[Krimel] While Taoism was used by Zen Buddhists as a kind of metaphysical underpinning it has no connection whatever to Hinduism.
Ron quotes wiki: Buddhism and Hinduism are two closely related religions that are in some ways parallel each other and in other ways are divergent in theory and practice. The entry of Buddhism into China was via its dialectic with later Taoism which transformed them both. Over the centuries of Chinese interactions, Buddhism gradually found itself transformed from a competitor of Taoism, to a fellow inhabitant of the Chinese cultural ecosystem.[89] Originally seen as a kind of foreign Taoism, its scriptures were translated into Chinese with Taoist vocabulary. Chan Buddhism in particular is inspired by crucial elements of philosophical Taoism, ranging from distrust of scripture, text and language to its more positive view of "this life", practice, skill and the absorption in "every-moment". In the Tang period some Taoist schools incorporated such Buddhist elements as monasteries. The group of East Asian religions or philosophies share the concept of Tao. They may be considered as forming a group within world religions[5] comparable to the "Abrahamic" or "Dharmic" groups. The "Taoic" faiths claim at least 500 million members worldwide.[6] In the study of comparative religion, the Far Eastern religions (also known as East Asian religions, Chinese religions, or Taoic religions) form a subset of the Eastern religions. This group includes Taoism, Confucianism, Shinto, Yiguandao, Chondogyo, Caodaism, Jeungism, Chen Tao, and elements of Mahayana Buddhism. The three major East Asian traditions are Taoism, Confucianism and Shinto.[19] Buddhism, though it may be classified as a Dharmic tradition, has significant "Taoic" features in East Asia, and Mahayana Buddhism should also be considered as of joint Dharmic and Taoic traditions. The tentative larger classification of Eastern religions avoids this overlap and cross-pollination of "Indian" and "Far Eastern" religious thought but loses the importance of the unifying doctrines of Tao and Dharma. Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
