{"corpus":"steiner","locus":"GA 155/1912-05-23/p019","lang":"en","edition":"English","edition_basis":null,"is_original":false,"is_default_edition":true,"text":"The important thing is that essentials be kept in view. We must not allow ourselves to stray in the consideration of the nature of each separate creed, and if we keep this in mind, in approaching the various points of view, we find one fundamental difference. We find views on life which are of a more oriental nature, and others which have permeated our Western civilisation. Once we make this clear to ourselves, we have something which throws light on the meaning of existence. We then find that the ancients were already in possession of something which we have to regain with difficulty, viz., the doctrine of reincarnation. The oriental stream possessed this as something springing from the profoundest depths of existence. You can still realise how the oriental mind shapes the whole of life from this doctrine, when you look at the relation of the oriental to his Bodhisattvas and his Buddhas. If you keep in view how little it concerns the oriental to select a single figure with this or that definite name, as the ruling power in human evolution, you see at once how he attaches much more importance to tracing the individuality which goes on from life to life. Orientals say that there are such and such a number of Bodhisattvas, high beings who have sprung from men, but who have gradually evolved to a height which we can describe by saying: A Being has passed through many incarnations, and then has become a Bodhisattva, as did Gautama, the son of King Sudhodana. He was Bodhisattva and became Buddha. The name Buddha, however, is given to many, because they passed through many incarnations, became Bodhisattva, and then ascended to the next higher stage, that of Buddhahood. The name Buddha is a generic name. It denotes a degree of human attainment, and has no sense apart from the spiritual being who goes through many incarnations. Brahmanism fully agrees with Buddhism in regarding the individual who goes through the different personalities, rather than the single person. It comes to the same whether the Buddhist says:—“A Bodhisattva is destined to ascend to the highest degree of human attainment, and for this he has to go through many incarnations; but for me the highest is the Buddha.” Or whether the adherent of Brahmanism says: “The Bodhisattvas are indeed highly developed beings, who ascend to Buddhahood, but they are inferior to the Avatars, who are higher spiritual individualities.” You see, consideration of the persisting spiritual entity is what characterises both these oriental points of view.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"title":"Lecture I","site_heading":"Life's Meaning Through Spiritual Science and Reincarnation","site_heading_note":"A heading the site wrote for this unit from a summary of it; not in the edition, and not the words of Rudolf Steiner or of the translator. Cite the unit by its title and locus, never by this heading, and do not quote it.","date":"1912-05-23","location":null,"word_count":424,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/155/1912-05-23/p019","alignment_confidence":"high","alignment_reason":"beads:length","two_voice_volume":false,"translation_credit":{"scope":"unit","status":"not_established","translator":null,"identified_edition":"RSPC1946","book_title":"On the Meaning of Life","publisher":"Rudolf Steiner Publishing Co.","publisher_inferred":true,"match_score":1.0,"source_url":"https://www.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA155/English/RSPC1946/19120523p01.html","evidence":null,"reason":"source_says_translator_unknown","note":"The source page itself says the translator is unknown. No translator is established for this lecture: nothing at the level of the lecture names one. Do not attribute this English to a translator, and do not borrow a credit from another lecture of the volume. Cite the German for anything load-bearing."},"edition_coverage":{"de":["original"],"en":["English"]},"available_versions":[{"lang":"de","edition":"original","edition_basis":null,"is_original":true,"is_default_edition":true,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/155/1912-05-23/p019"},{"lang":"en","edition":"English","edition_basis":null,"is_original":false,"is_default_edition":true,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/en/ga/155/1912-05-23/p019","paragraph_aligned":true}],"record":{"record_type":"unknown","scope":"volume","note":"How this text was taken down (shorthand transcript, listeners' notes or manuscript) is not on record here. Unknown is not an assurance of a stenogram: check the edition's own notes before resting an argument on one word.","evidence":null,"evidence_translation":null,"evidence_source":null},"german_anchor":{"de_prefix":"1912-05-23","de_passages":[{"locus":"GA 155/1912-05-23/p023","url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/155/1912-05-23/p023"},{"locus":"GA 155/1912-05-23/p024","url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/155/1912-05-23/p024"}],"bead_confidence":"high","pairing_state":"verified","verified":true,"evidence":["length","anchors","reader"],"reader_german":["GA 155/1912-05-23/p023","GA 155/1912-05-23/p024"],"length_check":{"de_words":446,"en_words":424,"ratio":0.95,"partial":false},"correspondence":"established","note":"English passage numbering is edition-relative, so the same number need not name the same paragraph in the German. The German original passage(s) above are the edition-invariant anchor — fetch them (lang='de') to verify wording before quoting across editions."},"paired_german":{"status":"paired","german":[{"locus":"GA 155/1912-05-23/p023","passage_number":23,"text":"Das aber, worauf es ankommt, ist, daß wir das Wesenhafte ins Auge fassen. Wir dürfen uns nicht beirren lassen in der Betrachtung über das Wesen jedes einzelnen Religionsbekenntnisses, und wenn wir so an die Weltanschauungen herangehen, dann finden wir einen Grundunterschied. Wir finden Weltanschauungen, die mehr orientalisierender Art sind, und solche, die mehr die Kultur des Abendlandes durchdrungen haben. Wenn wir uns nun dies besonders klarmachen, dann haben wir etwas, was uns große Aufschlüsse gibt über den Sinn des Daseins. Da finden wir, daß die Alten schon etwas hatten, was wir uns jetzt erst wieder mit Mühe erobern müssen, nämlich die Lehre von der Wiederkunft des Lebens. Die orientalisierenden Richtungen hatten das wie etwas, was aus den tiefsten Gründen des Lebens heraufstieg. Sie sehen noch, wie diese orientalisierenden Richtungen ihr ganzes Leben von diesem Gesichtspunkte aus gestalten, wenn Sie das Verhältnis des orientalischen Menschen zu seinen Bodhisattvas und seinen Buddhas ins Auge fassen. Wenn Sie ins Auge fassen, wie es dem Orientalen weniger darauf ankommt, eine einzige Gestalt herauszunehmen mit diesem oder jenem bestimmten Namen als die regierende Macht der Menschheitsentwickelung, so sehen Sie zugleich, wieviel mehr es ihm darauf ankommt, die durch die verschiedenen Leben hindurchgehende Individualität zu verfolgen.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":200,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/155/1912-05-23/p023"},{"locus":"GA 155/1912-05-23/p024","passage_number":24,"text":"Die Orientalisten sagen, es gibt soundsoviele Bodhisattvas, hohe Wesenheiten, die ausgegangen sind von dem Menschen, aber sich nach und nach hinaufentwickelt haben zu jener Höhe, welche wir damit bezeichnen, daß wir sagen: Fine Wesenheit ist durch viele Inkarnationen gegangen und ist dann zu einem Bodhisattva geworden, wie Gautama, der Sohn des Königs Sudhodana, es getan hat. Er war Bodhisattva und wurde Buddha. Der Name Buddha aber wird vielen gegeben dafür, daß sie durch viele Verkörperungen hindurchgegangen, Bodhisattva geworden und dann zur nächsthöheren Würde, zur Buddhawürde, aufgestiegen sind. Der Name Buddha ist ein Generalname. Er gibt eine menschliche Würde an und ist nicht zu denken, ohne daß man auf das Geistig-Seelische blickt, das durch viele Inkarnationen hindurch geht. In dieser Beziehung stimmt der Brahmanismus mit dem Buddhismus völlig überein, daß er den Blick hauptsächlich richtet auf das Individuelle, das durchgeht durch die verschiedenen Persönlichkeiten, und weniger auf die einzelnen Persönlichkeiten, denn es kommt auf dasselbe heraus, wenn der Buddhist sagt: Ein Bodhisattva ist dazu bestimmt, zu der höchsten menschlichen Würde aufzusteigen, zu der man aufsteigen kann, und dazu muß er durch viele Inkarnationen hindurchgehen, das Höchste aber sehe ich in dem Buddha - oder ob der Anhänger des Brahmanentums sagt: Die Bodhisattvas sind in der Tat hochentwickelte Wesen und steigen dann zu den Buddhas auf, aber sie sind von den Avataren, den höheren geistigen Individualitäten, ausgegangen. Sie sehen, die Betrachtung des Geistigen, das da durchgeht durch viele Inkarnationen, ist etwas, das diesen beiden orientalischen Anschauungen eigen ist.","text_trust":"verbatim","quote_safe":true,"word_count":246,"url":"https://anthroposophy.ai/v1/steiner/de/ga/155/1912-05-23/p024"}],"english":["GA 155/1912-05-23/p019"],"method":"length","confidence":"high","correspondence":"established","length_check":{"de_words":446,"en_words":424,"ratio":0.95,"partial":false},"pairing_state":"verified","verified":true,"evidence":["length","anchors","reader"],"reader_german":["GA 155/1912-05-23/p023","GA 155/1912-05-23/p024"]},"witness_completeness":{"ratio":0.97,"band":"comparable","note":null,"word_count":8157,"original_word_count":8442,"may_be_abridged":false},"witness_quality":{"translator":{"scope":"unit","status":"not_established","translator":null,"identified_edition":"RSPC1946","book_title":"On the Meaning of Life","publisher":"Rudolf Steiner Publishing Co.","publisher_inferred":true,"match_score":1.0,"source_url":"https://www.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA155/English/RSPC1946/19120523p01.html","evidence":null,"reason":"source_says_translator_unknown","note":"The source page itself says the translator is unknown. No translator is established for this lecture: nothing at the level of the lecture names one. Do not attribute this English to a translator, and do not borrow a credit from another lecture of the volume. Cite the German for anything load-bearing.","warning":"No translator is recorded for this edition. An unattributed translation cannot be weighed as a witness: you cannot tell which hand made the choices in it. Cite the German for anything load-bearing."},"entity_parity":{"status":"ok","checked_against":["GA 155/1912-05-23/p023","GA 155/1912-05-23/p024"],"missing_from_translation":[],"present_only_in_translation":[],"bead_confidence":"high","note":"Every load-bearing name in the German counterpart appears in this English passage. That is a check on NAMES only: a translation can keep every name and still reverse who acts on whom, change a number, or soften a claim. Read the German for anything you intend to rest an argument on."},"note":"quote_safe certifies the bytes of this text. This block is about the translation as a WITNESS: who made it, and whether it carries the same names as the original. See witness_completeness for how much of the original this witness holds."}}