Masonry- compatible with Buddhist practice?

[Manjushriwiz]

I ve have been invited to be a free mason but I rejected their invitations a lot of people said to me. "you can be buddhist and freemason" I say no, in México my country lots of powerful people are freemason, I dunno why, la rinchen spanish-Uruguayan advice is other, taking refuge is a compromise should not take refuge in other ideas or stuff

[Konchog1]

If half of what I've heard about masons is true, you want no part of it.

[Zhen Li]

A few issues in my mind:
1. Masons must believe in the "supreme being." You would be splitting your refuge, because the Masonic god (sometimes called Jahbulon) has different demands of a believer than the Buddha. Most Masons are splitting their faith in the Christian god, and their own churches usually object to them doing this.
2. Masonry assumes the existence of the "Great Architect," a personal creator god. They say you can choose whatever name you want to use to refer to it, and they will probably say you can call it the Buddha, but the Buddha is not the architect of this world: we create this world ourselves through our delusions. The Buddha would not create such a flawed existence.
3. Secrecy. That Masons are threatened not to talk about what happens in the lodge at the risk of death is itself suspicious. That, also, there are many in positions of power, despite their small number, also could be a sign of corruption, and I think for a Buddhist this is a red flag.
4. Women are excluded.

That being said, there are things that we can learn from Masonry. I think the fraternal support they supposedly provide each other is something that many Buddhist saṅghas lack.

[PeterC]

Not compatible. A fundamental tenet of masonry is belief in a supreme being. They leave it up to you which you believe in, but this isn't compatible with refuge in the three jewels.

The rest of it is mostly harmless these days. Very, very rarely, if ever, would you get something out of being a mason that helps your career that you couldn't have got through honest hard work - and as people often forget, when people do you favors, it's because you have or will do them favors in return, so this isn't without cost.

[PadmaVonSamba]

Mexican cement is really high quality. Although you should not join the Freemason society, getting a job as a bricklayer is okay.

[humble.student]

Wikipedia says the dominant form of Freemasonry in Mexico is the Anglo-Saxon variety, therefore supreme being in, women out.

That said, this is not the position of so-called Continental Masonry, which does not require belief in a supreme being, nor are women excluded.

Not being a Mason, I cannot comment as to the affinities between Buddhism, although there are a few books on the subject in French.

[Malcolm]

Not compatible. A fundamental tenet of masonry is belief in a supreme being. They leave it up to you which you believe in, but this isn't compatible with refuge in the three jewels.

Arguably, the original masons were deists, who professed Nature's God, which they called the G.A.U, the "grand architect of the universe," which, according most accounts, merely meant the laws of nature. Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine, and Ethan Allen were for intents and purposes atheists. The last, even wrote a long book defending his atheistic stance. Outright denials of the existence of supreme being could get you hung in those days, so deists couched their atheism in language of enlightenment science. Allen on the other hand, secure in his perch in Vt. went all out to condemn religion entirely:

https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/37 ... k2H_4_0007

You will note that like other deists he give lip service to God, but if you read him carefully, he is an atheist:

Reason therefore must be the standard by which we determine the respective claims of revelation; for otherwise we may as well subscribe to the divinity of the one as of the other, or to the whole of them, or to none at all. So likewise on this thesis, if reason rejects the whole of those revelations, we ought to return to the religion of nature and reason.

[mystic_poet]

you did the right thing. templar knights created the freemason tradition, in the crusaders era..

dharma is enough.

[Malcolm]

you did the right thing. templar knights created the freemason tradition, in the crusaders era..

dharma is enough.

Speculative Masonry was actually created by Elias Ashmole, 17th century British Antiquarian.

[Sādhaka]

you did the right thing. templar knights created the freemason tradition, in the crusaders era..

dharma is enough.

Speculative Masonry was actually created by Elias Ashmole, 17th century British Antiquarian.

Elias Ashmole, Francis Bacon, Christian Rosenkreuz, Roger Bacon, Saint Germain, Cagliostro, Robert Fludd, Paracelsus, Johannes Valentin Andreæ; and above all, Sanat Kumara from the 'plane-t' Venus

[Kim O'Hara]

you did the right thing. templar knights created the freemason tradition, in the crusaders era..

dharma is enough.

Speculative Masonry was actually created by Elias Ashmole, 17th century British Antiquarian.

Elias Ashmole, Francis Bacon, Christian Rosenkreuz, Roger Bacon, Saint Germain, Cagliostro, Robert Fludd, Paracelsus, Johannes Valentin Andreæ; and above all, Sanat Kumara from the 'plane-t' Venus

The true history of the Freemasons bears hardly any relationship to their own version of their history.
Their own version goes all the way back to Ancient Egypt with an unbroken line of transmission.
The true history includes the invention of that mythology by a series of highly unreliable people, including many of those you listed. There are all sorts of cross-connections to Kabbalists, alchemists, Rosicrucians, anti-monarchists, etc, etc.





Kim

[Sādhaka]

Well I favor the idealistic histories of the the likes of Rudolf Steiner and Manly P. Hall 33, over the boring dry histories of academic historians. I mean it may be a bit romantic, but is still pretty interesting.

Anyhow, as Malcolm said:

The origin of tarot cards is a gambling game brought by Mongols to Europe based on Vajrayāna initiation cards; the minor arcana represents four of the five buddha families; the major arcana was developed in Renaissance Italy, from the card game which was popular then.

Since the Tarot is based on the Vajrayana of the Mahasiddhas; we don't really need to go on wild goose-chases about Rosicrucian histories, etc.

[Virgo]

Since the Tarot is based on the Vajrayana of the Mahasiddhas; we don't really need to go on wild goose-chases about Rosicrucian histories, etc.

Today is a 4 of diamonds day. Those who understand, understand...

Virgo

[Malcolm]

Since the Tarot is based on the Vajrayana of the Mahasiddhas; we don't really need to go on wild goose-chases about Rosicrucian histories, etc.

Just the four suites: trumps (vajra), diamonds (jewel), hearts (lotus), and spades (swords, aka karma).

[Virgo]

Also this system uses the Kartsi system of elements not the Jungtsi so the harmonization of elements should follow the order:

Space harmonizes with all elements.
Earth harmonizes with earth and water.
Water harmonizes with water and earth.
Air harmonizes with air and fire.
Fire harmonizes with fire and air.

Virgo

[Manjushriwiz]

I laughed with your replies, but thats a fact, refuge in 3 jewels has restrictions I think, freely Chosen restrictions not taking refuge in mundane ideas like masonry

[Manjushriwiz]

There are lodges for women also, but originally masons excluded women, for a buddhist This Is absurd, nonsense, every being can enlighten, there are a lot of ways a freemason can trick you into getting parte of the sect

[Sādhaka]

The stream of Masonry that included Cagliostro, John Yarker, Rudolf Steiner, Kellner, Hartmann, and Blavatsky & Olcott, included women in their lodges; and according to them, their 'lineage' of Masonry would be more in line with the original Masonry than 'UGLE' Freemasonry that's commonly followed today.

[PadmaVonSamba]

When I was in highschool, I had a classmate who was in the youth branch of some fraternal lodge organization (which tend to be populated by conservative, hyperpatriotic Christians). This was in the early 1970s, when most high school kids were not interested in joining anything so “square”. I guess they were getting desperate, because my classmate asked me if I’d like to join. And I said to him, “do you really want someone like me in your group?” (I was a long-haired radical stoner). He paused, and then said, “well, no, I guess not.” It was pretty funny at the time.

But even funnier, perhaps, is that the big hall that was the organization’s meeting space, after the group had withered away, many years later became a Buddhist meditation center!

[Kim O'Hara]

The stream of Masonry that included Cagliostro, John Yarker, Rudolf Steiner, Kellner, Hartmann, and Blavatsky & Olcott, included women in their lodges; and according to them, their 'lineage' of Masonry would be more in line with the original Masonry than 'UGLE' Freemasonry that's commonly followed today. [emphasis added]

According to the leaders of every schismatic group of every religion, cult, coven, etc, their 'lineage' is more in line with the original than the group they are splitting from. That's nothing to do with the truth of the matter, it's just Human Nature 101.


Kim