Knjiga Urantije
DIO III. Povijest Urantije
POGLAVLJE 94
MELKIZEDEKOVA UČENJA NA ISTOKU
MELKIZEDEKOVA UČENJA NA ISTOKU
Sekcije
Paper 94
The Melchizedek Teachings in the Orient
The Melchizedek Teachings in the Orient
Sections
- Introduction
- § 1. The Salem Teachings in Vedic India
- § 2. Brahmanism
- § 3. Brahmanic Philosophy
- § 4. The Hindu Religion
- § 5. The Struggle for Truth in China
- § 6. Lao-Tse and Confucius
- § 7. Gautama Siddhartha
- § 8. The Buddhist Faith
- § 9. The Spread of Buddhism
- § 10. Religion in Tibet
- § 11. Buddhist Philosophy
- § 12. The God Concept of Buddhism
RANI učitelji salemske religije prodrli su do najudaljenijih plemena Afrike i Euroazije, uvijek propovijedajući Makiventino evanđelje o čovjekovoj vjeri i uzdanju u jednog univerzalnog Boga kao jedinoj cijeni za dobivanje božanske naklonosti. Melkizedekov je zavjet s Abrahamom bio uzorak prema kojem su oblikovani svi programi rane propagande koja je otišla iz Salema i drugih centara. Urantija nikada nije imala nadahnutijih i energičnijih misionara bilo koje religije od tih plemenitih muškaraca i žena koji su raznijeli Melkizedekova učenja preko cijele Istočne hemisfere. Ovi misionari su regrutirani iz brojnih naroda i rasa i oni su u velikoj mjeri proširili ova učenja kroz medij domaćih obraćenika. Oni su osnovali centre za obuku u različitim dijelovima svijeta gdje su učili domoroce ovoj salemskoj religiji, kao i načinu na koji će funkcionirati kao učitelji među svojim narodom.
94:0.1 (1027.1)
THE early teachers of the Salem religion penetrated to the remotest tribes of Africa and 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 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.
U Melkizedekovim danima, Indija je bila kozmopolitska zemlja koja je nedavno došla pod političku i religioznu dominaciju arijsko-anditskih osvajača sa sjevera i zapada. U ovom razdoblju samo su sjeverni i zapadni dijelovi poluotoka bili intezivno prožeti arijcima. Ti vedski došljaci su sa sobom donijeli svoja mnogobrojna plemenska božanstva. Njihovi religiozni oblici obožavanja slijede ceremonijalne prakse njihovih ranijih anditskih predaka, kako je otac još uvijek funkcionirao kao svećenik, majka kao svećenica, dok je obiteljsko ognjište korišteno kao oltar.
94:1.1 (1027.2)
In the days of Melchizedek, India was a cosmopolitan country which had recently come under the political and religious dominance of the Aryan-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 Aryans. These Vedic newcomers had brought along with them their many tribal deities. Their religious forms of worship followed closely the ceremonial practices of their earlier 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 (1027.3)
The Vedic cult was then in process of growth and metamorphosis under the direction of the Brahman caste of teacher-priests, who were gradually assuming control over the expanding ritual of worship. The amalgamation of the onetime thirty-three Aryan deities was well under way when the Salem missionaries penetrated the north of India.
Mnogoboštvo tih arijevaca predstavlja degeneraciju njihovog ranijeg monoteizma uzrokovanu njihovim razbijanjem u plemenske jedinice, gdje svako pleme ukazuje štovanje svojem Bogu. Ova devolucija izvornog monoteizma i trinitarizma andita iz Mezopotamije je bila u procesu ponovne sinteze u ranim stoljećima drugog tisućljeća prije Krista. Mnogi bogovi su bili organizirani u panteon pod trojedinim vodstvom Dyausa pitara - gospodara neba, Indre - nestašnog gospodara atmosfere i Agni - troglavog boga vatre, gospodara zemlje i zakržljalog simbola ranijeg koncepta Trojstva.
94:1.3 (1027.4)
The polytheism of these 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 Andite Mesopotamia was in process of resynthesis in the early centuries of the second millennium before Christ. The many gods were organized into a pantheon under the triune leadership of Dyaus pitar, the lord of heaven; Indra, the tempestuous lord of the atmosphere; and Agni, the three-headed fire god, lord of the earth and the vestigial symbol of an earlier Trinity concept.
Određena henotheistička kretanja su utirala put za razvoj monoteizma. Agni, najstarije božanstvo, je često uzvišen kao otac, glava cijelog panteona. Koncept Božanstva kao oca, koji je nekom prilikom nosio ime Prajapati, a drugom Brahma, potopljen je prilikom teološke kampanje koju brahmanski svećenici kasnije vode protiv salemskih učitelja. Brahman je zamišljen kao princip energije-božanstva koji aktivira cijeli vedski panteon.
94:1.4 (1027.5)
Definite henotheistic developments were paving the way for an evolved monotheism. Agni, the most ancient deity, was often exalted as the father-head of the entire pantheon. The deity-father principle, sometimes called Prajapati, sometimes termed Brahma, was submerged in the theologic battle which the Brahman priests later fought with the Salem teachers. The Brahman was conceived as the energy-divinity principle activating the entire Vedic pantheon.
Salemski misionari su propovijedali ideju o Melkizedekovom jednom Bogu, Svevišnjem neba. Ovaj prikaz nije bio posve neusklađen sa javljajućim konceptom Oca-Brahme kao izvorom svih bogova, ali je salemska doktrina bila neritualistička, čime se izravno suprotstavila dogmama, tradicijama i učenjima brahmanskog svećeništva. Nikada ne bi brahmanski svećenici prihvatili salemsko učenje o spasenju putem vjere, ideju da čovjek može primiti Božju naklonost na bilo koji drugi način osim ritualnih obreda i ceremonija prinošenja žrtvi.
94:1.5 (1028.1)
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 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 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.
Odbacivanje Melkizedekova evanđelja o uzdanju u Boga i spasenju putem vjere obilježilo je vitalnu prekretnicu za Indiju. Salemski misionari su pridonijeli velikom gubitku vjere u sve drevne vedske bogove, dok su njihove vođe, vedski svećenici, odbili prihvatiti Melkizedekovo učenje o jednom Bogu i jednoj jednostavnoj vjeri.
94:1.6 (1028.2)
The rejection of the Melchizedek gospel of trust in God and salvation through faith marked a vital turning point for India. The Salem missionaries had contributed much to the loss of faith in all the ancient Vedic gods, but the leaders, the priests of Vedism, refused to accept the Melchizedek teaching of one God and one simple faith.
Brahmani su uništavali svete spise te dobi u nastojanju da poraze salemske učitelje i ta zbirka koja je kasnije revidirana, je opstala sve do modernih vremena kao Rig Veda, jedna od najstarijih svetih knjiga. Nakon nje slijede druga, treća i četvrta Veda kojima su brahmani nastojali kristalizirati, formalizirati i fiksirati svojerituale obožavanja i prinošenja žrtvi na ondašnje narode. Gledani u najboljem svjetlu, ti spisi se ne razlikuju od bilo kojeg drugog djela slične naravi u ljepoti koncepta i istini razlučivanja. No, kad je ta vrhunska religija postala kontaminirana tisućama i tisućama praznovjerja, kultova i obreda južne Indije, ona je postupno preobražena u najraznobojniji sustav teologije koji je smrtni čovjek ikada razvio. Proučavanje Veda će otkriti neke od najviših kao i neke od najnižih smišljenih koncepcija Božanstva.
94:1.7 (1028.3)
The 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 Rig-Veda, 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 southern India, it progressively metamorphosed into the most variegated system of theology ever developed by mortal man. An examination of the Vedas will disclose some of the highest and some of the most debased concepts of Deity ever to be conceived.
Kako su salemski misionari prodirali prema jugu u Dravidsku visoravan, zatekli su rastući kastinski sustav, arijevsku shemu za spriječavanje gubitka rasnog identiteta pred dolazećom plimom drugorazrednih sangiških naroda. Budući da je kasta brahmanskog svećeništva bila u samoj podlozi ovog sustava, ovaj društveni poredak uveliko je usporio napredak salemskih učitelja. Ovaj sustav kasta nije uspio spasiti arijsku rasu, ali je uspio osigurati vječni opstanak Brahmana, koji su pak očuvali svoju vjersku hegemoniju u Indiji sve do danas.
94:2.1 (1028.4)
As the Salem missionaries penetrated southward into the Dravidian Deccan, they encountered an increasing caste system, the scheme of the Aryans to prevent loss of racial identity in the face of a rising tide of the secondary Sangik peoples. Since the 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 Aryan race, but it did succeed in perpetuating the Brahmans, who, in turn, have maintained their religious hegemony in India to the present time.
I sada, uz slabljenje vedizma koje je bilo posljedica odbacivanja naprednije istine, arijevski kult je postao predmetom povećanog miješanja sa kultovima Dekana. U očajničkom nastojanju da se zaustavi plima rasnog i religioznog izumiranja i uništenja, brahmanska kasta je nastojala uzvisiti samu sebe iznad svega ostalog. Oni su učili da je prinošenje žrtava božanstvu samo po sebi bilo sveučinkovito i neodoljivo u snazi. Proglasili su da je od dva bitna božanska principa u svemiru jedan bio Brahman kao božanstvo, a drugi brahmansko svećeništvo. Međutim ni u jednom drugom narodu Urantije svećenici se nisu drznuli sebe uzvisiti iznad čak i svojih bogova, progurati sebi čašti veće od onih koje su ukazivali bogovima. No, otišli su tako daleko s tim apsurdnim i drskim tvrdnjama da se cijeli ovaj klimavi sustav urušio pod težinom degradirajućih kultova iz okolnih i manje naprednih civilizacija. Veliko vedsko svećenstvo je samo od sebe palo i potonulo pred crnim poplavama inercije i pesimizma koje je njihova vlastita sebična i bezumna drskost navukla na cijelu Indiju.
94:2.2 (1028.5)
And now, with the weakening of Vedism through the rejection of higher truth, the cult of the Aryans became subject to increasing inroads from the Deccan. In a desperate effort to stem the tide of racial extinction and religious obliteration, the 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 Brahman the deity, and the other was the 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 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 India.
Nesrazmjerna koncentracija na svoje “ja” neminovno je vodila strahu od neevolutivnog održavanju sebstva u beskrajnim krugovima uzastopnih inkarnacija u vidu čovjeka, životinje ili biljke. I od svih kontaminirajućih vjerovanja koja su mogla postati fiksirana u ideje koje su mogle postati monoteizam, niti jedno nije bilo toliko zaglupljujuće kao to vjerovanje u transmigraciju - doktrinu reinkarnacije duša - koja je došla iz Dravidske visoravni. To vjerovanje u sumorno i monotono kružno ponavljanje transmigracije oduzelo je napaćenim smrtnicima njihovu dugostoljećnu nadu da čovjek nalazi oslobođenje i duhovni napredak u smrti, koja je bila dio ranije vedske vjere.
94:2.3 (1029.1)
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 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 Vedic faith.
Za ovim filozofski debilitirajućim učenjima ubrzo je uslijedio izum nauka o vječnom bijegu od sebe u potapanju u univerzalni odmor i mir apsolutnog jedinstva s Brahmanom, naddušom cijele tvorevine. Smrtnikove težnje i ljudske ambicije su učinkovito masakrirane i doslovce uništene. Za više od dvije tisuće godina napredni umovi Indije su tražili bijeg od svake težnje, čime su široko otvorena vrata za ulazak tih kasnijih kultova i učenja koja su doslovce okovala duše mnogih hinduističkih naroda lancima duhovnog beznađa. Od svih civilizacija, vedsko-arijska je platila najgoru cijenu za svoje odbijanje salemskog evanđelja.
94:2.4 (1029.2)
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 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 Hindu peoples in the chains of spiritual hopelessness. Of all civilizations, the Vedic-Aryan paid the most terrible price for its rejection of the Salem gospel.
Kaste ne bi mogle ovjekovječiti arijevski religijsko- kulturni sustav i kako su inferiorne religije prožimale Dekan na sjeveru, nastupila je dob očaja i beznađa. Bilo je to tijekom ovih tamnih dana da se pojavio kult koji zabranjuje uzimanje života, koji je od tada ustrajao. Mnogi od novih kultova su bili zapravo ateistički, tvrdeći da je eventualno spasenje čovjeka bilo dostižno bez pomoći sa strane i vlastitim naporima. No, tijekom razvoja velikog dijela te cijele nesretne filozofije, mogu se naći iskrivljeni ostaci učenja Melkizedeka, pa čak i Adama.
94:2.5 (1029.3)
Caste alone could not perpetuate the Aryan religio-cultural system, and as the inferior religions of the 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 Adamic teachings can be traced.
To su vremena prikupljanja učenja koja su ušla u kasnije zbirke zapisa Hindu vjere, Brahmanu i Upanišadu. Nakon što je brahmansko svećenstvo odbacilo učenja o osobnoj religiji kroz osobni doživljaj vjere sa jednim Bogom i što je postalo kontaminirano poplavom degradirajućih i debilnih kultova i vjerovanja izDekana, sa njihovim idejama antropomorfizma i reinkarnacije, ono doživljava nasilnu reakciju protiv tih korumpiranih vjerovanja; tu dolazi do pojave definitivnog napora u traženju i pronalasku istinske stvarnosti. Brahmani su krenuli ukloniti antropomorfizam iz indijskog koncepta božanstva, ali na taj način su učinili veliku pogrešku u tome što su depersonalizirali koncept Boga, i kao rezultat toga nije se javio uzvišeni i duhovni ideal Rajskog Oca, nego udaljena i metafizička ideja sveobuhvatnog Apsoluta.
94:2.6 (1029.4)
These were the times of the compilation of the later scriptures of the Hindu faith, the Brahmanas and the 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 Deccan, with their anthropomorphisms and reincarnations, the 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.
U svojim naporima za samoodržanjem Brahmani su odbili Melkizedekovog jednog Boga, a sada su se našli suočeni s hipotezom Brahmana, neodređenog i iluzornog filozofskog jastva, neosobnog i nemoćnog tog, što je ostavilo duhovni život Indije u bespomoćnom i jadnom stanju od tog nesretnog dana sve do dvadesetog stoljeća.
94:2.7 (1029.5)
In their efforts at self-preservation the Brahmans had rejected the one God of Melchizedek, and now they found themselves with the hypothesis of 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 twentieth century.
U vrijeme pisanja Upanišade pojavio se Budizam u Indiji. No, unatoč svojim uspjesima koji su trajali tisuću godina, nije se mogao natjecati s kasnijim hinduizmom; unatoč višoj moralnosti, njegov rani portret Boga je bio još slabije definiran nego hinduistički, koji je imao manja i osobna božanstava. Budizam se konačno povukao u sjevernoj Indiji pred napadom militantnog Islama s jasno definiranim konceptom Alaha kao vrhovnog Boga svemira.
94:2.8 (1029.6)
It was during the times of the writing of the Upanishads that Buddhism arose in India. But despite its successes of a thousand years, it could not compete with later 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 northern India before the onslaught of a militant Islam with its clear-cut concept of Allah as the supreme God of the universe.
Dok se najviša faza Brahmanizma teško može nazvati religijom, to je doista jedan od najplemenitijih primjera posezanja smrtnog uma u domene filozofije i metafizike. Nakon što su počeli raditi na otkrivanju konačne stvarnosti, indijski umovi nisu stali sve dok nisu imali spekulaciju o gotovo svakoj fazi teologije osim dualnog koncepta religije: postojanja Oca Svih svakog svemirskog stvorenja i činjenice da ista ova bića prolaze iskustvom uzlaza u svemiru dok teže postići vječnog Oca koji im nalaže da budu savršeni kao što je on savršen.
94:3.1 (1030.1)
While the highest phase of Brahmanism was hardly a religion, it was truly one of the most noble reaches of the mortal mind into the domains of philosophy and 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.
U konceptu Brahmana, umovi tih dana uistinu su shvatili ideju nekog sveobuhvatnog Apsoluta, a ovaj postulat je bio u jedno te isto vrijeme identificiran kao kreativna energija i kozmička reakcija. Brahman je zamišljen kao nešto što je iznad svih definicija, što se može shvatiti samo višestrukom negacijom svih konačnih kvaliteta. To je definitivno bilo vjerovanje u jedno apsolutno, ako ne i beskonačano biće, ali taj pojam je bio uglavnom bez atributa osobnosti i stoga nije mogao biti doživljen u iskustvu pojedinačnih praktikanata religije.
94:3.2 (1030.2)
In the concept of 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. 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.
Brahman-Narayana je zamišljen kao Apsolut, kao beskonačno TO ŠTO JE, praiskonska kreativna potencija potencijalnog svemira, Univerzalno Jastvo koje postoji statično i potencijalno kroz svu vječnost. Da su filozofi tih dana bili u mogućnosti da naprave sljedeći korak napretka u koncepciji božanstva, da su bili u mogućnosti zamisliti Brahmana kao asocijativnog i kreativnog, kao ličnost koja je pristupačna stvorenim i razvijajućim bićima, onda bi takvo učenje postalo najnapredniji portret božanstva na Urantiji, jer bi obuhvatilo prvih pet razina sveukupnog djelovanja božanstva i možda bi eventualno naslutilo preostala dva.
94:3.3 (1030.3)
Brahman-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 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 total deity function and might possibly have envisioned the remaining two.
U određenim fazama, koncept Univerzalne Nadduše kao ukupnog zbroja cjelokupne egzistencije stvorenog bića doveo je indijske filozofe vrlo blizu istine Vrhovnog Bića, ali im ta istina nije bila od koristi, jer nisu uspjeli razviti bilo kakav razumni ili racionalni osobni pristup za postizanje svog teoretski monoteističkog cilja, Brahmana-Narayane.
94:3.4 (1030.4)
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.
Načelo uzročnog kontinuiteta karme je, opet, vrlo blizu istine reperkusijske sinteze svih vremensko-prostornih djelovanja Vrhovnog u prisutnosti Božanstva; ali taj postulat nikada nije ostavio prostora ideji koordiniranog osobnog postignuća Božanstva u iskustvu pojedinačnog praktikanta religije, nego samo konačnom obuhvaćanju svih ličnosti u Univerzalnoj Nadduši.
94:3.5 (1030.5)
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.
Filozofija brahmanizma također je došla vrlo blizu realizacije o prebivanju Misaonih Ispravljača, ali je izopačena kroz pogrešno tumačenje istine. Učenje da je duša prebivalište Brahmana bi utrlo put za naprednu religiju, da ovaj koncept nije potpuno izopačen vjerovanjem da ljudska individualnost ne može postojati na stranu od ovog Univerzalnog koji živi u čovjeku.
94:3.6 (1030.6)
The philosophy of 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.
U doktrini spajanja jastva-duše s Naddušom, teolozi Indije nisu osigurali opstanak nečeg ljudskog, nečeg novog i jedinstvenog, nečeg što se rađa iz unije volje čovjeka i volje Boga. Učenje o povratku duše Brahmanu je usko paralelno istini o povratku Ispravljača u okrilje Oca Svih, ali tu ima i nešto drugo što se razlikuje od Ispravljača što također opstaje nakon smrti, a to je morontijalni duplikat smrtne ličnosti. I ovaj vitalni koncept je kobno odsutan iz brahmanske filozofije.
94:3.7 (1030.7)
In the doctrine of the merging of the self-soul with the 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 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 Brahmanic philosophy.
Brahmanska filozofija se približila mnogim činjenicama o svemiru i brojnim kozmičkim istinama, ali je previše često bila žrtva pogreške kako nije znala razlikovati nekoliko razina stvarnosti kao što su apsolutna, transcendentalna i konačna. Nije uzela u obzir da ono što može biti konačno-iluzorno na apsolutnoj razini, može biti apsolutno stvarno na konačnoj razini. I dalje nije obratila pažnju na bitnu ličnost Oca Svih, s kojim bića mogu osobno stupiti u kontakt na svim razinama, od ograničenog iskustva s Bogom u životu evolucijskog bića, do neograničenog iskustva Vječnoga Sina sa Rajskim Ocem.
94:3.8 (1031.1)
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.
S vremenom, stanovništvo Indije se donekle vratilo drevnim ritualima Veda u verziji koja je bila izmijenjena učenjima Melkizedekovih misionara i kristalizirana djelovanjem kasnijeg brahmanskog svećeništva. Ta, najstarija i najviše kozmopolitska svjetska religija, je doživjela dodatne promjene potaknute budizmom i džainizmom, a kasnije se pojavljuje utjecaj islama i kršćanstva. No, u vrijeme kad su tu stigla Isusova učenja, ona su već bila u tolikoj mjeri obilježena Zapanjačkim biljegom da su djelovala kao "vjera bijelog čovjeka," koja su stoga bila čudna i strana Hindu umu.
94:4.1 (1031.2)
With the passing of the centuries in India, the populace returned in measure to the ancient rituals of the Vedas as they had been modified by the teachings of the Melchizedek missionaries and crystallized by the later Brahman priesthood. This, the oldest and most cosmopolitan of the world’s religions, has undergone further changes in response to Buddhism and Jainism and to the later appearing influences of Mohammedanism and Christianity. But by the time the teachings of Jesus arrived, they had already become so Occidentalized as to be a “white man’s religion,” hence strange and foreign to the Hindu mind.
2. Trimurti, vrhovno trojstvo u hinduizmu. U ovom složenom obliku Brahme, prvi član je zamišljen kao samostvoren od Brahmana - beskonačnost. Da nije bilo bliske identifikacije s panteističkim Beskonačnim, Brahma bi predstavljao temelj za koncept Oca Svih. Brahma je također identificiran sa sudbinom.
94:4.4 (1031.5)
2. The Trimurti, the supreme trinity of Hinduism. In this association 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.
Štovanje drugog i trećeg člana, Šive i Višne, nastalo je u prvom tisućljeću poslije Krista. Šiva je gospodar života i smrti, bog plodnosti i gospodar uništenja. Višnu je iznimno popularan zbog vjerovanja da se povremeno utjelovljuje u ljudskom liku. Na taj način, Višnu postaje stvaran i oživljen u mašti i Indijaca. Šiva i Višnu se svaki u određenim krugovima smatraju kao vrhovni nad svim.
94:4.5 (1031.6)
The worship of the second and third members, Siva and Vishnu, arose in the first millennium after Christ. Siva is lord of life and death, god of fertility, and master of destruction. 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.
94:4.6 (1031.7)
3. Vedic and post-Vedic deities. Many of the ancient gods of the Aryans, such as Agni, Indra, and Soma, have persisted as secondary to the three members of the Trimurti. Numerous additional gods have arisen since the early days of Vedic India, and these have also been incorporated into the Hindu pantheon.
Dok hinduizam dugo nije uspijevao dati živost indijskom narodu, u isto vrijeme obično je bio tolerantna religija. Njegova velika snaga leži u činjenici da se pokazao najadaptivnijom, amorfnom religijom koja se pojavila na Urantiji. Ona je sposobna za gotovo neograničene promjene i ima nesvakidašnji raspon fleksibilne prilagodbe, od visokih i polumonoteističkih spekulacija intelektualnog Brahmana, do zlog fetišizma i primitivnih kultnih praksi niskih i depresivnih klasa neobrazovanih vjernika.
94:4.8 (1031.9)
While 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 Brahman to the arrant fetishism and primitive cult practices of the debased and depressed classes of ignorant believers.
Hinduizam je preživio, jer je to u biti sastavni dio osnovnog društvenog tkiva Indije. On nema veliku hijerarhiju koja može biti poremećena ili uništena; on je utkan u životni uzorak ljudi. On ima veću prilagodljivost promjenjivim uvjetima od svih drugih kultova, a prikazuje tolerantan stav prihvaćanja prema mnogim drugim religijama, Gautama Budi, pa čak i samom Kristu za kojeg se tvrdi da je inkarnacija Višne.
94:4.9 (1032.1)
Hinduism has survived because it is essentially an integral part of the basic social fabric of 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 Vishnu.
Danas, u Indiji, postoji velika potreba za prikazom evanđelja Isusa - učenja da je Bog čovjekov Otac, čime čovjek postaje sin Boga i brat svih ljudi, što se osobno ostvaruje u čovjekovom brižnom služenju drugim ljudima i cijelom društvu. U Indiji filozofski okvir postoji, kultna struktura je prisutna; sve što je potrebno je oživljujuća iskra dinamične ljubavi prikazane u izvornom evanđelju Sina Čovječjega, bez Zapadnjačkih dogmi i doktrina koje su pretvorile život i darivanje Mihaela u vjeru bijelog čovjeka.
94:4.10 (1032.2)
Today, in India, the great need is for the portrayal of the 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 Occidental dogmas and doctrines which have tended to make Michael’s life bestowal a white man’s religion.
Kako su salemski misionari prolazili kroz Aziju, šireći nauk o Svevišnjem Bogu i spasenje po vjeri, oni su apsorbirali mnogo filozofije i religijske misli različitih zemalja gdje su putovali. No, učitelji koje su Melkizedek i njegovi nasljednici obučili i poslali u svijet, nisu podbacili u ispunjenju svojih obaveza; oni su prodrijeli među sve narode euroazijskog kontinenta i to je bilo u sredini drugog tisućljeća prije Krista kada su stigli u Kinu. Na lokaciji Si Fuš više od sto godina salemski misionari održavaju svoje sjedište i treniraju kineske učitelje koje šalju u sve domene žute rase.
94:5.1 (1032.3)
As the Salem missionaries passed through 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 Eurasian continent, and it was in the middle of the second millennium before Christ that they arrived in 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 yellow race.
1. Ostataka Singlangtonovih učenja, koja su opstala u konceptu Shang-tija, Boga Neba. U vrijeme Singlangtona Kinezi su postali gotovo monoteistički; oni su usredotočili svoje bogoslužje na Jednu Istinu, kasnije poznatu kao Duh Neba, svemirski vladar. I žuta rasa nikada u potpunosti nije izgubila ovaj rani pojam Božanstva, iako se u kasnijim stoljećima više podređenih bogova i duhova podmuklo uvuklo u njihovu religiju.
94:5.3 (1032.5)
1. The lingering teachings of Singlangton, which persisted in the concept of 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. Salemske religije Božanstva kao Svevišnjeg Stvoritelja koji pokazuje naklonost čovječanstvu u odgovor na čovjekovu vjeru. Ali ostaje činjenica da je u vrijeme prodora Melkizedekovih misionara u zemlje žute rase, njihova izvorna poruka znatno promijenjena od jednostavnih salemskih doktrina iz dana Makivente.
94:5.4 (1032.6)
2. 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.
94:5.5 (1032.7)
3. The Brahman-Absolute concept of the 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 Vedic faith, who injected their conception of the Brahman—the Absolute—into the salvationistic thought of the Salemites.
Ovo kompozitno vjerovanje širi se u zemljama žute i smeđe rase kao temeljni utjecaj na religijsko-filozofsku misao. U Japanu taj proto-Taoizam je poznat kao Šinto, te u ovoj zemlji, jako udaljenoj od Salema u Palestini, narodi su doznali o inkarnaciji Makivente Melkizedeka, koji je živio na zemlji kako čovječanstvo ne bi zaboravilo ime Božje.
94:5.6 (1033.1)
This composite belief spread through the lands of the yellow and brown races as an underlying influence in religio-philosophic thought. In Japan this proto-Taoism was known as 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.
U Kini sva ova vjerovanja su kasnije bila zbrkana i pomiješana sa sve rasprostranjenijim kultom obožavanja predaka. Ali nikada od vremena Singlangtona nisu Kinezi pali u ropstvo moćnog svećeništva. Žuta rasa je bila prva koja je izronila iz barbarskog ropstva u urednu civilizaciju, kako je bila prva koja je postigla neku mjeru slobode od straha od bogova, a čak se nije bojala ni duhova mrtvih od kojih su strahovale sve druge rase. Kina je doživjela poraz, jer nije uspjela napredovati dalje od svoje rane emancipacije od svećenika; ona je učinila gotovo jednako štetnu pogrešku u tome što je prihvatila obožavanje predaka.
94:5.7 (1033.2)
In China all of these beliefs were later confused and compounded with the ever-growing cult of ancestor worship. But never since the time of 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 (1033.3)
But the Salemites did not labor in vain. It was upon the foundations of their gospel that the great philosophers of sixth-century China built their teachings. The moral atmosphere and the spiritual sentiments of the times of Lao-tse and Confucius grew up out of the teachings of the Salem missionaries of an earlier age.
Oko šest stotina godina prije dolaska Mihaela, činilo se Melkizedeku koji je dugo bio odsutan iz tijela, da je čistoća njegova učenja na zemlji nepotrebno ugrožena općom apsorpcijom starijih vjerovanja Urantije. Činilo se neko vrijeme da je njegovoj misiji u ulozi Mihaelove preteče prijetio neuspjeh. I u šestom stoljeću prije Krista, kroz neobičnu koordinaciju duhovnih djelovanja, od kojih nisu svi shvatljivi čak ni planetarnim nadzornicima, na Urantiji dolazi do najneobičnije prezentacije mnogostrukih religioznih istina. Kroz djelovanje nekoliko ljudskih učitelja, salemsko evanđelje je izraženo novim jezikom i revitalizirano, a kao što je tada bilo predstavljeno, tako je uglavnom ustrajalo do razdoblja pisanja ovog teksta.
94:6.1 (1033.4)
About 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 sixth century before Christ, through an unusual co-ordination of spiritual agencies, not all of which are understood even by the 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 times of this writing.
Lao Ce je izravno dogradio koncepte salemskih tradicija kada je proglasio Tao kao Prvi Uzrok cjelokupne tvorevine. Lao je bio čovjek velike duhovne vizije. On je učio da je "čovjekova vječna sudbina vječno sjedinjenje sa Taom, Vrhovnim Bogom i Univerzalnim Kraljem." Njegovo razumijevanje krajnje uzročnosti je vrlo korektno, jer on je napisao: "Apsolutni Tao je izvor jedinstva, a od Jedinstva javlja se kozmička Dvojnost, a od takve Dvojnosti, Trojstvo izvire u postojanje, a Trojstvo je istinski izvor cjelokupne stvarnosti." "Cjelokupna stvarnost je uvijek u ravnoteži između potencijalnog i aktualnog u svemiru, a ova dva su vječno usklađeni duhom božanstvenosti."
94:6.3 (1033.6)
Lao-tse built directly upon the concepts of the Salem traditions when he declared 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.”
94:6.5 (1033.8)
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.”
Njegovo razumijevanje vječnog Božjeg nauma je jasno, jer on je rekao: "Apsolutno Božanstvo ne teži, ali uvijek pobjeđuje; ne prisiljava ljude, ali uvijek je spremno odgovoriti na njihove istinske želje; volja Božja je vječna u strpljenju i vječna u neizbježnosti svojeg izraza.” O pravom praktičaru religije rekao je, u izražavanju istine da je blaženije davati nego primati: "Dobar čovjek ne nastoji zadržati istinu za sebe, nego nastoji podijeliti ta bogatstva sa svojim bližnjima, jer to je ostvarivanje istine. Volja Apsolutnog Boga uvijek donosi korist, nikad ne uništava; naum pravog vjernika je uvijek djelovati, ali nikada ne prisiljavati".
94:6.6 (1034.1)
His understanding of the eternal purpose of God was clear, for he said: “The Absolute Deity does not 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.”
Laovo učenje o nenasilju i naglašavanje razlike između djelovanja i primoravanja, postali su kasnije izopačeni u vjerovanjima da čovjek "ne vidi, ne radi i ne razmišlja ništa." No, Lao nikada nije učio takvu pogrešku, iako je njegov prikaz ideje nenasilja igrao ulogu u daljnjem razvoju pacifističkih sklonosti kineskih naroda.
94:6.7 (1034.2)
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 nonresistance has been a factor in the further development of the pacific predilections of the Chinese peoples.
Ali popularni taoizam dvadesetog stoljeća Urantije ima vrlo malo zajedničkog s uzvišenim osjećajima i kozmičkim pojmovima starog filozofa koji je poučavao istinu onako kako ju je doživljavao: Da je vjera u Apsolutnog Boga izvor te božanske energije koja preinačuje svijet i kojom se čovjek uzdiže do duhovnog jedinstva s Taom, Vječnim Božanstvom i Stvoriteljem -Apsolutom svemira.
94:6.8 (1034.3)
But the popular Taoism of 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 Tao, the Eternal Deity and Creator Absolute of the universes.
Konfucije (Kung Fu-tze) je bio mlađi suvremenik Laoa u šestom stoljeću u Kini. Konfucije temelji svoje doktrine na boljim moralnim tradicijama duge povijesti žute rase i na njega su također ponešto utjecale ostavštine tradicija salemskih misionara. Njegov glavni rad sastojao se u sakupljanju zbirke mudrih izreka starih filozofa. On nije bio prihvaćen kao učitelj za vrijeme njegova života, ali njegovi zapisi i učenja su od tada ispoljili veliki utjecaj u Kini i Japanu. Konfucije je postavio novi standard za šamane, u tome što je postavio moralnost na mjesto magije. Ali on je kvalitetno izgradio svoja učenja; napravio je novi fetiš od poretka i utemeljio poštivanje predaka koje Kinezi još uvijek štuju u vrijeme pisanja ovog teksta.
94:6.9 (1034.4)
Confucius (Kung Fu-tze) was a younger contemporary of Lao in 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 China and Japan. 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 time of this writing.
Konfucijanska pridika na temu moralnosti je počivala na teoriji da je zemaljski put iskrivljena sjena nebeskog puta; da je pravi uzorak vremenske civilizacije odraz vječnog poretka koji vlada na nebu. Potencijalni pojam Boga u konfucionizmu je gotovo u potpunosti podređen naglasaku koji je stavljen na temu Puta na Nebo, uzorku svemira.
94:6.10 (1034.5)
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 Confucianism was almost completely subordinated to the emphasis placed upon the Way of Heaven, the pattern of the cosmos.
Za većinu neukog stanovništva na Istoku, Laova učenja su uglavnom izgubljena, dok spisi Konfucija od tada čine temelj moralnog tkiva kulture gotovo trećine ljudi Urantije. Ove konfucijanske zapovijedi, dok ovjekovječuju ono najbolje iz prošlosti, se nisu pokazale posve prijateljskim prema samom kineskom duhu istraživanja koji je proizveo ta visoko štovana postignuća. Protiv utjecaja tih doktrina su se bezuspješno borili ne samo carski napori Qin Shi Huangdija, već i učenja Mo-Tia, koji je proglasio bratstvo utemeljeno ne na etičkim dužnostima, već na Božjoj ljubavi. On je nastojao ponovo potaći drevnu potragu za novom istinom, ali njegov nauk nije uspio zbog snažnog protivljenja učenika Konfucija.
94:6.11 (1034.6)
The teachings of Lao have been lost to all but a few in the Orient, but the writings of Confucius have ever since constituted the basis of the moral fabric of the culture of almost a third of Urantians. These 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 Ch’in Shih Huang Ti and by the teachings of 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 disciples of Confucius.
Kao i mnogi drugi duhovni i moralni učitelji, Konfucije i Lao Ce su na kraju postali predmet obožavanja njihovih sljedbenika u tim duhovno tamnim godinama Kine koje su trajale između pada i perverzije taoističke vjere i dolaska budističkih misionara iz Indije. Tijekom tih duhovno dekadentnih stoljeća religija žute rase se izrodila u bezvrijednu teologiju koja je preplavljena vragovima, zmajevima i zlim duhovima, što sve ukazuje na značajan povratak strahova neprosvjetljenog smrtnog uma. A Kina, nakon što je nekoć bila na čelu ljudskog društva zahvaljujući svojoj naprednoj religiji, sada zaostaje za svijetom zbog toga što privremeno nije u stanju napredovati na pravom putu razvoja te bogosvijesti koja je neophodna za istinski napredak, ne samo smrtnika pojedinca, nego i zamršenih i složenih civilizacija koje karakteriziraju napredak kulture i društva na evolucijskom planetu vremena i prostora.
94:6.12 (1034.7)
Like many other spiritual and moral teachers, both Confucius and Lao-tse were eventually deified by their followers in those spiritually dark ages of China which intervened between the decline and perversion of the Taoist faith and the coming of the Buddhist missionaries from 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 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 evolutionary planet of time and space.
U isto vrijeme sa Lao Ceom i Konfucijem u Kini, javio se još jedan veliki učitelj istine u Indiji. Gautama Sidarta je rođen u šestom stoljeću prije Krista na sjeveru indijske pokrajine Nepala. Njegovi sljedbenici su kasnije tvrdili da je bio sin jako bogatog vladara, ali u stvarnosti je bio zakoniti nasljednik prijestolja sitnog poglavara koji je vladao prema dopuštenju nad žiteljima male i skrovite planinske doline u južnim Himalajima.
94:7.1 (1035.1)
Contemporary with Lao-tse and Confucius in China, another great teacher of truth arose in India. Gautama Siddhartha was born in the sixth century before Christ in the north Indian province of 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 Himalayas.
Gautama je formulirao teorije koje su izrasle u filozofiju budizma nakon šest godina uzaludne prakse Yoge. Sidarta se prihvatio odlučne ali uzaludne borbe protiv rastućeg kastinskog sustava. Bilo je uzvišene iskrenosti i jedinstvene nesebičnosti o ovom mladom princu i proroku koji je uveliko dojmio ljude tih dana. On se nije poveo za praksom traženja osobnog spasenja kroz fizičke nevolje i osobnu patnju. I on je poticao svoje sljedbenike da pronesu njegovo evanđelje po cijelom svijetu.
94:7.2 (1035.2)
Gautama formulated those theories which grew into the philosophy of Buddhism after six years of the futile practice of 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.
Usred zbunjenosti i ekstremne prakse kultova u Indiji, razboritija i umjerenija učenja Gautame došla su kao osvježavajuće olakšanje. On je osudio bogove, svećenike i njihovo prinošenje žrtava, ali ni on nije uspio uočiti ličnost Jednog Univerzalnog. Kako nije vjerovao u postojanje ljudske duše pojedinačnog čovjeka, Gautama se, naravno, hrabro suprotstavio tradicionalnom vjerovanju u transmigraciju duše. On je uložio plemeniti napor da oslobodi ljude od straha, da ih navede da se osjećaju ugodno i kod kuće u velikom svemiru, ali on im nije uspio pokazati put na stvarni dom uzlaznih smrtnika - Raj - i u šireću službu vječnog postojanja.
94:7.3 (1035.3)
Amid the confusion and extreme cult practices of 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 (1035.4)
Gautama was a real prophet, and had he heeded the instruction of the hermit Godad, he might have aroused all 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.
U Benaresu, Gautama je osnovao školu i tijekom druge godine njegov učenik po imenu Bautan, upoznao je svog učitelja s tradicijama salemskih misionara i Melkizedekovog saveza sa Abrahamom; i dok Sidarta nije imao vrlo jasan koncept Oca Svih, on je ima napredno shvaćanje spasenja po vjeri - jednostavnim vjerovanjem. On je to tako sam proglasio pred svojim sljedbenicima i počeo je slati svoje studente u grupama od šezdeset kako bi navijestili narodu Indije "radosnu vijest o besplatnom spasenju; da svi ljudi, visoki i niski, mogu postići blaženstvo ako imaju vjeru u pravednost i pravdu."
94:7.5 (1035.5)
At 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.”
Gautamina supruga je vjerovala u evanđelje svoga muža i bila je osnivač reda časnih sestara. Njegov sin je postao njegov nasljednik i uveliko je proširio kult; on je shvatio novu ideju o spasenju kroz vjeru, ali se u svojim kasnijim godinama pokolebao u vezi salemskog evanđelja da čovjek prima Božju naklonost po vjeri, dok je u starosti na samrtnoj postelji rekao: "Radite na svom vlastitom spasenju."
94:7.6 (1035.6)
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.”
Proglašeno u svom najboljem izdanju, Gautamino evanđelje sveopćeg spasenja, u kojem nema prinošenja žrtava, mučenja, rituala i svećenika, bilo revolucionarna i nevjerojatna doktrina za svoje vrijeme. I došao je iznenađujuće blizu do oživljavanja salemskog evanđelja. On je pružio utočište za milijune očajnih duša i bez obzira na grotesknu perverziju tijekom kasnijih stoljeća, još uvijek djeluje kao nada milijunima ljudi.
94:7.7 (1036.1)
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 beings.
Budizam ima podrijetlo u povijesnoj osobi, a ne u mitu. Gautamini sljedbenici su ga zvali Sasta, što znači gospodar ili učitelj. Dok on nije tvrdio da bilo on ili njegova učenja imaju bilo kakav nadljudski aspekt, njegovi učenici su ga rano počeli nazivati prosvijetljenim, Budom; kasnije, Sakyamuni Budom.
94:8.2 (1036.4)
Buddhism took origin in a historic person, not in a myth. Gautama’s followers called him 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, Sakyamuni Buddha.
Usko povezan s naukom patnje i oslobađanja od patnje je filozofija Osmerostrukog Puta: ispravnih stavova, aspiracija, govora, ponašanja, života, truda, usredotočene svjesnosti i kontemplacije. Nije bila Gautamina namjera da pokuša uništiti sve napore, težnje i ljubav kako bi se oslobodio od patnje, nego je njegovo učenje osmišljeno kako bi se smrtnom čovjeku prikazala uzaludnost fiksiranja svih nada i težnji u potpunosti na vremenska nastojanja i materijalne ciljeve. Nije da čovjek treba izbjegavati ljubav prema bližnjima, nego da pravi vjernik treba biti dalekovidiji od fiksacije na ovaj materijalni svijet i vidjeti stvarnosti vječne budućnosti.
94:8.8 (1036.10)
Closely linked to the doctrine of suffering and the escape therefrom was the philosophy of the 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.
Sidarta je jedva vjerovao u besmrtnost ljudske ličnosti; njegova filozofija je jedino dopuštala neku vrstu funkcionalnog kontinuiteta. On nikada nije jasno definirao što je namjeravao ubuhvatiti naukom Nirvane. Činjenica da ju je čovjek teoretski mogao doživjeti tijekom svog smrtnog postojanja pokazuje da je nije smatrao stanjem potpunog nestajanja. Ona podrazumijeva stanje najvišeg prosvjetljenja i vrhunskog blaženstva u kojem se slamaju svi nebeski okovi koji obvezuju čovjeka na materijalni svijet; tu dolazi do oslobađanja od težnji smrtnog života i od svake opasnosti da čovjek ikada ponovo doživi utjelovljenje.
94:8.16 (1036.18)
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 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.
U skladu s izvornim učenjima Gautame, spasenje se postiže ljudskim naporom, neovisno od božanske pomoći; tu nema mjesta za spas vjerom ili molitvu za nadljudsku pomoć. Gautama, u pokušaju da smanji praznovjerja Indije, nastojao je okrenuti ljude od šupljih tvrdnji o čarobnim spasenjima. A u izradi ovog napora, on je ostavio širom otvorena vrata svojim nasljednicima da krivo protumače njegov nauk proglašavajući da je svaka ljudska težnja za postignućem neukusna i bolna. Njegovi sljedbenici su previdjeli činjenicu da je najveća sreća povezana s inteligentnim i entizijastičnim teženjem vrijednim ciljevima, te da takva dostignuća predstavljaju istinski napredak u kozmičkom samoostvarenju.
94:8.17 (1037.1)
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 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.
94:8.18 (1037.2)
The great truth of Siddhartha’s teaching was his proclamation of a universe of absolute justice. He taught the best godless philosophy ever invented by mortal man; it was the ideal humanism and most effectively removed all grounds for superstition, magical rituals, and fear of ghosts or demons.
Velika slabost u izvornom evanđelju budizma je da to nije proizvod religije nesebičnog društvenog služenja. Budističko bratstvo je, dugo vremena, bilo ne bratstvo vjernika, nego zajednica učenika koji su čekali da postanu učitelji. Gautama je njima zabranio da primaju novac i time nastojao spriječiti rast hierajhijskih tendencija. Gautama je sam bio vrlo društven; dapače, njegov život je bio mnogo veći od njegovih propovijedi.
94:8.19 (1037.3)
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.
Budizam je bio uspješan jer je nudio spasenje vjerom u Budu, prosvijetljenog. Bio je to bolji predstavnik Melkizedekove istine nego bilo koji drugi religiozni sustav koji se može naći u cijeloj istočnoj Aziji. No, budizam nije postao raširen kao religija dok ga u činu samozaštite nije prihvatio vladar jedne male kaste, monarh Ašoka, koji je slično Ikhnatonu u Egiptu, bio je jedan od najznačajnijih državnih vladara između Melkizedeka i Mihaela. Ašok je izgradio veliko indijsko carstvo kroz propagandu budističkih misionara. Tijekom razdoblja od dvadeset i pet godina obučio je i poslao više od sedamnaest tisuća misionara do krajnjih granica cijelog poznatog svijeta. U jednoj generaciji on je napravio od budizma dominantnu religiju jedne polovine svijeta. To je ubrzo postala osnovna religija u Tibetu, Kašmiru, Cejlonu, Burmi, Javi, Siamu, Koreji, Kini i Japanu. I općenito govoreći, ta je religija neizmjerno superiornija od onih koje su je zamjenile ili nadogradile.
94:9.1 (1037.4)
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 eastern Asia. But Buddhism did not become widespread as a religion until it was espoused in self-protection by the low-caste monarch Asoka, who, next to Ikhnaton in Egypt, was one of the most remarkable civil rulers between Melchizedek and Michael. Asoka built a 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 Tibet, Kashmir, Ceylon, Burma, Java, Siam, Korea, China, and Japan. And generally speaking, it was a religion vastly superior to those which it supplanted or upstepped.
Širenje budizma iz njegove domovine u Indiji u sva područija Azije je jedna od uzbudljivijih priča duhovne predanosti i misionarske upornosti iskrenih praktikanata religije. Učitelji Gautaminog evanđelja ne samo da su hrabro prkosili opasnostima kopnenih karavanskih ruta, nego su se suočili sa opasnostima iz Kineskog mora šireći svoju misiju cijelim azijskim kontinentom, donoseći svim narodima poruku svoje vjere. No, taj Budizam više nije bio jednostavan nauk Gautame; to je bilo evanđelje o činjenju čuda koje ga je učinilo bogom. I što se dalje budizam širio iz njegove brdske kuće u Indiji, to se više razlikovao od Gautaminih učenja i to je postajao više nalik religijama čije je mjesto zauzimao.
94:9.2 (1037.5)
The spread of Buddhism from its homeland in India to all of 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 China Seas as they pursued their mission over the 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.
Na budizam je kasnije mnogo utjecao taoizam u Kini, Šinto u Japanu i kršćanstvo u Tibetu. Nakon više tisuća godina, u Indiji je budizam jednostavno usahnuo i istekao. On je postao brahmaniziran i kasnije se prezreno pokorio islamu, dok je se u velikom dijelu ostatka Istoka izrodio u ritual kojeg Gautama Sidarta nikada ne bi prepoznao.
94:9.3 (1038.1)
Buddhism, later on, was much affected by Taoism in China, Shinto in Japan, and Christianity in Tibet. After a thousand years, in India Buddhism simply withered and expired. It became 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.
No, čak i prije raspada u Indiji, Kinezi i sjeverne indijske skupine Gautaminih sljedbenika su počeli razvoj Mahayana učenja o "Velikom putu" spasenja u suprotnosti sa čistuncima na jugu koji su se držali Hinayana, ili "Malog puta." I ovi Mahayana sljedbenici su odbacili društvena ograničenja svojstvena budističkoj doktrini, a otad se ta sjevernagrana budizma nastavila razvijati u Kini i Japanu.
94:9.5 (1038.3)
But even before the collapse in India, the Chinese and north Indian groups of Gautama’s followers had begun the development of the Mahayana teaching of the “Great Road” to salvation in contrast with the purists of the south who held to the 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 (1038.4)
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.
U Tibetu se mogu naći najčudnije kombinacije Melkizedekovih učenja u kombinaciji s budizmom, hinduizmom, taoizmom i kršćanstvom. Kada su budistički misionari ušli u Tibet, zatekli su stanje primitivnih divljaka vrlo slično onome koje su rani kršćanski misionari naišli među sjevernim plemenima Europe.
94:10.1 (1038.5)
In Tibet may be found the strangest association of the Melchizedek teachings combined with Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, and 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 Europe.
Ovi prostoumni Tibetanci nisu htjeli u cjelosti odustati od svoje drevne magije i amajlija. Proučavanje religioznih ceremonija današnjih tibetanskih rituala otkriva jedno pretjerano razvijeno bratstvo svećenika s obrijanim glavama koji prakticiraju do tančina razrađeni ritual sa zvonjavom, pjevanjem, tamjanom, procesijama, krunicama, amajlijama, slikama, svetom vodom, prekrasnim ruhom, te višeglasnim zborovima. Oni imaju krute dogme i kristalizirana vjerovanja, mistične obrede i posebne posti. Njihova hijerarhija obuhvaća redovnike, redovnice, opate i Velikog Lamu. Oni se mole anđelima, svecima, Svetoj Majci i bogovima. Oni prakticiraju ispovijedi i vjeruju u čistilište. Njihovi samostani su ogromni i njihove katedrale su veličanstvene. Oni u nedogled ponavljaju svete rituale i vjeruju da takve ceremonije donose spasenje. Oni pričvršćuju molitve na kotač i vjeruju da će sa okretanjem kotača njihovi zahtjevi postati učinkoviti. Ni u jednoj drugoj skupini ljudi modernog doba se ne može naći toliko štovanja iz toliko religija; a neizbježno je da takva kumulativna liturgija postaje neobično teška i nepodnošljivo tegobna.
94:10.2 (1038.6)
These simple-minded Tibetans would not wholly give up their ancient magic and charms. Examination of the religious ceremonials of present-day 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 creeds, mystic rites and special fasts. Their hierarchy embraces monks, nuns, abbots, and the Grand Lama. They pray to angels, saints, a Holy Mother, and the gods. They practice confessions and believe in 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 liturgy would become inordinately cumbersome and intolerably burdensome.
Budizam je ušao u Kinu u prvom tisućljeću poslije Krista i tu je dobro pristajao uz vjerske običaje žute rase. U vidu štovanja predaka oni su se već odavno molili mrtvima; a sada su se mogli moliti i za njih. Budizam se uskoro stopio sa ostacima ritualnih praksi taoizma koji je bio u raspadu. Ova nova sintetska religija sa svojim hramovima bogoštovlja i jasno definiranim vjerskim ceremonijama je ubrzo postala općeprihvaćena kao kult naroda Kine, Koreje i Japana.
94:11.1 (1038.8)
Buddhism entered China in the 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. Buddhism soon amalgamated with the lingering ritualistic practices of disintegrating Taoism. This new synthetic religion with its temples of worship and definite religious ceremonial soon became the generally accepted cult of the peoples of China, Korea, and Japan.
Dok je u nekim pogledima šteta da taj budizam nije pronesen u svijet prije nego što su ga Gautamini sljedbenici toliko izopačili tradicijama i učenjima kulta da su pretvorili Guatamu u božansko biće, ipak ovaj mit njegova ljudskog života, ukrašen sa mnoštvom čuda, pokazao se vrlo privlačnim za revizore sjevernog ili Mahayana evanđelja budizma.
94:11.2 (1039.1)
While in some respects it is unfortunate that 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 Mahayana gospel of Buddhism.
Neki njegovi kasniji sljedbenici su učili da se duh Sakyamuni Bude povremeno vraća na zemlju kao živi Buda, što je otvorilo put za vječno prikazivanje Budinih slika, hramova, obreda i takozvanih "živih Buda." Tako je religija velikog indijskog protestanta konačno bila okovana samim izrazito ceremonijalnim praksama i ritualističkim inkantacijama protiv kojih se on tako neustrašivo borio i koje je tako hrabro osudio.
94:11.3 (1039.2)
Some of his later followers taught that 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.
Veliki napredak postignut u budističkoj filozofiji sastojao se u razumijevanju relativnosti cjelokupne istine. Kroz mehanizam ove hipoteze budisti su mogli pomiriti i povezati razlike unutar svojih religioznih spisa, kao i razlike između sebe i mnogih drugih. Oni su učili da je mala istina za male umove, a velika istina za velike umove.
94:11.4 (1039.3)
The great advance made in 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 (1039.4)
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.
No, veliko ograničenje u izvornom evanđelju Sidarte, kako su ga tumačili njegovi sljedbenici, bilo je da je pokušao dovršiti proces oslobođenja ljudskog jastva od svih ograničenja smrtne prirode tehnikom čovjekovog izoliranja od objektivne stvarnost. Istina kozmičkog samoostvarenja rezultira iz poistovjećivanja sa kozmičkom stvarnosti i konačnim kozmosom energije, uma i duha, koji je omeđen prostorom i uvjetovan vremenom.
94:11.6 (1039.5)
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.
No iako su ceremonije i vanjski obredi budizma postali grubo kontaminirani učenjima zemalja kojima je putovao, ta degeneracija nije posve slučaj u filozofskom životu velikih mislilaca, koji su s vremena na vrijeme prihvaćali ovaj sustav misli i vjerovanja. Kroz više od dvije tisuće godina, mnogi od najboljih umova u Aziji usmjeravaju svoju pažnju na problem utvrđivanja apsolutne istine i istine Apsoluta.
94:11.7 (1039.6)
But though the ceremonies and outward observances of 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 Asia have concentrated upon the problem of ascertaining absolute truth and the truth of the Absolute.
Razvoj visokog koncepta Apsoluta ostvaren je kroz mnoge kanale misli i krivudave staze razmišljanja. Uzlazni aspekt ove doktrine beskonačnosti nije tako jasno definiran kao što je jasno definirana evolucija koncepta Boga u hebrejskoj teologiji. Ipak, postoje neke široke razine koje su umovi budista postigli, na njima se zadržali i kroz njih prošli na putu osmišljavanja Prvog Izvora svih svemira:
94:11.8 (1039.7)
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. Gautamina legenda. U podnožju koncepta stoji povijesna činjenica života i učenja Sidarte, indijskog proroka i princa. Ova legenda je izrasla u mit dok je putovala kroz stoljeća i preko širokog pojasa u zemljama Azije, dok nije nadmašila status ideje Gautame kao prosvijetljenog i počela dobivati dodatne atribute.
94:11.9 (1039.8)
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. Višestruke pojave Bude. Zaključili su da, ako je Gautama došao narodima Indije, onda su u nekoj dalekoj prošlosti i u nekoj dalekoj budućnosti rase čovječanstva morale biti i nesumnjivo će biti blagoslovljene s drugim učiteljima istine. Odatle se javilo učenje da postoji mnogo Buda, neograničen i beskonačan broj, čak i da svatko može težiti da postane jedan - ostvariti božanstvenost Bude.
94:11.10 (1040.1)
2. The many Buddhas. It was reasoned that, if Gautama had come to the peoples of 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. Apsolutni Buda. Kako se s vremenom broj Buda približio beskonačnosti, postalo je neophodno za umove tih dana ponovno ujediniti ovaj nezgrapni koncept. U skladu s tim počelo je da se uči da su svi Bude manifestacija neke veće biti, nekog Vječnog koji ima beskonačno i bezuvjetno postojanje, nekog Apsolutnog Izvora cjelokupne stvarnosti. Odavde je budistički koncept Božanstva, u svojoj najvišoj formi, postalo odvojen od ljudske osobe Gautame Sidarte i odbacio antropomorfna ograničenja koja su ga držala na uzici. Ova konačna koncepcija Vječnog Bude može biti identificirana kao Apsolutni, a ponekad čak i kao beskonačni JA JESAM.
94:11.11 (1040.2)
3. The Absolute Buddha. By 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.
Iako ova ideja Apsolutnog Božanstva nikada nije stekla veliku naklonost i popularnost u narodima Azije, to će omogućiti intelektualcima ovih zemalja da ujedine svoju filozofiju i usklade svoju kozmologiju. Koncept Apsolutnog Bude je s vremena na vrijeme kvazi-osoban, s vremena na vrijeme potpuno neosoban - čak jedna beskonačna kreativna sila. Takvi koncepti, iako korisni za filozofiju, nisu od vitalnog značaja za religiozni razvoj. Čak i antropomorfni Jahve ima veću religioznu vrijednost od beskonačno udaljenog Apsoluta budizma ili brahmanizma.
94:11.12 (1040.3)
While this idea of Absolute Deity never found great popular favor with the peoples of 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 Brahmanism.
94:11.13 (1040.4)
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.
Velika slabost u kozmologiji budizma bila je dvostruka: kontaminacija s mnogim praznovjerjima Indije i Kine i sublimacija Gautame, prvo kao prosvijetljenog, a zatim kao Vječnog Bude. Baš kao što je kršćanstvo patilo od apsorpcije mnogih pogrešnih ljudskih filozofija, tako i budizam nosi ljudski biljeg. No, učenja Gautame i dalje su se razvijala tijekom protekla dva i pol milenija. Pojam Bude, sa stanovišta prosvijetljenog budiste, nije više istovijetan s ljudskom ličnosti Gautame nego je koncept Jahve istovijetan s duhom- demonom Horeba sa stanovišta nekog prosvijetljenog kršćanina. Zbog ograničenog broja izraza, zajedno sa sentimentalnim zadržavanjem stare nomenklature, često dolazi do neuspjeha pri pokušaju razumijevanja pravog značenja evolucije religijskih pojmova.
94:12.1 (1040.5)
The great weakness in the cosmology of Buddhism was twofold: its contamination with many of the superstitions of India and 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 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.
Postupno se pojam Boga, za razliku od Apsoluta, počeo pojavljivati u budizmu. Njegovi korijeni vuku porijeklo iz ranih dana raskola među sljedbenicima Malog puta i Velikog puta. Među poklonicima Velikog puta budizma konačno sazrijeva ideju o dvojnom poimanju Boga i Apsoluta. Korak po korak, iz stoljeća u stoljeće, pojam Boga je evoluirao dok, sa učenjem Ryonina, Honen Shonina i Shinrana u Japanu, ovaj koncept nije konačno došao na plodno tlo u vjerovanju u Amida Budu.
94:12.2 (1040.6)
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 Lesser Road and the 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 Ryonin, Honen Shonin, and Shinran in Japan, this concept finally came to fruit in the belief in Amida Buddha.
Među ovim vjernicima se učilo da duša, po doživljenoj smrti, može izabrati da uživa boravak u Raju prije ulaska u Nirvanu, najviši oblik postojanja. Te je proglašeno da se ovo novo spasenje postiže vjerom u božanske milosti i brižnu njegu Amida, Boga Raja na zapadu. U svojoj filozofiji, amidisti se drže Beskonačne Stvarnosti koja je izvan svakog konačnog smrtnog razumijevanja; i u svojoj religiji, oni se drže vjere u svemilosrdnoga Amida, koji tako ljubi svijet da neće dopustiti ni jednom smrtniku koji se poziva na njegovo ime u pravoj vjeri i sa čistim srcem da doživi neuspjeh u ostvarivanju božanstvene sreće Raja.
94:12.3 (1041.1)
Among these believers it is taught that the soul, upon experiencing death, may elect to enjoy a sojourn in Paradise prior to entering 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.
Velika snaga budizma i njegovih sljedbenika je da su slobodni odabrati istinu iz svih religija; a takva sloboda izbora rijetko je obilježavala bilo koju vjeru Urantije. U tom smislu Šin sekta u Japanu je postala jedna od najnaprednijih religioznih zajednica u svijetu; ona je oživjela stari misionarski duh Gautaminih sljedbenika i počela slati učitelje drugim narodima. Ova spremnost za usvajanje istine iz bilo kojeg i svih izvora je doista pohvalna tendencija koja se pojavila među religioznim vjernicima tijekom prve polovice dvadesetog stoljeća poslije Krista.
94:12.4 (1041.2)
The great strength of 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 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 twentieth century after Christ.
Sam budizam prolazi kroz renesansu u dvadesetom stoljeću. Kroz dodir s kršćanstvom društveni aspekti budizma su uveliko poboljšani. Želja za učenjem se rasplamsala u srcima redovnika i svećenika bratstva, a širenje obrazovanja u cijeloj ovoj vjeri će zasigurno donijeti provokativna nova dostignuća u religioznoj evoluciji.
94:12.5 (1041.3)
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.
U vrijeme pisanja ovog teksta, veći dio Azije počiva svoju nadu u budizmu. Hoće li ova plemenita vjera, koja se tako hrabro nosila tijekom tamnih dobi prošlosti, ponovno primiti istinu proširenih kozmičkih stvarnosti, onako kako su učenici velikog učitelja u Indiji jednom slušali proglašenje nove istine? Hoće li ova drevna vjera još jednom odgovoriti na osnažujući poticaj prezentacije novih koncepcija Boga i Apsoluta za kojima je toliko dugo tragala?
94:12.6 (1041.4)
At the time of this writing, much of 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?
Svi na Urantiji čekaju proglašenje oplemenjujuće poruke Mihaela, neopterećene akumuliranim doktrinama i dogmama devetnaest stoljeća kontakta s religijama evolucijskog podrijetla. Sada je vrijeme za predstavljanje budizmu, kršćanstvu, hinduizmu, pa čak i narodima svih vjera, ne evanđelje o Isusu, nego živuću duhovnu stvarnost Isusova evanđelja.
94:12.7 (1041.5)
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 religions of evolutionary origin. The hour is striking for presenting to Buddhism, to Christianity, to Hinduism, even to the peoples of all faiths, not the gospel about Jesus, but the living, spiritual reality of the gospel of Jesus.