving care of ''Amida'', God of the Paradise in the west. In their [[philosophy]], the Amidists hold to an [[Infinite]] [[Reality]] which is beyond all [[finite]] [[mortal]] [[comprehension]]; in their [[religion]], they cling to [[faith]] in the all-merciful Amida, who so loves the world that he will not suffer one [[mortal]] who calls on his name in true faith and with a [[pure]] [[heart]] to fail in the [[attainment]] of the [[supernal]] [[happiness]] of [[Paradise]].

94:12.4 The great [[strength]] of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhism Buddhism] is that its adherents are free to [[choose]] [[truth]] from all religions; such freedom of choice has seldom characterized a Urantian [[faith]]. In this [[respect]] the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shin_Buddhism Shin sect] of Japan has become one of the most [[progressive]] religious groups in the world; it has revived the [[ancient]] missionary spirit of [[Gautama]]'s followers and has begun to send teachers to other peoples. This willingness to appropriate [[truth]] from any and all sources is indeed a commendable [[tendency]] to appear among religious believers during the first half of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/20th_century twentieth century after Christ].

94:12.5 [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhism Buddhism] itself is undergoing a twentieth-century [[renaissance]]. Through contact with [[Christianity]] the [[social]] aspects of Buddhism have been greatly enhanced. The [[desire]] to learn has been rekindled in the [[hearts]] of the [[monk]] [[priests]] of the brotherhood, and the spread of [[education]] throughout this [[faith]] will be certainly provocative of new advances in religious [[evolution]].

94:12.6 [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1934 At the time of this writing], much of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asia Asia] rests its [[hope]] in Buddhism. Will this [[noble]] [[faith]], that has so valiantly carried on through the dark ages of the past, once again receive the [[truth]] of expanded [[cosmic]] realities even as the [[disciples]] of the great teacher in India once listened to his [[proclamation]] of new [[truth]]? Will this [[ancient]] [[faith]] respond once more to the invigorating [[stimulus]] of the presentation of new [[concepts]] of [[God]] and the [[Absolute]] for which it has so long searched?

94:12.7 All [[Urantia]] is waiting for the [[proclamation]] of the ennobling message of [[Michael]], unencumbered by the accumulated [[doctrines]] and [[dogmas]] of nineteen centuries of contact with the [https://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Paper_92#92:3._THE_NATURE_OF_EVOLUTIONARY_RELIGION religions of evolutionary origin]. The hour is striking for presenting to [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhism Buddhism], to [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity Christianity], to [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinduism Hinduism], even to the peoples of all faiths, not the gospel ''about'' [[Jesus]], but the living, [[spiritual]] [[reality]] of the gospel ''of'' Jesus.

94:12.8 Presented by a [[Melchizedek]] of [[Nebadon]].

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[[Category: PART III: The History of Urantia]]