Brief Summary on the
Doctrine of the Buddha

  We have followed the precursors of the Great Revelation which was to take place in India through the expression of the Buddha. We have seen how, twice each, Love and Wisdom summoned their prophets: Mene and Har, Sandra and Sen.

The mission of these four prophets corresponds to that of the four major prophets of the Judaic Tradition and was to announce the forthcoming first expression of the Divine Word and prepare the Asiatic world to receive It.

In the Buddha, we acknowledge the first incarnation of the Divine Word and in Christ the second. We also acknowledge that the Word has been expressed numerous times in human forms (receptacles), but can provide no proof of this.

I will not here relate the story of the Buddha's life, for it is quite well known. I shall just give you an outline of it. The name Buddha means 'the one who knows', from the root 'buddh' = to know.

The Buddha was born in the city of Capilavastu at the foot of the Himalayas. He was the son of a native prince, Soudontana, of the Sakya tribe. As a young man, he led a life of pleasure and comfort. Then, four successive events changed his life and drew him to his mission: he saw an old man, an ailing man, a dead man, and a monk.

He then abandoned his young wife and newborn child and left in search of eternal happiness.

He listened to many Masters but none was able to satisfy his quest. He put himself through great privations, but even these brought no solution to his problem. Finally one evening, at the outskirts of Gaya, he retired under the branches of a tree - the pipala - and felt the truth surge and grow within him. Without the help of any Master or of any God, he discovered the concurrence (sequence) of the twelve causes that perforce connect existence with suffering and saw that if one becomes master of this chain, one can also dissolve it.

Not wishing to keep such a precious secret to himself and anxious to spread it, he sought out five of his previous companions who had scornfully deserted him when he had renounced the conventional method of privation. He found them in the bright valley of Benares and there, for the first time, as the saying goes, he 'set the wheels of the Teaching - or Law - in motion'. The traditions of all Buddhist Schools have unanimously kept this sermon, which can be considered as an authentic speech of the Lord.

And the Sublime One then spoke to the five monks and said:

"There are two extremes that should be avoided by the one who leads a spiritual life. What are these two extremes? The first is the extreme of a life of indulgence and material pleasures, for this is base, vile and contrary to the Spirit, unworthy and futile. The other is the extreme of a life of unreasonable and futile privation. The Enlightened One transcends these two extremes, for He has discovered the path between them. This path opens the eyes of the Spirit and leads to serenity, knowledge, enlightenment and Nirvana, And what is this path, oh monks, that opens the eyes and leads the Spirit to serenity, knowledge, enlightenment and Nirvana? It is the Sacred Eight-fold Path, the Path of pure faith, pure will-power, pure speech, pure action, pure means of existence, pure aspirations, pure memory (mindfulness) and pure meditation. This is the Middle Way that the Perfect One has discovered, the Way that opens the eyes and the Spirit and leads to serenity, knowledge, enlightenment and Nirvana.

"Birth is Suffering, old age is Suffering, sickness is Suffering, death is Suffering, union with the unloved one is Suffering, separation from the loved one is Suffering and, in brief, the five-fold attachment to the elements of the being is suffering. This is the Sacred Truth regarding Suffering.

"The thirst for existence that leads from one rebirth to another, together with indulgence and envy, which meet with some pleasure at times, the craving for indulgence, the craving for existence, the craving for power: this is the Sacred Truth regarding the Cause of Suffering.

"The obliteration of this craving for existence by complete extinction, rejection and renunciation of desires, by denying desire, dismissing it and becoming free from it, this, oh monks, is the Sacred Truth regarding the Cessation of Suffering.

"The Sacred Truth regarding the Path that leads to the Annihilation of Suffering is the Sacred Eight-fold Path of: pure faith, pure will-power, pure speech, pure action, pure means of existence, pure application, pure memory (mindfulness) and pure meditation."

 (Translation: Oldenberg-Fouche 'The Buddha')

The whole doctrine of the Buddha is enclosed in the above sermon at Benares.

The Lord expounded on certain points for us, all of which can be found in the Teachings of our Order.

The two extremes mentioned correspond to the Law of Duality and its side effects:

Struggle, antithesis, opposition, etc. Again, according to the Buddha, the solution lies in the discovery of the Middle Way (the Median Path). In the Ritual of Initiation to the Order, you were told that "The Law of Opposites and Contraries creates the Law of the Intermediate (Median) Unity" and that "your comprehension of this key is equivalent to your perfection" Is it not the same thing? It is presumed of course that, upon receiving this key on their admission to the Order, the Adherents will apply it. As a rule, however, no one pays due attention to it. In the above case, the Buddha too is addressing people who do not follow the right path, the Middle Way, that leads to Nirvana, which could better be described by the term 'the Impersonal'.

This Middle Way is also depicted by the two heads of our Eagle. These, however, are in no way connected to the two extremes mentioned. They are symbols of the positive and negative aspect of the Middle Way or - to give a simpler picture - they are the symbols of Good and its Preservation or Defence.

The Buddha applies 8 terms to this Unity: pure Faith, pure Will-power, pure Speech, pure Action, pure Means of Existence, pure Aspirations, pure Memory (Mindfulness) and pure Meditation.

Here again, the great mystery of the number 8 appears, which we name 'Morality'. When analysing these terms we come across our own phraseology and numerology. Once again, through the study of the Buddha's Theory, the significance of constant catharsis and purity is stressed.

As regards his theory on Suffering, it is akin to that of the Eonian Tradition, which states that 'every realization on the physical (material) plane entails suffering'. This suffering is expressed by the insatiable desires that characterize those who have not attained the Impersonal - the Nirvana of the Buddha.

According to him, birth, old age, sickness and death are sufferings; union with the unloved one, separation from the loved one, and desires are all sufferings. These seven landmarks in life are sufferings because a mixed state intervenes and the Ego is in anguish.

The antidote to all this is the impersonal through universal love, this state wipes out all egotistic self-centredness. St. Francis of Assisi is an example of this, for throughout his life he was never able to distinguish between an enemy and a friend, between a good person and an evil one.

What the Buddha says regarding the Cause of Suffering is found in the Order as 'the desire for individuality', which is the root of all the actions of an incarnate being person or creature. This ceases to exist once the Impersonal State is attained through the discipline of purity as defined by the octagonal cross and the above-mentioned Eight-fold Path.

Let us now follow one of the Buddha's disciples in action. According to the authors Bournief and Sylvain Levi, the story of Pourna goes as follows: . . . . . . .