From Buddha to Christ (eBook)

From Buddha to Christ

This book has a twofold purpose. First, it is intended to provide a new insight for those gentle people who are still enamored of the retiring compassion of Buddhism. Anyone, however, who feels the Eastern way to be more comforting than that of the West will benefit form a careful reading of what Rudolf Steiner has to say here. Westerners, for their part, will discover a bridge to Eastern thought that they probably did not know exists. Second, it should provide an introduction to Rudolf Steiner’s gradual unfoldment, over a period of ten years, of the exalted relationship between Buddha and Christ, of Buddhism and Christianity. Beginning with Christianity as Mystical Fact, which was published in 1902, until the final lectures on Buddha in 1912, he forms the pieces and puts them together with the solidity of building blocks. The final structure stands as one of the most impressive esoteric denouements of the twentieth century. – From the forward

CONTENTS
Foreword
I. From Buddha to Christ: Budapest, May 31, 1909 (CW 109)
II. Buddha and Christ: Berlin, December 2, 1909 (CW 58)
III. Buddhism and Christianity: Berlin, March 2, 1911 (CW 60)
IV. Bodhisattvas, Buddhas and Christ: Milan, September 21, 1911 (CW 130)
V. The Mission of Gautama Buddha on Mars: Neuchâtel, December 18, 1912 (CW 130)

About the Author

Rudolf Steiner (1861–1925) was born in the small village of Kraljevec, Austro-Hungarian Empire (now in Croatia), where he grew up. As a young man, he lived in Weimar and Berlin, where he became a well-published scientific, literary, and philosophical scholar, known especially for his work with Goethe’s scientific writings. At the beginning of the twentieth century, he began to develop his early philosophical principles into an approach to systematic research into psychological and spiritual phenomena. Formally beginning his spiritual teaching career under the auspices of the Theosophical Society, Steiner came to use the term Anthroposophy (and spiritual science) for his philosophy, spiritual research, and findings. The influence of Steiner’s multifaceted genius has led to innovative and holistic approaches in medicine, various therapies, philosophy, religious renewal, Waldorf education, education for special needs, threefold economics, biodynamic agriculture, Goethean science, architecture, and the arts of drama, speech, and eurythmy. In 1924, Rudolf Steiner founded the General Anthroposophical Society, which today has branches throughout the world. He died in Dornach, Switzerland.