Christianity as Mystical Fact
GA 8
5. Egyptian Mystery Wisdom
[ 1 ] “When released from the body you ascend to the free aether, you will become an immortal god, escaping death.” In these words Empedocles epitomizes what the ancient Egyptians thought about the eternal in man and its connection with the divine. Evidence of this is provided by the so-called Book of The Dead which has been deciphered by the diligence of nineteenth century research workers. (See Lepsius, Das Totenbuch der alen Ägypter, Berlin, 1842.) It is “the greatest coherent literary work of the Egyptians which has been preserved to us.” It contains all kinds of teachings and prayers, which were put in the grave with each dead person to guide him when he was released from his mortal frame. The Egyptians' most intimate conceptions about the eternal and the genesis of the world are contained in this literary work. These conceptions indeed indicate ideas of the gods similar to those of Greek mysticism. Of the various deities worshiped in different parts of Egypt, Osiris gradually became the favorite and most universally acknowledged. In him the ideas about the other divinities were summarized. Whatever the Egyptian populace may have thought about Osiris, the Book of the Dead indicates that according to the ideas of priestly wisdom he was a being which could be found in the human soul itself. This is expressed clearly in everything they thought about death and the dead. When the body is given up to the earth, preserved within the earthly element, then the eternal part of man sets out upon the path to the primordial eternal. It is called to judgment before Osiris, who is surrounded by forty-two judges of the dead. The fate of the eternal in man depends upon the verdict of these judges. If the soul has confessed its sins and is found to be reconciled with eternal righteousness, invisible powers approach it, saying, “The Osiris N. has been purified in the pool which is south of the field of Hotep and north of the field of Locusts, where the gods of verdure purify themselves at the fourth hour of the night and the eighth hour of the day with the image of the heart of the gods, passing from night to day.” Thus within the eternal cosmic order the eternal part of man is addressed as an Osiris. After the title Osiris, the individual name of the person concerned is mentioned. The person who is uniting himself with the eternal cosmic order also calls himself “Osiris.” “I am Osiris N. Growing under the blossoms of the fig tree is the name of Osiris N.”60The Egyptian Book of the Dead, Chapter 125, 19–22. Papyrus of NU. Thus man becomes an Osiris. The Osiris-existence is only a perfect stage of development of human existence. It seems obvious that even the Osiris who judges within the eternal cosmic order is none other than a perfect man. Between human existence and divine existence is a difference in degree and number. At the root of this lies the conception of the Mysteries concerning the mystery of “number.” The cosmic being Osiris is One; nevertheless he exists undivided in every human soul. Each man is an Osiris, yet the one Osiris must be represented as a special being. Man is engaged in development; at the end of his evolutionary course lies his existence as a god. Within this conception one must speak of divinity rather than of a perfected, completed divine being.
[ 2 ] There is no doubt that according to such a conception only one who has already reached the gate of the eternal cosmic order as an Osiris can really enter upon Osiris-existence. So the highest life man can lead must consist in changing himself into an Osiris. In the true man an Osiris must already live as perfectly as possible during mortal life. Man becomes perfect when he lives as an Osiris, when he experiences what Osiris has experienced. In this way the Osiris myth receives its deeper significance. It becomes the example of a man who wishes to awaken the eternal within him. Osiris had been torn to pieces, killed by Typhon. The fragments of his body were cherished and cared for by his consort Isis. After his death he let a ray of his light fall upon her, and she bore him Horus. Horus took over the earthly tasks of Osiris. He is the second Osiris, still imperfect but progressing toward the true Osiris.—The true Osiris is in the human soul. The latter is of a transitory nature at first. However, its transitory nature is destined to give birth to the eternal. Therefore man may consider himself to be the tomb of Osiris. The lower nature (Typhon) has killed the higher nature in him. Love in his soul (Isis) must cherish and care for the dead fragments; then will be born the higher nature, the eternal soul (Horus), which can progress to Osiris-existence. Whoever strives toward the highest existence must repeat in himself, as a microcosm, the macrocosmic, universal process of Osiris. This is the meaning of the Egyptian “initiation.” The process Plato describes as cosmic,—i.e., that the Creator has stretched the soul of the world upon the body of the world in the form of a cross, and that the cosmic process is a redemption of this crucified soul—on a small scale this process had to happen to man if he was to be capable of Osiris-existence. The neophyte had to develop himself in such a way that his soul-experience, his development as an Osiris, became identified with the cosmic Osiris process. If we could look into the temples of initiation where people were subjected to the transformation into Osiris, we would see that what happened there represented microcosmically the creation of the world. Man, who is descended from the “Father,” was to give birth in himself to the Son. The spellbound god, whom he actually bore within him, was to be revealed in him. The power of earthly nature suppressed this god within him. First this lower nature had to be buried in order that the higher nature might rise again. From this it becomes possible to interpret what is told of the processes of initiation. The candidate was subjected to secret procedures. By means of the latter his earthly nature was killed and his higher nature awakened. It is not necessary to study these procedures in detail. One must only understand their meaning. And this meaning is contained in the acknowledgment which everyone who has been through initiation could make. He could say: Before me floated the endless perspective, at the end of which lies the perfection of the divine. I felt the power of the divine within me. I buried what holds down this power within me. I died to earthly things. I was dead. As a lower man I had died; I was in the netherworld. I communicated with the dead, that is, with those who already have become part of the circle of the eternal cosmic order. After my sojourn in the nether world I arose from the dead. I overcame death, but now I have become different. I have nothing more to do with transitory nature. My transitory nature has become permeated by the Logos. I now belong to those who live eternally, and who will sit at the right hand of Osiris. I myself shall be a true Osiris, united with the eternal cosmic order, and judgment over death and life shall be placed in my hand. The neophyte had to undergo the experience which could lead him to such an acknowledgment. The experience which thus approached man was of the highest kind.
[ 3 ] Let us now imagine that a non-initiate hears that someone has undergone such experiences. He cannot know what has really taken place in the soul of the initiate. In his eyes, the initiate has died physically, has laid in the grave and has risen. When expressed in terms of material reality an occurrence which has spiritual reality at a higher stage of existence appears to break through the order of nature. It is a “miracle.” Such a “miracle” was initiation. Whoever wished really to understand it must have awakened within himself powers which would enable him to reach a higher stage of existence. He had to prepare the whole course of his life in order to approach these higher experiences. However they might take place in individual lives, these prepared experiences always had a quite definite, typical form. So the life of an initiate is a typical one. It may be described apart from the individual personality. Or rather, an individual personality could be characterized only as being on the way toward the divine if he had gone through these definite, typical experiences. As such a personality the Buddha lived with his followers; as such a personality Jesus at first appeared to his community. Today we know of the parallels which exist between the biographies of Buddha and of Jesus. Rudolf Seydel has pointed out these parallels strikingly in his book, Buddha and Christ. We need only follow up the details to see that all objections to these parallels are futile.
[ 4 ] The birth of Buddha is announced by a white elephant who descends to Maya, the queen. He declares that she will bring forth a divine man who “attunes all people to love and friendship and unites them in an intimate company.” In Luke's Gospel is written: “... to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David: and the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her and said, ‘Hail thou that art highly favored ... Behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great and shall be called the Son of the Highest.’” Maya's dream is interpreted by the Brahmins, the Indian priests, who know that it signifies the birth of a Buddha. They have a definite, typical idea of a Buddha. The life of the individual personality will have to correspond to this idea. Correspondingly we read in Matthew 2:1, et seq., that when Herod “had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born.”—The Brahmin Asita says of Buddha, “This is the child which will become Buddha, the redeemer, the leader to immortality, freedom and light.” Compare this with Luke 2:5: “And behold there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him ... And when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him after the custom of the law, then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: for mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.” It is related of Buddha that at the age of twelve he was lost, and was found again under a tree, surrounded by minstrels and sages of ancient times, whom he was teaching. This corresponds to Luke 2:41–47: “Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast. And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem, and Joseph and his mother knew not of it. But they, supposing him to have been in the company, went a day's journey; and they sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance. And when they found him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking him. And it came to pass that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions. And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers.”—After Buddha had lived in solitude and had returned, he was received by the benediction of a virgin: “Blessed is the mother, blessed is the father, blessed is the wife to whom thou belongest.” But he replied, “Only they are blessed who are in Nirvana,” i.e., those who have entered the eternal cosmic order. In Luke 11:2–28 is written: “And it came to pass, as he spake these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice and said unto him, ‘Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked.’ But he said, ‘Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.’” In the course of Buddha's life the tempter approaches him, promising him all the kingdoms of the earth. Buddha will have nothing to do with this, answering, “I know well that a kingdom is appointed to me, but I do not desire an earthly one; I shall become Buddha and make all the world exult for joy.” The tempter has to admit, “My reign is over.” Jesus answers the same temptation in the words: “Get thee hence, Satan, for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Then the devil leaveth him.” (Matthew 4:10,11)—This description of parallelism might be extended to many other points: the results would be the same. The life of Buddha ended sublimely. During a journey he felt ill. He came to the river Hiranja, near Kuschinagara. There he lay down on a carpet spread for him by his favorite disciple, Ananda. His body began to shine from within. He died transfigured, a body of light, saying, “Nothing endures.” The death of Buddha corresponds with the transfiguration of Jesus: “And it came to pass about eight days after these sayings, he took Peter and John and James, and went up into a mountain to pray. And as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and glistening.” At this point Buddha's earthly life ends, but the most important part of the life of Jesus begins here: Passion, Death and Resurrection. The difference between Buddha and Christ lies in what necessitated the continuation of the life of Christ Jesus beyond that of Buddha. Buddha and Christ are not understood by simply throwing them together. (This will become evident in the subsequent chapters of this book.) Other accounts of the death of Buddha need not be considered here, although they also reveal profound aspects of the subject.
[ 5 ] The conformity in the lives of these two redeemers leads to an unequivocal conclusion. What this conclusion must be, the narratives themselves indicate. When the priest sages hear about the manner of the birth they know what is involved. They know that they are dealing with a divine man. They know beforehand what conditions will exist for the personality who is appearing. Therefore his career can only correspond with what they know about the career of a divine man. Such a career appears in their Mystery wisdom, marked out for all eternity. It can be only as it must be. Such a career appears as an eternal law of nature. Just as a chemical substance can behave only in a quite definite way, so a Buddha or a Christ can live only in a quite definite way. His career cannot be described as one would write his incidental biography; rather, it is described by giving the typical features contained for all time in the wisdom of the Mysteries. The legend of Buddha is no more a biography in the ordinary sense, than the Gospels are intended to be an ordinary biography of the Christ Jesus. Neither describes an incidental career; both describe a career marked out for a world-redeemer. The patterns for both must be sought in the traditions of the Mysteries, not in outward physical history. To those who have perceived their divine nature, Buddha and Jesus are initiates in the most eminent sense. (Jesus is an initiate because the Christ Being incarnates in him.) Thus everything transitory is removed from their lives. What is known about initiates can be applied to them. The incidental events of their lives are no longer described. It is said of them, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God ... And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” (John 1:1,14)
[ 6 ] The life of Jesus, however, contains more than the life of Buddha. Buddha's life ends with the transfiguration. The most significant part of the life of Jesus begins after the transfiguration. In the language of the initiates, Buddha reaches the point where divine light begins to shine in man. He stands before the death of the physical. He becomes the cosmic light. Jesus goes further. He does not die physically at the moment the cosmic light transfigures him. At that moment he is a Buddha. But at the same moment he enters upon a stage which finds expression in a higher degree of initiation. He suffers and dies. The physical part of him disappears. But the spiritual, the cosmic light does not vanish. His resurrection follows. He reveals himself to his community as Christ. At the moment of his transfiguration, Buddha dissolves into the hallowed life of the universal Spirit. Christ Jesus awakens this universal Spirit once more to present existence in a human form. Such an event had formerly taken place in a pictorial sense at the higher stages of initiation. Those initiated according to the Osiris myth attained to such a resurrection in their consciousness as a pictorial experience. In the life of Jesus this “great” initiation was added to the Buddha initiation, not as a pictorial experience, but as reality. Buddha demonstrated by his life that man is the Logos and that he returns to this Logos, to the light, when his physical part dies. In Jesus the Logos itself became a person. In him the Word became flesh.
[ 7 ] What was enacted for the ancient cults of the Mysteries within the Mystery-temples, through Christianity has been grasped as a world-historical fact. His community acknowledged the Christ Jesus, the initiate, initiated in a uniquely great way. He proved to them that the world is divine. For the community of Christ, the wisdom of the Mysteries was indissolubly bound up with the personality of Christ Jesus. The belief that he lived and that those who acknowledge him, belong to him, replaced what would have been attained previously through the Mysteries. Henceforth for those in the community of Christ a part of what previously was only to be attained by the methods of the mystics, could be replaced by the conviction that the divine is given in the Word which had been present. The determining factor was no longer only that for which each individual spirit had to undergo a long preparation, but also the account of what they had heard and seen, handed down by those who were with Jesus. “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we ourselves have beheld, which our hands have touched, concerning the Word of life ... that which we have seen and heard, we proclaim to you, that you may have fellowship with us.” Thus it is written in the first Epistle of John. This immediate reality is to embrace all future generations in a living bond; as a Church it is to extend mystically from generation to generation. In this way we may understand the words of Augustine, “I should not believe the Gospel except as moved by the authority of the Church.”61Augustine, St., one of the four great Fathers of the Latin Church, born 354 in Tagaste, Numidia, and died as Bishop of Hippo during the siege of that city by the Vandals in 430. Steiner's reference is to Augustine's work, Against the Epistle of Manichaeus called Fundamental, par. 6. The Gospels, therefore, contain in themselves no evidence of their truth, but they are to be believed because they are founded on the personality of Jesus, and because in a mysterious way the Church draws from this personality the power to make them appear as truth. The Mysteries handed down through tradition the means of coming to the truth; the Christian community propagates this truth itself. Faith in the One, the primordial Initiator was to be added to faith in the mystical forces which light up in man's inner being during initiation. The mystics sought apotheosis; they wished to experience it. Jesus was made divine; we must cling to him; then we are participants in his apotheosis within the community established by him:—This became Christian conviction. What was made divine in Jesus, is made divine for his whole community. “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” (Matthew 28:20) The one born in Bethlehem has an eternal character. Thus the Christmas antiphon is able to speak of the birth of Jesus as if it took place every Christmas: “Today Christ is born; today the Saviour has come into the world; today the angels are singing on earth.”62 The Christmas Antiphon to which Steiner refers is found in the Breviarium Romanum, and appears just before the end of the Christmas section, In Nativitate Domini, headed Ad Magnificat Antiphona:
Hodie Christus natus est;
hodie Salvator apparuit:
hodie in terra canunt Angeli,
laetantur Archangeli:
hodie exultant justi,
dicentes: Gloria in excelsis
Deo, alleluia.
In the Christ-experience a quite definite stage of initiation is to be seen. When the mystic of pre-Christian times went through this Christ-experience, then, through his initiation, he was in a condition enabling him to perceive something spiritual—in higher worlds—for which the material world had no corresponding fact. He experienced what comprises the Mystery of Golgotha in the higher world. Now when the Christian mystic goes through this experience, through initiation, at the same time he beholds the historical event on Golgotha and knows that in this event, which took place in the world of the senses, is the same content as formerly existed only in the supersensible facts of the Mysteries. What had descended upon the mystics within the Mystery temples in earlier times thus descended upon the community of Christ through the “Mystery of Golgotha.” And initiation gives the Christian mystic the possibility of becoming conscious of this content of the “Mystery of Golgotha,” while faith causes mankind to participate unconsciously in the mystical current which flowed from the events depicted in the New Testament and has been permeating the spiritual life of humanity ever since.
Die Äyptische Mysterienweisheit
[ 1 ] «Wenn du, vom Leibe befreit, zum freien Äther emporsteigst, wirst ein unsterblicher Gott du sein, dem Tode entronnen.» In diesem Ausspruch des Empedokles erscheint wie kurz zusammengefaßt, was die alten Ägypter über das Ewige im Menschen und seinen Zusammenhang mit dem Göttlichen gedacht haben. Dafür ist ein Beweis das sogenannte «Totenbuch», das der Fleiß der Forscher im neunzehnten Jahrhundert entziffert hat. (Vergleiche Lepsius, Das Totenbuch der alten Ägypter. Berlin 1842.) Es ist «das größte zusammenhängende Literaturwerk, das uns von den Ägyptern erhalten ist». Man findet darin allerlei Lehren und Gebete, die jedem Verstorbenen mit ins Grab gegeben wurden, damit er in ihnen einen Wegweiser habe, wenn er der vergänglichen Hülle entledigt ist. Die intimsten Anschauungen der Ägypter über das Ewige und die Weltentstehung sind in diesem Literaturwerke enthalten. Diese Anschauungen deuten durchaus auf Göttervorstellungen, die denen der griechischen Mystik ähnlich sind. -Osiris ist unter den verschiedenen Göttern, die in den Landesteilen Ägyptens anerkannt wurden, allmählich der vorzüglichste und allgemeinste geworden. In ihm wurden die Vorstellungen über die anderen Gottheiten zusammengefaßt. Mag nun das ägyptische Volk in seiner großen Masse was immer für Gedanken über den Osiris gehabt haben, das «Totenbuch» deutet auf eine Vorstellung der Priesterweisheit, die in Osiris eine Wesenheit sah, wie sie in der Menschenseele selbst gefunden werden konnte. -Alles, was man über den Tod und die Toten dachte, sagt das deutlich genug. Wird der Leib dem Irdischen gegeben, innerhalb des Irdischen aufbewahrt, so tritt das Ewige den Weg zum Ur-Ewigen an. Es erscheint zum Gericht vor Osiris, den zweiundvierzig Totenrichter umgeben. Das Schicksal des Ewigen im Menschen hängt davon ab, wie diese Totenrichter befinden. Hat die Seele ihr Sündenbekenntnis abgelegt, ist sie versöhnt befunden mit der ewigen Gerechtigkeit, so treten unsichtbare Mächte ihr entgegen, die zu ihr sprechen: «Der Osiris N. ward geläutert in dem Teiche, der da ist südlich vom Felde Hotep und nördlich von dem Felde der Heuschrecken, wo die Götter des Grünens sich waschen in der vierten Stunde der Nacht und in der achten des Tages mit dem Bilde des Herzens der Götter, übergehend von der Nacht zum Tage. » Also der ewige Teil des Menschen wird innerhalb der ewigen Weltordnung selbst als ein Osiris angesprochen. Nach der Bezeichnung Osiris wird der persönliche Name des Betreffenden genannt. Und auch der sich mit der ewigen Weltordnung Vereinigende bezeichnet sich selbst als «Osiris». «Ich bin der Osiris N. Wachsend unter den Blüten des Feigenbaums ist der Name des Osiris N. » Der Mensch wird also ein Osiris. Das Osiris-Sein ist nur eine vollkommene Entwicklungsstufe des Mensch-Seins. Es erscheint da selbstverständlich, daß auch der innerhalb der ewigen Weltordnung richtende Osiris nichts ist als ein vollkommener Mensch. Zwischen Mensch-Sein und Gott-Sein ist ein Gradunterschied und ein Unterschied in der Zahl. Es liegt hier die Mysterienanschauung vom Geheimnis der «Zahl» zugrunde. Der Osiris als Weltwesen ist Einer; in jeder Menschenseele ist er deshalb doch ungeteilt vorhanden. Jeder Mensch ist ein Osiris; und doch muß auch der Eine Osiris als eine besondere Wesenheit vorgestellt werden. Der Mensch ist in Entwicklung begriffen; und am Ende seiner Entwicklungslaufbahn liegt sein Gott-Sein. Man muß vielmehr von einer Göttlichkeit, nicht von einem fertigen, abgeschlossenen Gotteswesen innerhalb dieser Anschauung sprechen.
[ 2 ] Es ist nicht zu bezweifeln, daß für eine solche Anschauung nur der wirklich in das Osiris-Dasein eintreten kann, der schon als Osiris am Tor der ewigen Weltordnung anlangt. Das höchste Leben, das der Mensch führen kann, wird also darin bestehen müssen, daß er sich zum Osiris wandelt. Im echten Menschen muß schon innerhalb des vergänglichen Lebens ein möglichst vollkommener Osiris leben. Der Mensch wird vollkommen, wenn er wie ein Osiris lebt. Wenn er durchmacht, was Osiris durchgemacht hat. Der Osiris-Mythos erhält damit seine tiefere Bedeutung. Er wird zum Vorbilde dessen, der das Ewige in sich erwecken will. Osiris ist von Typhon zerstückelt, getötet worden. Die Teile des Leichnams sind von seiner Gemahlin Isis gehegt und gepflegt worden. Er hat nach dem Tode seinen Lichtstrahl auf sie fallen lassen. Sie hat ihm den Horus geboren. Dieser Horus übernimmt die irdischen Aufgaben des Osiris. Er ist der zweite, noch unvollkommene, aber zum wahren Osiris fortschreitende Osiris. --Der wahre Osiris ist in der Menschenseele. Diese ist zunächst die vergängliche. Aber ihr Vergängliches ist bestimmt, das Ewige zu gebären. Der Mensch mag sich daher als das Grab des Osiris betrachten. Die niedere Natur (Typhon) hat die höhere in ihm getötet. Die Liebe in seiner Seele (Isis) muß die Leichenteile hegen und pflegen, dann wird die höhere Natur, die ewige Seele (Horus), geboren werden, die zum Osiris-Dasein fortschreiten kann. Den makrokosmischen Osiris-Weltprozeß muß der zum höchsten Dasein strebende Mensch in sich mikrokosmisch wiederholen. Das ist der Sinn der ägyptischen «Einweihung», der Initiation. Was Plato beschreibt als kosmischen Prozeß, daß der Schöpfer die Weltseele in Kreuzesform auf den Weltleib gespannt hat, und daß der Weltprozeß eine Erlösung dieser ans Kreuz geschlagenen Weltenseele ist, das mußte mit dem Menschen im kleinen vorgehen, wenn er sich zum Osiris-Dasein befähigen sollte. Der Einzuweihende mußte sich so entwickeln, daß sein Seelenerlebnis, sein Osiris-Werden, mit dem kosmischen Osiris-Prozeß in Eins zusammenschmolz. Wenn wir in die Initiationstempel blicken könnten, in denen die Menschen der Osiris-Verwandlung unterzogen wurden, so würden wir sehen, daß die Vorgänge ein Welt-Werden mikrokosmisch darstellen. Der vom «Vater» stammende Mensch sollte in sich den Sohn gebären. Was er in Wirklichkeit in sich trägt, den verzauberten Gott, das sollte in ihm offenbar werden. Durch die Gewalt der irdischen Natur wird dieser Gott in ihm niedergehalten. Diese niedere Natur muß erst zu Grabe getragen werden, damit die höhere Natur auferstehen könne. Was von den Initiationsvorgängen erzählt wird, kann daraus verstanden werden. Der Mensch wurde geheimnisvollen Prozeduren unterworfen. Sein Irdisches wurde dadurch getötet, sein Höheres erweckt. Es ist nicht nötig, diese Prozeduren im einzelnen zu studieren. Man muß nur ihren Sinn verstehen. Und dieser Sinn liegt in dem Bekenntnis, das jeder ablegen konnte, der durch die Initiation gegangen ist. Er konnte sagen: «Mir schwebte vor die unendliche Perspektive, an deren Ende die Vollkommenheit des Göttlichen liegt. Ich habe gefühlt, daß die Kraft dieses Göttlichen in mir liegt. Ich habe zu Grabe getragen, was in mir diese Kraft niederhält. Ich bin abgestorben dem Irdischen. Ich war tot. Als niederer Mensch war ich gestorben; ich war in der Unterwelt. Ich habe mit den Toten verkehrt, das heißt mit denen, die schon eingefügt sind in den Ring der ewigen Weltordnung. Ich bin nach meinem Verweilen in der Unterwelt auferstanden von den Toten. Ich habe den Tod überwunden, aber nun bin ich ein anderer geworden. Ich habe nichts mehr zu tun mit der vergänglichen Natur. Diese ist bei mir durchtränkt von dem Logos. Ich gehöre nun zu denen, die ewig leben und die sitzen werden zur Rechten des Osiris. Ich werde selbst ein wahrer Osiris sein, vereinigt mit der ewigen Weltordnung, und das Urteil über Tod und Leben wird in meine Hand gegeben sein.« Dem Erlebnis mußte sich der Einzuweihende unterziehen, das ihn zu solchem Bekenntnis führen konnte. Es ist ein Erlebnis höchster Art, was so an den Menschen herantrat.
[ 3 ] Man denke sich nun, ein Uneingeweihter hört davon, daß jemand solchen Erlebnissen unterzogen wird. Er kann nicht wissen, was in der Seele des Eingeweihten wirklich vorgegangen ist. Dieser ist für ihn physisch gestorben, er hat im Grabe gelegen und ist auferstanden. Was auf höherer Daseinsstufe geistige Wirklichkeit hat, das erscheint in den Formen der sinnlichen Wirklichkeit ausgedrückt als ein Vorgang, der die Naturordnung durchbricht, Das ist ein «,Wunder». Ein solches «Wunder» war die Initiation. Wer sie wirklich verstehen wollte, der mußte in sich die Kräfte erweckt haben, um auf höheren Daseinsstufen zu stehen. Er mußte mit einem dazu schon vorbereiteten Lebensläufe an diese höheren Erlebnisse herantreten. Mögen sich nun diese vorbereiteten Erlebnisse im Einzelleben so oder so abspielen: sie werden sich immer in eine ganz bestimmte typische Form bringen lassen. Der Lebenslauf eines Initiierten ist also ein typischer. Man kann ihn unabhängig von der Einzelpersönlichkeit beschreiben. Vielmehr wird man eine Einzelpersönlichkeit nur dann als eine solche bezeichnen können, die auf dem Wege zum Göttlichen ist, wenn sie die bestimmten typischen Erlebnisse durchgemacht hat. Als eine solche Persönlichkeit lebte Buddha bei seinen Anhängern; als eine solche erschien zunächst Jesus seiner Gemeinde. Man weiß heute, welcher Parallelismus zwischen der Buddha- und Jesus-Biographie besteht. Rudolf Seydel hat in seinem Buche «Buddha und Christus» diesen Parallelismus schlagend nachgewiesen. Man braucht die Einzelheiten nur zu verfolgen, um zu sehen, daß alle Einwände gegen diesen Parallelismus nichtig sind.
[ 4 ] Buddhas Geburt wird durch einen weißen Elefanten angekündigt, der auf die Königin Maja niederschwebt. Er zeigt an, daß Maja einen göttlichen Menschen hervorbringen werde, der «alle Wesen zur Liebe und Freundschaft stimmt, sie miteinander vereint zu innigem Bunde. » Im Lukas-Evangelium heißt es: ... zu einer Jungfrau, die vertrauet war einem Manne mit Namen Joseph vom Hause David, und die Jungfrau hieß Maria. Und der Engel kam zu ihr hinein und sprach: Gegrüßet seist du, Holdselige ... Siehe du wirst schwanger werden und einen Sohn gebären, des Name soll Jesus heißen. Der wird groß und ein Sohn des Höchsten genannt werden.» Die Brahmanen, die indischen Priester, die wissen, was es heißt, ein Buddha wird geboren, legen den Traum der Maja aus. Sie haben eine bestimmte typische Vorstellung von einem Buddha. Das Leben der Einzelpersönlichkeit wird dieser Vorstellung entsprechen müssen. Dementsprechend liest man bei Matthäus (2, 1 ff.): Herodes «ließ versammeln alle Hohepriester und Schriftgelehrten unter dem Volk und erforschete von ihnen, wo Christus sollte geboren werden». — Der Brahmane Asita sagt über den Buddha: «Dieses ist das Kind, das Buddha werden wird, der Erlöser, der Führer zu Unsterblichkeit, Freiheit und Licht. » Dazu vergleiche man (Lukas 2, 25): «Und siehe, ein Mensch war zu Jerusalem mit Namen Simeon, und derselbe Mensch war fromm und gottesfürchtig und wartete auf den Trost Israels, und der heilige Geist war in ihm ... Und da die Eltern das Kind Jesus in den Tempel brachten, daß sie für ihn täten, wie man pfleget nach dem Gesetz; da nahm er ihn auf seine Arme und lobte Gott und sprach: Herr, nun lässest du deinen Diener in Frieden fahren, wie du gesagt hast; denn seine Augen haben deinen Heiland gesehen, welchen du bereitet hast vor allen Völkern. Ein Licht, zu erleuchten die Heiden, und zum Preis deines Volkes Israel.» Von Buddha wird berichtet, daß er als zwölfjähriger Knabe verloren gegangen sei, und daß er wieder gefunden wurde unter einem Bäume, umgeben von Sängern und Weisen der Vorzeit, die er lehrte. Dem entspricht Lukas (2, 41 ff.): «Und seine Eltern gingen alle Jahre gen Jerusalem auf das Osterfest. Und da er zwölf Jahre alt war, gingen sie hinauf gen Jerusalem nach Gewohnheit des Festes. Und da die Tage vollendet waren und sie wieder nach Hause gingen, blieb das Kind Jesus in Jerusalem und seine Eltern wußtens nicht. Sie meinten aber, er wäre unter den Gefährten, und kamen eine Tagereise weit und suchten ihn unter Freunden und Bekannten. Und da sie ihn nicht fanden, gingen sie wiederum gen Jerusalem und suchten ihn. Und es begab sich, nach dreien Tagen fanden sie ihn im Tempel sitzen mitten unter den Lehrern, daß er ihnen zuhörete und sie fragte; und alle waren verwundert, die ihm zuhörten, über seinen Verstand und seine Antworten. » -Nachdem Buddha in einer Einsamkeit gelebt hat und zurückkehrt, wird er empfangen von dem Segensruf einer Jungfrau: «Selig die Mutter, selig der Vater, selig die Gattin, denen du angehörst.» Er aber erwidert: «Selig sind nur die, die im Nirwana sind», das heißt, die in die ewige Weltordnung eingegangen sind. Bei Lukas (11, 27): «Und es begab sich, da er solches redete, erhub ein Weib im Volke die Stimme und sprach zu ihm: Selig ist der Leib, der dich getragen hat, und die Brüste, die du gesogen hast. Er aber sprach: Ja, selig sind die, die das Wort Gottes hören und bewahren, »Im Laufe seines Lebens tritt der Versucher an Buddha heran und verspricht ihm alle Königreiche der Erde. Buddha weist alles von sich mit den Worten: «Wohl weiß ich, daß mir ein Reich beschieden ist, aber nicht ein weltliches Königreich begehre ich; ich werde Buddha werden und alle Welt jauchzen machen vor Freude.» Der Versucher muß bekennen: «Meine Herrschaft ist dahin.» Jesus antwortet auf die gleiche Versuchung: «Heb dich weg von mir, Satan! Denn es stehet geschrieben: Du sollst anbeten Gott, deinen Herrn, und ihm allein dienen.» «Da verließ ihn der Teufel» (Matthäus 4, 10 f.). — Man könnte diese Beschreibung des Parallelismus noch über viele Punkte ausdehnen: es würde sich das gleiche ergeben. — Buddha endete in erhabener Weise. Auf einer Wanderung fühlte er sich krank. Er kam zum Flusse Hiranja, in der Nähe von Kuschinagara. Hier legte er sich auf einen von seinem Lieblingsjünger Ananda ausgebreiteten Teppich. Sein Leib fing von innen an zu leuchten. Er endete verklärt, als Lichtkörper, mit dem Ausspruche: «Nichts ist langwährend.» Dieser Tod Buddhas entspricht der Verklärung Jesu: «Und es begab sich nach diesen Reden bei acht Tagen, daß er zu sich nahm Petrus, Johannes und Jakobus, und ging auf einen Berg, zu beten. Und da er betete, ward die Gestalt seines Angesichts anders, und sein Kleid ward weiß und glänzte» (Lukas 9,28). In diesem Punkte endet Buddhas Lebenslauf; der wichtigste Teil im Leben Jesu aber beginnt damit: Leiden, Sterben, Auferstehung. Und es liegt das Unterscheidende des Buddha von dem Christus in dem, was nötigte, das Leben des Christus Jesus über das Buddha-Leben hinauszuführen. Buddha und Christus werden nicht verstanden, wenn man sie bloß zusammenwirft. (Das wird sich in dem Folgenden dieses Buches zeigen.) Andere Darstellungen des Todes Buddhas kommen hier nicht in Betracht, wenn sie auch manche tiefen Seiten der Sache enthüllen.
[ 5 ] Die Übereinstimmung in den beiden Heilandsleben zwingt einen eindeutigen Schluß auf. Wie dieser Schluß ausfallen muß, darüber geben die Erzählungen selbst Auskunft. Als die Priesterweisen von der Art der Geburt hören, wissen sie, um was es sich handelt. Sie wissen, daß sie es mit einem Gottmenschen zu tun haben. Sie wissen vorher, was es mit der Persönlichkeit für eine Bewandtnis haben wird, die da auftritt. Und deshalb kann deren Lebenslauf nur dem entsprechen, was sie als Lebenslauf eines Gottmenschen kennen. In ihrer Mysterienweisheit erscheint für die Ewigkeit ein solcher Lebenslauf vorgezeichnet. Er kann nur sein, wie er sein muß. Wie ein ewiges Naturgesetz erscheint solch ein Lebenslauf. Wie ein chemischer Stoff sich nur in einer ganz bestimmten Weise verhalten kann, so kann ein Buddha, ein Christus nur in einer ganz bestimmten Weise leben. Man erzählt seinen Lebenslauf nicht, indem man seine zufällige Biographie schreibt; man erzählt ihn vielmehr, indem man die typischen Züge erzählt, die in der Mysterienweisheit darüber für alle Zeiten enthalten sind. Die Buddha-Legende ist ebensowenig eine Biographie im gewöhnlichen Sinne, wie die Evangelien eine solche des Christus Jesus sein wollen. Beide erzählen nicht ein Zufälliges; beide erzählen einen für einen Weltheiland vorgezeichneten Lebenslauf. In den Mysterientraditionen haben wir für beide die Vorlagen zu suchen, nicht in der äußerlichen, physischen Geschichte. Buddha und Jesus sind im vornehmsten Sinne Eingeweihte für die, die ihre göttliche Natur erkannt haben. (Jesus ist der durch die Innewohnung der Christenwesenheit Eingeweihte.) Damit ist ihr Leben allem Vergänglichen entrückt. Damit hat auf sie Anwendung, was man von Eingeweihten weiß. Man erzählt nicht mehr die zufälligen Ereignisse ihres Lebens. Man sagt von ihnen: «Im Urbeginn war das Wort, und das Wort war bei Gott, und ein Gott war das Wort. ... Und das Wort ward Fleisch und wohnete unter uns.» (Johannes 1, 1 und 14.)
[ 6 ] Aber das Jesus-Leben enthält mehr als das Buddha-Leben. Buddha schließt mit der Verklärung. Das Bedeutungsvollste im Jesus-Leben beginnt nach der Verklärung. Man übersetze das in die Sprache der Eingeweihten: Buddha ist bis zu dem Punkte gelangt, wo in dem Menschen das göttliche Licht anfängt zu glänzen. Er steht vor dem Tode des Irdischen. Er wird das Weltlicht. Jesus geht weiter. Er stirbt nicht physisch in dem Augenblicke, in dem ihn das Weltlicht durchklärt. Er ist in diesem Augenblicke ein Buddha. Aber er betritt auch in diesem Augenblicke eine Stufe, die in einem höheren Grade der Initiation ihren Ausdruck findet. Er leidet und stirbt. Das Irdische verschwindet. Aber das Geistige, das Weltlicht verschwindet nicht. Seine Auferstehung erfolgt. Er enthüllt sich als Christus für seine Gemeinde. Buddha zerfließt im Augenblicke seiner Verklärung in das selige Leben des Allgeistes. Christus Jesus erweckt diesen Allgeist noch einmal in menschlicher Gestalt in das gegenwärtige Dasein. Solches ward mit dem Initiierten bei den höheren Weihen in einem Sinne vollzogen, der bildhaft ist. Die im Sinne des Osiris-Mythos Initiierten waren zu solcher Auferstehung in ihrem Bewußtsein als in einem Bild-Erlebnis gelangt. Diese «große» Initiation, aber nicht als Bild-Erlebnis, sondern als Wirklichkeit, wurde also im Jesus-Leben zu der Buddha-Initiation hinzugefügt. Buddha hat mit seinem Leben das erwiesen, daß der Mensch der Logos ist, und daß er in diesen Logos, in das Licht zurückkehrt, wenn sein Irdisches stirbt. In Jesus ist der Logos selbst persönlich geworden. In ihm ist das Wort Fleisch geworden.
[ 7 ] Was sich also für die alten Mysterienkulte im Innern der Mysterientempel abgespielt hat, das ist durch das Christentum als eine weltgeschichtliche Tatsache aufgefaßt worden. Zu dem Christus Jesus, dem Initiierten, dem in einzig-großer Weise Initiierten, hat sich die Gemeinde bekannt. Ihr hat er bewiesen, daß die Welt eine göttliche ist. Die Mysterienweisheit wurde für die christliche Gemeinde unlösbar verknüpft mit der Persönlichkeit des Christus Jesus. Daß er gelebt hat, und daß seine Bekenner zu ihm gehörten: dieser Glaube trat an die Stelle dessen, was man vorher mit den Mysterien hatte erreichen wollen. — Fortan konnte ein Teil dessen, was vorher nur durch die mystischen Methoden zu erreichen war, für diejenigen, die zur Christengemeinde gehörten, durch die Überzeugung ersetzt werden, daß in dem gegenwärtig gewesenen Worte das Göttliche gegeben sei. Nicht das, wozu der Geist eines jeden Einzelnen lange vorbereitet werden muß, war nunmehr allein maßgebend; sondern was die gehört und gesehen haben, die um Jesus waren, und was durch sie überliefert ist. «Was von Anfang her geschehen ist, was wir gehört, was wir mit unseren Augen gesehen, was selbst geschauet, was unsere Hände berührt haben von dem Worte des Lebens ..., was wir sahen und hörten, melden wir euch, damit ihr Gemeinschaft mit uns habet. » So heißt es in der ersten Epistel des Johannes. Und dieses unmittelbar Wirkliche soll als ein lebendiges Band alle Generationen umfassen; es soll als Kirche mystisch von Geschlecht zu Geschlecht sich weiterschlingen. So sind die Worte Augustinus' zu verstehen: «Ich würde dem Evangelium nicht glauben, wenn mich die Autorität der katholischen Kirche nicht dazu bewegte. » Nicht in sich also haben die Evangelien ein Erkennungszeichen für ihre Wahrheit; sondern man soll sie glauben, weil sie sich auf Jesu Persönlichkeit gründen; und weil die Kirche von dieser Persönlichkeit her auf geheimnisvolle Weise die Macht ableitet, sie als Wahrheit erscheinen zu lassen. — Die Mysterien haben durch Tradition die Mittel überliefert, zur Wahrheit zu kommen; die Christengemeinschaft pflanzt diese Wahrheit selbst fort. Zu dem Vertrauen zu den im Innern des Menschen aufleuchtenden mystischen Kräften bei der Einweihung sollte hinzukommen das Vertrauen zu dem Einen, dem Ur-Initiator. Vergottung haben die Mysten gesucht; sie wollten sie erleben. Jesus war vergottet; man muß sich zu ihm halten; dann ist man innerhalb der von ihm gestifteten Gemeinschaft selbst Teilhaber an der Vergottung: das wurde christliche Überzeugung. Was in Jesus vergottet war, ist für seine ganze Gemeinschaft vergottet. «Siehe, ich bin bei euch alle Tage bis ans Ende der Welt» (Matthäus 28, 20). Der da in Bethlehem geboren ist, hat einen ewigen Charakter. Das Weihnachtsantiphon darf von der Geburt Jesu sprechen, als wenn sie an jedem Weihnachtsfeste geschehe: «Heute ist Christus geboren worden; heute ist der Erlöser erschienen, heute singen die Engel auf Erden. » — In dem Christus-Erlebnis hat man zu sehen eine ganz bestimmte Stufe der Initiation. Wenn der Myste der vorchristlichen Zeit dieses Christus-Erlebnis durchmachte, dann war er durch seine Einweihung in einem Zustande, der ihn befähigte, etwas geistig — in höheren Welten — wahrzunehmen, wofür es keine entsprechende Tatsache in der sinnlichen Welt gab. Er erlebte das, was das Mysterium von Golgatha umschließt, in der höheren Welt. Wenn nun der christliche Myste dieses Erlebnis durch Initiation durchmacht, dann schaut er zugleich das geschichtliche Ereignis auf Golgatha und weiß, daß in diesem Ereignis, das sich innerhalb der Sinnenwelt abgespielt hat, der gleiche Inhalt ist wie vorher nur in den übersinnlichen Tatsachen der Mysterien. Es hat sich also mit dem «Mysterium von Golgatha» auf die christliche Gemeinde das ausgegossen, was sich früher innerhalb des Mysterientempels über die Mysten ausgegossen hat. Und die Initiation gibt den christlichen Mysten die Möglichkeit, sich dieses Inhaltes des «Mysteriums von Golgatha» bewußt zu werden, während der Glaube den Menschen unbewußt teilhaftig werden läßt der mystischen Strömung, die von den im Neuen Testamente geschilderten Ereignissen ausgegangen ist und seitdem das Geistesleben der Menschheit durchzieht.
The Egyptian Mystery Wisdom
[ 1 ] "When you, freed from the body, ascend to the free ether, you will be an immortal god, escaped from death." This statement by Empedocles seems to briefly summarize what the ancient Egyptians thought about the eternal in man and its connection with the divine. Proof of this is the so-called "Book of the Dead", which was deciphered by the diligence of researchers in the nineteenth century. (See Lepsius, Das Totenbuch der alten Ägypter. Berlin 1842.) It is "the largest coherent literary work that has been preserved by the Egyptians". It contains all kinds of teachings and prayers that were given to every deceased person to take with them to the grave so that they would have a guide when they were rid of their mortal coil. The most intimate views of the Egyptians about the eternal and the creation of the world are contained in this work of literature. These views certainly point to concepts of the gods that are similar to those of Greek mysticism. -Of the various gods recognized in the various parts of Egypt, Osiris gradually became the most prominent and universal. The ideas about the other deities were summarized in him. Whatever thoughts the Egyptian people in their great mass may have had about Osiris, the "Book of the Dead" points to an idea of priestly wisdom which saw in Osiris an entity such as could be found in the human soul itself. -Everything that was thought about death and the dead says this clearly enough. If the body is given to the earthly, kept within the earthly, then the eternal takes the path to the primordial eternal. It appears for judgment before Osiris, who is surrounded by forty-two judges of the dead. The fate of the eternal in man depends on what these judges of the dead decide. Once the soul has confessed its sins, once it has been reconciled with eternal justice, invisible powers approach it and speak to it: "Osiris N. was purified in the pool that is south of the field of Hotep and north of the field of the locusts, where the gods of green wash themselves in the fourth hour of the night and in the eighth of the day with the image of the heart of the gods, passing from night to day. " Thus the eternal part of man is addressed within the eternal world order itself as an Osiris. After the name Osiris, the personal name of the person concerned is mentioned. And the one who unites with the eternal world order also calls himself "Osiris". "I am Osiris N. Growing under the flowers of the fig tree is the name of Osiris N." The human being thus becomes an Osiris. Being Osiris is only a perfect stage of development of being human. It seems self-evident that Osiris, who judges within the eternal world order, is also nothing but a perfect human being. There is a difference in degree and a difference in number between being human and being God. This is based on the mystery view of the secret of "number". Osiris as a world being is One; in every human soul he is therefore undividedly present. Every human being is an Osiris; and yet the One Osiris must also be presented as a special entity. Man is in the process of development; and at the end of his developmental trajectory lies his being God. Rather, one must speak of a divinity, not of a finished, completed God-being within this view.
[ 2 ] It is not to be doubted that for such a view only he can really enter into the Osiris existence who already arrives as Osiris at the gate of the eternal world order. The highest life that man can lead will therefore have to consist in his transforming himself into Osiris. In the real human being, the most perfect Osiris possible must already live within the transient life. Man becomes perfect when he lives like an Osiris. When he goes through what Osiris went through. The Osiris myth thus takes on a deeper meaning. He becomes a role model for those who want to awaken the eternal within themselves. Osiris has been dismembered and killed by Typhon. The parts of the corpse were cherished and cared for by his wife Isis. After his death, he let his ray of light fall on her. She gave birth to Horus. This Horus took over the earthly tasks of Osiris. He is the second Osiris, still imperfect but progressing towards the true Osiris. --The true Osiris is in the human soul. This is initially the transient one. But its transience is destined to give birth to the eternal. Man may therefore regard himself as the tomb of Osiris. The lower nature (Typhon) has killed the higher one in him. The love in his soul (Isis) must nurture and care for the corpse parts, then the higher nature, the eternal soul (Horus), will be born, which can progress to the Osiris existence. The macrocosmic Osiris world process must be repeated microcosmically in the human being striving for the highest existence. This is the meaning of the Egyptian "initiation". What Plato describes as a cosmic process, that the Creator has stretched the world-soul in the form of a cross upon the world-body, and that the world-process is a redemption of this crucified world-soul, had to happen to man in miniature if he was to enable himself to be Osiris. The person to be initiated had to develop in such a way that his soul experience, his becoming Osiris, merged into one with the cosmic Osiris process. If we could look into the initiation temples in which people underwent the Osiris transformation, we would see that the processes represent a microcosmic becoming-world. The human being who comes from the "father" should give birth to the son within himself. What he actually carries within himself, the enchanted God, was to be revealed in him. This God is held down in him by the power of earthly nature. This lower nature must first be laid to rest so that the higher nature can arise. What is told of the initiation processes can be understood from this. Man was subjected to mysterious procedures. His earthly nature was thereby killed, his higher nature awakened. It is not necessary to study these procedures in detail. It is only necessary to understand their meaning. And this meaning lies in the confession that anyone who has gone through initiation could make. He could say: "I envisioned the infinite perspective at the end of which lies the perfection of the divine. I have felt that the power of this divine lies within me. I have buried what holds this power down in me. I died to the earthly. I was dead. As a lower man I had died; I was in the underworld. I consorted with the dead, that is, with those who are already inserted into the ring of the eternal world order. After my stay in the underworld, I rose from the dead. I have overcome death, but now I have become someone else. I no longer have anything to do with transient nature. With me, it is imbued with the Logos. I now belong to those who live forever and who will sit at the right hand of Osiris. I myself will be a true Osiris, united with the eternal world order, and the judgment of death and life will be given into my hands." The initiate had to undergo the experience that could lead him to such a confession. It is an experience of the highest kind, which thus approached man.
[ 3 ] Now imagine that an uninitiated person hears of someone undergoing such experiences. He cannot know what has really happened in the soul of the initiate. The initiate has physically died for him, he has lain in the grave and has risen from the dead. What has spiritual reality at a higher level of existence appears expressed in the forms of sensual reality as a process that breaks through the natural order, that is a "miracle". Initiation was such a "miracle". Whoever really wanted to understand it had to have awakened the powers within himself to stand on higher levels of existence. He had to approach these higher experiences with a life course already prepared for them. Whether these prepared experiences take place one way or another in individual life, they will always take a very specific, typical form. The life course of an initiate is therefore a typical one. It can be described independently of the individual personality. In fact, an individual personality can only be described as being on the path to the divine if it has undergone certain typical experiences. Buddha lived as such a personality with his followers; Jesus first appeared as such to his community. Today we know what parallelism exists between the biographies of Buddha and Jesus. Rudolf Seydel has convincingly demonstrated this parallelism in his book "Buddha and Christ". One need only follow the details to see that all objections to this parallelism are null and void.
[ 4 ] Buddha's birth is announced by a white elephant hovering over Queen Maja. It indicates that Maja will bring forth a divine human being who "will make all beings love and befriend one another, uniting them in an intimate bond. " In the Gospel of Luke it says: ... to a virgin entrusted to a man named Joseph of the house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel came in to her and said, "Hail blessed one ... Behold, you shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be called Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High." The Brahmins, the Indian priests, who know what it means when a Buddha is born, interpret Maja's dream. They have a certain typical idea of a Buddha. The life of the individual personality will have to correspond to this idea. Accordingly, we read in Matthew (2, 1 ff.): Herod "had all the chief priests and scribes gathered together among the people and inquired of them where Christ was to be born". - The Brahmin Asita says of the Buddha: "This is the child who will become Buddha, the Savior, the guide to immortality, freedom and light. " Compare with this (Luke 2, 25): "And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem named Simeon, and the same man was devout and God-fearing, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was in him ... And when the parents brought the child Jesus into the temple to do for him according to the law, he took him in his arms and praised God, saying, "Lord, now you let your servant depart in peace, as you have said, for his eyes have seen your Savior, whom you have prepared before all nations. A light to enlighten the Gentiles, and for the praise of your people Israel." It is said of Buddha that he was lost as a twelve-year-old boy and that he was found again under a tree, surrounded by singers and wise men of old, whom he taught. Luke corresponds to this (2, 41 ff.): "And his parents went every year to Jerusalem for the paschal feast. And when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem according to the custom of the feast. And when the days were fulfilled and they returned home, the child Jesus remained in Jerusalem, and his parents did not know it. But they thought that he was among his companions, so they traveled a day's journey and looked for him among friends and acquaintances. And when they did not find him, they went again to Jerusalem looking for him. And after three days they found him sitting in the temple among the teachers, listening to them and questioning them; and all who listened to him were astonished at his understanding and his answers. " -After the Buddha has lived in solitude and returns, he is greeted by the blessing of a virgin: "Blessed is the mother, blessed is the father, blessed is the wife to whom you belong." But he replies: "Blessed are only those who are in nirvana", that is, those who have entered the eternal world order. In Luke (11:27): "And it came to pass, as he spake these things, a certain woman of the people lifted up her voice, and said unto him, Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the breasts which thou hast sucked. But he said, "Yes, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it." In the course of his life, the tempter approached Buddha and promised him all the kingdoms of the earth. Buddha rejects everything with the words: "I know that a kingdom has been granted to me, but I do not desire a worldly kingdom; I will become Buddha and make the whole world rejoice." The tempter must confess: "My dominion is gone." Jesus responds to the same temptation: "Get away from me, Satan! For it is written: You shall worship your Lord God and serve him only." "Then the devil left him" (Matthew 4:10 f.). - One could extend this description of parallelism over many more points: the result would be the same. - Buddha ended in a sublime way. On a hike he felt ill. He came to the river Hiranja, near Kushinagara. Here he lay down on a carpet spread out by his favorite disciple Ananda. His body began to glow from within. He ended transfigured, as a body of light, with the saying: "Nothing is long-lasting." This death of Buddha corresponds to the transfiguration of Jesus: "And it came to pass after these sayings about eight days, that he took unto him Peter, John, and James, and went up into a mountain to pray. And as he prayed, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became white and shining" (Luke 9:28). This is where Buddha's life ends, but the most important part of Jesus' life begins: suffering, death and resurrection. And what distinguishes the Buddha from the Christ lies in what made it necessary to take the life of Christ Jesus beyond the life of the Buddha. Buddha and Christ are not understood if they are merely thrown together. (This will become apparent in the remainder of this book.) Other accounts of the Buddha's death do not come into consideration here, even if they reveal some deep aspects of the matter.
[ 5 ] The agreement in the two saviors' lives forces a clear conclusion. The narratives themselves provide information about how this conclusion must turn out. When the wise priests hear about the nature of the birth, they know what it is. They know that they are dealing with a man of God. They know in advance what will happen to the personality who appears. And therefore their course of life can only correspond to what they know as the course of life of a god-man. In their mystery wisdom, such a course of life appears to be mapped out for eternity. It can only be as it must be. Such a course of life appears like an eternal law of nature. Just as a chemical substance can only behave in a very specific way, a Buddha, a Christ, can only live in a very specific way. One does not narrate the course of his life by writing his random biography; rather, one narrates it by recounting the typical traits that are contained in the mystery wisdom about it for all time. The Buddha legend is no more a biography in the usual sense than the Gospels want to be a biography of Christ Jesus. Both do not tell an accidental story; both tell the story of the life of a world savior. We have to look for the models for both in the mystery traditions, not in external, physical history. Buddha and Jesus are initiates in the noblest sense for those who have recognized their divine nature. (Jesus is the initiate through the indwelling of the Christian being.) Thus their life is removed from all that is transient. This means that what is known of initiates applies to them. One no longer recounts the random events of their lives. It is said of them: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ... And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us." (John 1, 1 and 14.)
[ 6 ] But the life of Jesus contains more than the life of Buddha. Buddha concludes with transfiguration. The most meaningful part of Jesus' life begins after the transfiguration. Translate that into the language of the initiates: Buddha has reached the point where the divine light begins to shine in the human being. He stands before the death of the earthly. He becomes the light of the world. Jesus goes further. He does not die physically at the moment in which the world light transfigures him. He is a Buddha at that moment. But at this moment he also enters a stage which finds its expression in a higher degree of initiation. He suffers and dies. The earthly disappears. But the spiritual, the world light does not disappear. His resurrection takes place. He reveals himself as Christ for his community. Buddha melts into the blissful life of the All-Spirit at the moment of his transfiguration. Christ Jesus awakens this All-Spirit once again in human form into the present existence. This was accomplished with the Initiate in the higher consecrations in a sense that is pictorial. Those initiated in the sense of the Osiris myth had reached such resurrection in their consciousness as in an image-experience. This "great" initiation, not as an image-experience, but as reality, was thus added to the Buddha-initiation in the life of Jesus. Buddha proved with his life that man is the Logos and that he returns to this Logos, to the light, when his earthly nature dies. In Jesus, the Logos himself has become personal. In him, the Word became flesh.
[ 7 ] What took place for the ancient mystery cults inside the mystery temples has been understood by Christianity as a world-historical fact. The church has confessed Christ Jesus, the Initiate, the one and only Initiate. He proved to her that the world is a divine one. For the Christian community, mystery wisdom became inextricably linked with the personality of Christ Jesus. The fact that he lived and that his confessors belonged to him: this belief took the place of what the mysteries had previously sought to achieve. - From then on, part of what could previously only be achieved through mystical methods could be replaced for those who belonged to the Christian community by the conviction that the divine was given in the Word that was present. Not that for which the spirit of each individual had to be prepared for a long time was now solely decisive, but what was heard and seen by those who were around Jesus and what was handed down through them. "What has happened from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we ourselves have seen, what our hands have touched of the word of life ... what we have seen and heard, we report to you so that you may have fellowship with us. " So it says in the first epistle of John. And this immediate reality is to embrace all generations as a living bond; it is to be mystically intertwined as a church from generation to generation. This is how Augustine's words are to be understood: "I would not believe the Gospel if the authority of the Catholic Church did not move me to do so. " Thus the Gospels do not in themselves have an identifying mark for their truth; but they are to be believed because they are based on Jesus' personality; and because the Church mysteriously derives from this personality the power to make them appear as truth. - The Mysteries have handed down through tradition the means of arriving at the truth; the Christian community propagates this truth itself. In addition to trust in the mystical powers that light up within the human being during initiation, there should also be trust in the One, the Primordial Initiator. The mystics sought divinization; they wanted to experience it. Jesus was divinized; one must adhere to him; then one is a participant in the divinization within the community founded by him: this became a Christian conviction. What was idolized in Jesus is idolized for his entire community. "Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world" (Matthew 28:20). He who was born in Bethlehem has an eternal character. The Christmas antiphon may speak of the birth of Jesus as if it happened on every Christmas: "Today Christ has been born; today the Savior has appeared, today the angels sing on earth. " - In the experience of Christ one can see a very specific stage of initiation. When the Myste of pre-Christian times underwent this Christ-experience, he was, through his initiation, in a state which enabled him to perceive something spiritually - in higher worlds - for which there was no corresponding fact in the sensual world. He experienced what the Mystery of Golgotha encompasses in the higher world. Now when the Christian Myste undergoes this experience through initiation, he sees at the same time the historical event on Golgotha and knows that in this event, which took place within the sense world, is the same content as before only in the supersensible facts of the Mysteries. Thus with the "Mystery of Golgotha" there has been poured out upon the Christian community that which was previously poured out upon the Mystics within the Mystery Temple. And initiation gives the Christian mystics the opportunity to become aware of this content of the "Mystery of Golgotha", while faith allows people to unconsciously participate in the mystical current that emanated from the events described in the New Testament and has permeated the spiritual life of humanity ever since.