Fellowship
Friendships develop among men of different ages, professions, cultures, and backgrounds.
Discover the Craft ・ 認識美生會
What is Freemasonry?
Freemasonry is a historic worldwide fraternity that brings men together in friendship, moral reflection, and service to their communities.
Building character
Working tools become moral symbols.
Freemasonry teaches through allegory and symbols drawn from the tools and traditions of stonemasons. The square, compasses, level, and other working tools provide a language for considering integrity, conduct, equality, and responsibility.
The symbolic lodge has three degrees: Entered Apprentice, Fellowcraft, and Master Mason. Each is a stage of instruction and reflection rather than a mark of social rank.
Symbols and practice
Character is built deliberately.
Masonic symbols are prompts for lifelong practice: acting honestly, treating others fairly, and making one's work useful.
Illustrative image.The experience
Three parts of lodge life.
Reflection
Allegory and ritual create space to consider character, responsibility, and personal improvement.
Service
The values explored in lodge are meant to be expressed through useful action in family and community life.
History of Freemasonry
From builders to a worldwide fraternity.
01
The builders’ legacy
The precise origins of Freemasonry remain uncertain, but its legends, imagery, working tools, and lodge customs were shaped by the world of medieval stonemasons.
02
A recorded transition
Elias Ashmole recorded his initiation at Warrington—the earliest surviving record of an English speculative Mason. By this period, lodges included men who did not work in stone.
03
The first Grand Lodge
Four London lodges met on 24 June and formed the world’s first Grand Lodge. This became a turning point in the development of organized modern Freemasonry.
04
A worldwide fraternity
Independent Grand Lodges now carry distinct local traditions across many cultures and languages, connected through fellowship, moral reflection, and service.
Early origins remain a subject of historical study. This overview follows the public histories of the Masons of California and the United Grand Lodge of England.
Freemasonry and faith
Freemasonry is not a religion.
It does not replace a man's faith or tell him how to worship. Under regular Masonic practice, members affirm belief in a Supreme Being while men of different faiths meet together in harmony.
Terminology ・ 中文名稱
Freemasonry in Taiwan.
Freemasonry 在台灣稱作什麼？
Freemasonry 在一般中文網路資料中經常被譯為「共濟會」，但中國美生總會及所屬分會在台灣正式使用「美生會」一名。本網站沿用美生會的正式名稱。