 From Buddha to Christ
5 selected lectures by Rudolf Steiner
Out of print. Awaiting reprint date.
In From Buddha to Christ, Rudolf Steiner
contrasts and compares two closely related yet strikingly different
spiritual impulses given to humanity and stresses the importance for
our spiritual orientation of understanding them both. He illustrates
the confusion that has infiltrated into western spiritual
consciousness as a result of not truly understanding the roots of
either Buddhism or Christianity in their currently popularised
forms.
Both spiritual currents are examined in their
fundamentals and in their historical-cultural contexts. Steiner
describes how both approaches start from the recognition that life
between birth and death is underpinned by human suffering through
all in the human constitution that is bound to the physical-mortal
cycle of life. Buddha's Four Noble Truths are insights into this
unavoidable fact, and all that presents itself in the 3-year earthly
sojourn of Christ is related to this plight. The most striking
contrast is found in the two opposite approaches to this condition;
how the Buddhist seeks to overcome birth into the world through
cultivating non-attachment and perfecting oneself through the
Eightfold Path, while the deed of Christ on Golgotha, on the other
hand, was enacted to overcome the forces of death which have
encroached on the world and on all stages of human life.
The role of the Bodhisattvas and their
contributions to world evolution is also examined with special
emphasis on the current Bodhisattva who will achieve Buddhahood in
about 2,500 years - the Maitreya Buddha; as well as the current
mission of Gautama Buddha on Mars and his special relationship with
Christian Rosenkreutz.
Anthroposophic Press
Rudolf Steiner Press
103pp; paperback
ISBN: 0 88010 178 4 (AP)
ISBN: 0 85440 115 6 (RSP)
Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925) called his spiritual philosophy
'anthroposophy', which he defined as 'the consciousness of one's
humanity', and the disciplined methods of studying this he termed
‘spiritual science’. As a highly developed clairvoyant and
spiritual initiate, he spoke from his direct cognition of the
spiritual world. However, he did not see his work as religious or
sectarian, but rather sought to found a universal 'science of the
spirit'.
His
many published works (written books and lectures) - which include
his research into the spiritual nature of the human being, the
evolution of the world and humanity, and methods of personal
development - invite readers to develop their own spiritual
faculties. He also provided indications for the renewal of
many human activities, including education - both general and
special - agriculture, medicine, economics, architecture, science,
philosophy, religion and the arts. He wrote some 30 books and
delivered over 6000 lectures across Europe, and in 1924 founded the
General Anthroposophical Society which today has branches throughout
the world.
Prompt
delivery within the United Kingdom and overseas.
Copyright © 2003 Skylark Books
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