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94: The Melchizedek Teachings in the Orient
The strength of the Brahman priests and their rituals prevented the people of ancient India from accepting the Melchizedek idea of salvation through faith alone. The Brahman priests had invested so much in being at the top of the caste system that they could not allow people to believe that faith was the only requirement for a relationship with God. The Rig‑Veda, one of the oldest sacred books on earth, was written by the Brahmans in an attempt to combat the teachings of the Salem missionaries.
The rejection of the Melchizedek gospel was a major turning point in the civilization of India. As people rejected mortal ambitions and embraced reincarnation, they fell into a sense of spiritual hopelessness. Nevertheless, Brahmanism was a noble human effort into philosophy and metaphysics. It came close to the concept of an all‑pervading Absolute, the IT IS rather than the I AM. Brahman teachings about universal overcontrol were very close to the truth about the Supreme Being.
The idea of karma bears some similarity to truth about inevitable repercussions of one's actions. The teaching of the soul being the indwelling of the Brahman approaches the concept of the Thought Adjuster, even including the point that the soul returns to Brahman as the Adjuster returns to the Father. The Hindu religion today is a composite of the Brahman teachings, ancient Vedic rituals, Buddhism, and Jainism. Hinduism is the most tolerant religion on earth and has survived as part of the social fabric of India.In China, the Salem teachings led to an early form of Taoism, a very different religion than that which exists today. Early Taoism encompassed the monotheistic teachings of Singlangton, a version of the Melchizedek teachings, and the Brahman concepts. In Japan, this version of Taoism was known as Shinto. In both Japan and China, Taoism eventually became mixed with ancestor worship.
In the sixth century before Jesus' bestowal, an unusual coordination of spiritual agencies influenced a great number of religious teachers throughout the world. Lao‑tse taught about One First Cause, the Tao, man's destiny of being united with Tao, the Trinity as the source of all reality, and returning good for evil. Lao-tse's teachings about nonresistance later became perverted into the erroneous belief of seeing, doing, and thinking nothing. Today's Taoism has little in common with the teachings of Lao‑tse.
Confucius' chief work was a compilation of the wise sayings of ancient philosophers. His writings were not widely known or accepted during his lifetime, but became a great influence ever afterward in both China and Japan. Confucius put morality in the place of magic, and taught about the Way of Heaven, the patterns of the cosmos.In India, Guatama Siddhartha formed the beginnings of Buddhism. He fought against the growing caste system by teaching a gospel of universal salvation, and freedom from sacrifice, rituals, torture, and priests. He taught that divine nature resided in all men, and that we could attain the realization of this divinity. His ideas were surprisingly similar to the Salem gospel.
Modern Buddhism is no more the teachings of Siddhartha than modern Christianity is the teachings of Jesus. The farther Buddhism spread from India, the more it was mixed with other religions; it was affected by Taoism, Shinto, and Christianity. Buddhism today is a growing religion because it conserves high moral values, promotes calmness and self‑control, and augments serenity and happiness.