Buddhism Versus Taoism

Buddhism Versus Taoism The Asian schools of thought, Buddhism and Taoism are very similar philosophies, but differ in their thoughts of how to live their life. These two philosophies differ in how they believe to live their lives, and in their goals on what to achieve. I found these two schools of thoughts interesting because of how similar they are except for subtle differences. Taoism is a philosophy that is confusing to read about its not a philosophy with teachings like Buddhism. Taoism is about falling in line with the natural order and keeping the cycle balanced. Buddhism is about learning the dharma 's or teachings, and reaching enlightenment to break the spiral and stop suffering. These philosophies over time became religions, and later in China they eventually get brought together as one religion. Buddhism believed in nirvana reaching enlightenment which meant to relieve oneself from being reborn. Buddhist believed life was suffering so they kept themselves unattached to earthly things including family. Buddhism is living in the present and centered around practice, and the four noble truths. In The Buddha and his Teachings: the four noble truths are: " life is suffering, origin, assertion, way to lead assertion." (Bercholz and Kohn 3-222)They learn from a teacher. The teachings are called dharma 's. This philosophy is individualized of letting go of earthly possessions. In The Buddha and his Teachings, "it took the Bodhisattva sixteen years to learn the dharma 's and reach enlightenment." (Bercholz and Kohn 3-222) Buddhism gives you a path (the Way), but it 's not a path to live everyday life. In The Buddha and his Teachings; "There are eight noble paths, which are: right understanding, right thinking, right speech, right bodily action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration." (Bercholz and Kohn 3-222) Buddhists are constantly striving to reach nirvana, and believe life is a spiral of suffering, and only way to

Cited: Cleary, Thomas. The Essential Tao. 1st ed. New York, NY: HarperCollinsPublishers, 1993. 9-120. Print. Bercholz, Samuel, and Sherab Kohn. The Buddha and his Teachings. 1st ed. Boston, Massachusetts: Shambhala Publications, Inc., 2003. 3-222. Print.