ChrisC
Well-Known Member
Whats the difference? Looking at this site http://www.taoism.net/ and this site http://www.aimwell.org you can see similarities. Are they different paths to the same goal?
Buddhism and Taoism
- Thread starter ChrisC
- Start date
It feels like i know the differences, but articulating them is another thing!
I do know that taoism will have less restrictions on how to live life than buddhism.
In fact i don't think it has any. But it does seem to advocate a middle way instead of any kind of extreme. The more you know, the less you know...
I do know that taoism will have less restrictions on how to live life than buddhism.
In fact i don't think it has any. But it does seem to advocate a middle way instead of any kind of extreme. The more you know, the less you know...
This is a nice explanation of the core differences: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_vinegar_tasters
There are myriad differences though - there was a style of disputation that resembled the Socratic dialogue (but was sometimes three- rather than two-way if memory serves) that was popular in China for a long while, and the debates ranged all around what we would now think of as theology, epistemology, deontology - you name it.
There are myriad differences though - there was a style of disputation that resembled the Socratic dialogue (but was sometimes three- rather than two-way if memory serves) that was popular in China for a long while, and the debates ranged all around what we would now think of as theology, epistemology, deontology - you name it.
White Lotus
Provisional Buddhist
That second site you link to is more about meditation, which touches on Buddhism peripherally. You could try this one, 5-minute introduction to Buddhism.ChrisC said:
Gmart
Well-Known Member
Taoism is about many things, but in the first line of the Tao Te Ching it states that:
The tao that can be told
is not the eternal Tao
The name that can be named
is not the eternal Name.
Thus meaning that words are not adequate to talk about a lot of stuff and so we should shut up a bit.
Buddhism has an aspect of achieving nirvana after transcending desire. And it is this unearthliness which contrasts it with the earthiness of Taoism.
Zen suggests that it is "inbetween", in the moment, though this in not absent from Taoism (or Islam, which has submission to 'God').
There is a Taoist story about Jesus, Buddha and LaoTsu taking three donkeys up a hill via three different paths, thus representing that they are leading to the same place by different paths.
The tao that can be told
is not the eternal Tao
The name that can be named
is not the eternal Name.
Thus meaning that words are not adequate to talk about a lot of stuff and so we should shut up a bit.
Buddhism has an aspect of achieving nirvana after transcending desire. And it is this unearthliness which contrasts it with the earthiness of Taoism.
Zen suggests that it is "inbetween", in the moment, though this in not absent from Taoism (or Islam, which has submission to 'God').
There is a Taoist story about Jesus, Buddha and LaoTsu taking three donkeys up a hill via three different paths, thus representing that they are leading to the same place by different paths.
