[Buddha-l] Are Freemasons ordained?

[Dayamati]

On Aug 20, 2009, at 5:33 AM, S. A. Feite wrote:

> On Aug 20, 2009, at 2:09 AM, Alex Wilding wrote:
>
>> PS Are Freemasons ordained?
>
> Certain degrees could be construed as an ordination, for example the
> Knight Templar degree in the Ancient York Rite. French rites like the
> Gnostic Catholic church, i.e. the French Gnostic church, actually do
> confer ordination on their initiates to be to able to perform the
> Gnostic mass, distribute sacraments, etc.

This suggests that ordination is a ritual that confers the right to  
perform sacred rites, right? My maternal grandfather was a 32nd degree  
freemason from an exotic part of the world called Kansas (the only  
place from which one can easily get to Oz by local tornado). He did  
not speak of his ceremonial interventions as ordinations. Come to  
think of it, he never spoke of them at all.

If we are going to be thorough in our nomenclatural investigations, we  
need to know what verb is used for initiation into the Order of the Ku  
Klux Klan. If Jayarava is right, anyone who joins an Order is ipso  
facto ordained. But in fact I think the participle used for having  
been initiated into the KKK is "hoodwinked." What is the ceremony of  
the investiture of a Grand Wizard of the Order of the KKK called? I  
couldn't find it in my copy of the OED. I do recall, however, that  
early members of the Pali Text Society (whom we are dictionary-bound  
to call Pali Text Socialists, or perhaps Socialites), translated the  
term "bhikkhu" as "clansman." For some reason, that usage never caught  
on among Buddhists in the southern United States. Any theories as to  
why that might be?

Yours in samenhorigheid,
Dayamati the Bemused




Dayāmati
rhayes at unm.edu