Mackey A G - Encylopedia of Freemasonry - The Grand Masonic ...

122 BRUN
BUHLE
was advancing with his army to meet Edward,
nothing further was done. The Templars,
being debarred from taking refuge either in
England or Ireland, had no alternative but
to join Bruce, and give their active support to
his cause . Thus, after the battle of Bannockburn,
in 1314, Bruce granted a charter of
lands to Walter de Clifton, as Grand Master of
the Templars for the assistance which they
rendered on that occasion . Hence the Royal
Order of H-R-D-M was frequently practised
under the name of Templary ."
Lawrie, or the author of Lawrie's History of
Freemasonry, who is excellent authority for
Scottish Masonry, does not appear, however,
to give any credit to the narrative . Whatever
Bruce may have done for the higher degrees,
there is no doubt that Ancient Craft Masonry
was introduced into Scotland at an earlier
period. But it cannot be denied that Bruce
was one of the patrons and encouragers of
Scottish Freemasonry-
Bran, Abraham Van . A wealthy Mason
of Hamburg, who died at an advanced age in
1748. For many years he had been the soul
of the "Societe des anciens Rose-Croix" in
Germany, which soon after his death was dissolved.
(Thory, Act. Lat., ii ., 295 .)
Brunswick, Congress of . It was convoked,
in 1775, by Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick.
Its object was to effect a fusion of the
various Rites ; but it terminated its labors,
after a session of six weeks, without success .
Buchanan MS . This parchment roll
one of the "Old Charges "-is so named because
it was presented to the Grand Lodge of
England in 1880 by Mr . George Buchanan, of
Whitby, by whom it was found amongst the
papers of a partner of his father's . It is considered
to be of the latter part of the seventeenth
century-say from 1660 to 1680 .
It was first published at length in Gould's
History of Freemasonry (vol . i ., p . 93), being
adopted as an example of the ordinary class
of text and since has been reproduced in facsimile
Ly the Quatuor Coronati Lodge of London
in vol. iv., of their Masonic re rents .
FE. L. H.]
Buddhism. The religion of the disciples
of Buddha. It prevails over a great extent
of Asia, and is estimated to be equally popular
with any other form of faith among mankind.
Its founder, Buddha-a word which
seems to be an appellative as it signifies the
enlightened-lived about five hundred years
before the Christian era, and established his
religion as a reformation of Brahmanism .
The moral code of Buddhism is very perfect,
surpassing that of any other heathen
religion. But its theology is not so free from
objection . Max Miiller admits that there is
not a single passage in the Buddhist canon
of scripture which presupposes the belief in a
personal God or a Creator, and hence he concludes
that the teaching of Buddha was pure
atheism. Yet Upham (Hist . and Dect. of
Bud ., p . 2) thinks that, even if this be capable
of proof, it also recognizes "the operation of
Faith (called Damata), whereby much of the
necessary process of conservation or government
is mused into the system ."
The doctrine of Nirvana, according to Burnouf,
taught that absolute nothing or annihilation
was the highest aim of virtue, and hence
the belief in immortality was repudiated .
Such, too, has been the general opinion of
Oriental scholars ; but Muller (Science of Religion
: p . 141) adduces evidence, from the
teachings of Buddha, to show that Nirvana
may mean the extinction of many thins-of
selfishness, desire, and sin-without going so
far as the extinction of subjective consciousness
.
The sacred scripture of Buddhism is the
Tripitaka, literally, the Three Baskets . The
first, or the Vinaya, comprises all that relates
to morality ; the second, or the Sitras, contains
the discourses of Buddha ; and the third,
or Abhidharma, includes all works on metaphysics
and dogmatic philosophy . The first
and second Baskets also receive the general
name of Dharma, or the Law. The principal
seat of Buddhism is the island of Ceylon, but
it has extended into China, Japan, and many
other countries of Asia . (See Aranyaka, Atthakatha,
Mahabharata, Pitaka, Puranas,
Ramayana, Shaster, Sruti, Upanishad, Upadevas,
Vedas, and Vedanga .)
Buenos Ayres . A Lodge was chartered in
this city, and named the Southern Star, by
the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania in 1825 .
Others followed, but in 1846 in consequence of
the unsettled state of affairs their labors were
suspended . A revival occurred in 1852, when
a Lodge named " L'Ami des Naufrag6s " was
established in Buenos Ayres by the Grand
Orient of France ; and in 1853 the Grand
Lodge of England erected a Lodge named
" Excelsior" (followed in 1859 by the "Teutonia,"
which worked in German and was
erased in 1872), and in 1864 by the "Star of the
South ." In 1856 there was an irregular body
working in the Ancient and Accepted Rite
which claimed the prerogatives of a Gran d .
Lodge, but it was never recognized, and soon
ceased to exist. On September 13, 1858, a
Supreme Council and Grand Orient was established
by the Supreme Council of Uruguay .
In 1861 a treaty was concluded between the
Grand Lodge of England and the Grand Orient
of the Argentine Republic, which empowered
the former to establish Lodges in La
Plata and to constitute a District Grand
Lodge therein, which has 13 Lodges under
its rule, while 108 acknowledge the authority
of the "Supreme Council and Grand Orient
of the Argentine Republic in Buenos Ayres,"
which was formed in 1895 by combination
of the Grand Orient and Supreme Council .
[E . L. H.]
Buh . A monstrous corruption, in the
American Royal Arch, of the word Bel . Up to
a recent period, it was combined with another
corrup tion, Lun, in the mutilated form of
Buh-Lun, under which disguise the words Bel
and On were presented to the neophyte .
Buhle, Johann Gottlieb . Professor of
Philosophy in the University of G6ttingeu,