From The East March 2024

Spring is almost here and with the nicer weather and additional sunlight, we should all be enjoying those frequent opportunities to contemplate the glorious works of creation! We spoke in lodge about some masonic history and last fall had a presentation discussing how old Freemasonry “really” is. I ran across this information on ancient Chinese literature and philosophy using masonic symbolism:

Shu ching (c. 1,000 BCE)
"In 1880 the Master of Ionic Lodge No. 1781, at Amoy, China, speaking on Freemasonry in China said: 'From time immemorial we find the square and compasses used by Chinese writers to symbolize precisely the same phrases of moral conduct as in our system of Freemasonry. The earliest passage known is in the Book of History embracing the period reaching from the twenty-fourth to the seventh century before Christ. There is an account of a military expedition where we read: 'Ye Officers of government, apply the Compasses!' In another part of the same venerable record a Magistrate is spoken of as: 'A man of the level, or the level man.' The public discourses of Confucius provide us with several Masonic allusions of a more or less definite character. For instance, when recounting his own degrees of moral progress in life, the Master tells us that only at seventy-five years of age could he venture to follow the inclinations of his heart without fear of 'transgressing the limits of the square.'

Ch'u Yuan, (322-295 BCE)
Of a truth the workmanship of the age is specious!
Neglected be the Square and Compasses — our true guides:
The measuring line is discarded and the crooked is pursued;
A showy elegance is the standard now aimed by all.
In relation of sovereign and subject,
Seek the harmony of the Square and the Measuring Line.
The Dark Ages Connection Chapter Three: C. Alabaster, AQC. vol. ii [1889. p. 119-22] quoted in Joseph Fort Newton The Builders.
We ascended the hill of King,
Where the pines and cypresses grew symmetrical.
We cut them down and conveyed them here;
We reverently hewed them square.
Long are the projecting beams of pine;
Large are the many pillars.
The temple was completed,—the tranquil abode (of the martial king of Yin).

The Great Learning (c.500 BCE)
What a man dislikes in his superiors, let him not display in the treatment of his inferiors; what he dislikes in inferiors, let him not display in the service of his superiors; what he hates in those who are before him, let him not therewith precede those who are behind him; what he hates in those who are behind him, let him not bestow on the left; what he hates to receive on the left, let him not bestow on the right:—this is what is called "The principle with which, as with a measuring square, to regulate one’s conduct."

Independently of the Chinese, all peoples in all ages have thought of this fundamental angle, on which depends the solidity and lasting quality of buildings, as expressive of the virtues of honesty, uprightness and morality. Confucius, Plato, the Man of Galilee, stating the Golden Rule in positive form, all make the square an emblem of virtue.

(Source: Short Talk Bulletin, vol. xiii, March, 1935. No. 3.)

And the resource I found went on an on with quotes regarding the square and the compass as symbols of morality.

This surely supports our teachings that masons are keepers of ancient wisdom passed on from the far past. Now what do you think? Did Chinese ancients get the symbolism and teachings from the same source our ancient brethren did? Or did masonry’s symbolism come out of travel by our not-quite-as-ancient brothers traveling and studying in China? Or is it that all enlightened people find these tools universally beneficial to illustrating the moral lessons of life?

Be well Brethren.

Brian Viehland, PM
Worshipful Master
Pentalpha Lodge No. 194