This is a hard saying for the orthodox and narrow Christian churchman to accept; it means primarily that [96] Christ will work in the closest cooperation with the Buddha until this fusion and reconstruction have truly taken place. The Buddha is closely allied with the Christ in this process of His reappearing, though He will not be involved or active during the entire period of Christ's coming, active work on earth. As you know, He, too, has not relinquished His contact and relationship with humanity, though He relinquished His physical body centuries ago. He did this in order to accomplish certain assigned work which had in it (besides many things unknown to humanity) activities connected with the work of the Christ, with the immediacy of His coming and with certain plans for the coming civilization of the Aquarian Age. As many millions in the world know, each year (at the time of the Wesak Festival at the May Full Moon) He communicates with humanity, via the Christ and the assembled, attentive Hierarchy. He acts in this way as an agent bringing about relationship between the "center where the will of God is known" and the "center which we call the race of men." These two descriptive phrases are used advisedly because all the work now being done by these two great Sons of God is concerned with the distribution of energy - the energy of light and the energy of love. It is through the Triangle, earlier mentioned, that the energy of will eventually will be distributed and one of these divine distributors is the Buddha.

Actually the work of the Buddha for humanity is nearly over, and His long alliance with the race of men has nearly come to an end. The moment that the appearance of the Christ is an accomplished fact, and the rule of right human relations is beginning definitely to condition human living, then the Buddha will pass to the work which awaits Him. One of the senior disciples of the Christ, ranking next to the Christ in hierarchical status, [97] will take His place and carry on the work, connected with mankind.

In order to make this possible and thus release His spiritual Brother from the arduous task of relating humanity to the "center where the will of God is known" (Shamballa), Christ is subjecting Himself at this time to an unique process of training. Of this training, His thirty years of work in the carpenter's shop in Palestine has ever been the hitherto unrecognized symbol. The word "carpenter" is significant of building, of construction, and means (in its derivation) someone who is an artificer in timber or a builder of wooden houses. This is the true meaning of the Biblical story of Christ's being crucified upon the cross of wood or the tree. It is related in reality to the decision made by Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane to take over the building or reconstruction [98] work in Aquarius, and thus complete the task which He attempted to do in the Piscean Age. He and His disciples and the New Group of World Servers are the pledged builders of the new civilization, the new "house of humanity." The preparatory work He is now doing will fit Him to demonstrate in wisdom (and not only through love) the nature of the hierarchical Plans, wise constructive measures, wise choice of builders and correct methods of construction.

The lines which His training follows are known only to Christ, to the Buddha and to the Avatar of Synthesis. All esoteric or spiritual training has to be self-applied; this is as true of the Christ as it is of the humblest aspirant. Into the processes of Christ's thinking, reactions and planning, it is not possible for us to enter.