On the differences and connections between Buddhism and Taoism.

Many people can't tell the difference and connection between Buddhism and Taoism. In particular, the profound connotation of the outlook on life of the two major religions is difficult to understand without in-depth understanding. One thing is certain, human concern for life is the primary reason for the emergence of religion. So do Buddhism and Taoism. Since people have self-awareness, it is their nature to love life and hate death. Because of the fear of death, various religions and worship have emerged. The anxiety about death in human heart is the mother of religion. Buddhism originated in about the sixth century BC. The predecessor of Buddhism is ancient yoga in India. It can be seen from the Upanishads, a classic of ancient yoga, that Buddhism's concept of reincarnation, the theory of six-in-one, four knowing and eight decisions, etc. Are directly inherited from the Upanishads. The theory of origin is the core and foundation of Buddhist philosophy, and the four truths, twelve causes and epistemology expounded from it reveal the essence and course of life. The same is true of the emergence of Taoism. Taoism came into being earlier than Buddhism, and Taoism formed an academic represented by Laozi and Zhuangzi as early as the pre-Qin period. Xiandao in the pre-Qin period and Huangdao Road in the Eastern Han Dynasty formed the practice of Taoism. The Taoist body theory expounded in the Taoist classic Tao Te Ching is not only the ontology of the universe, but also the ontology of life. Laozi believes that Tao is the root and noumenon of the growth of all things in the universe, and life can start from Tao and return to Tao. The so-called enlightenment is to return to the root, from individual life to the origin of life. Returning to the virtual Tao and getting out of it is the eternal destination of life. In order to live forever, Taoism and various previous practice methods all aim at promoting immortality. To this end, Taoist legends include fairyland with ten continents and three islands, and ancient immortals with thirty-six caves and seventy-two blessed lands, all of which are sacred places for cultivating immortals. From ancient times to the present, there are many real people who have learned the Tao through practical training, such as, red pine nuts, Wang, Sanmao Zhenjun, Eight Immortals, Beiqi Zhenzhen, Nanwuzu and so on. The record that Xu Fu, an alchemist, crossed the sea to seek a panacea for longevity during Qin Shihuang was also produced under this cultural background of pursuing beyond life. It can be seen that without the persistent pursuit of life cultivation, there would be no origin of Taoism and Buddhism. Buddhist outlook on life can be seen from two aspects: 1. What is the noumenon of life? Second, can life last forever? In order to solve the first problem, Buddhist epistemology deeply discusses the level of life. It divides life into eight senses, namely, eye knowledge, ear knowledge, nose knowledge, tongue knowledge, body knowledge, consciousness, ignorance and Aryan knowledge. Knowledge is feeling. The first six senses are people's self-consciousness, just the external form of people; Eschatological knowledge is equivalent to human subconscious, which can only be felt in dreams and deep silence, but it is human eschatological knowledge, and only this kind of knowledge is innate and the foundation of human existence. In order to solve the second problem, Buddhism, starting from the naive dialectics of the origin theory, believes that life is an endless flow process, that is, life and death, and causality is continuous. How to understand this view? First of all, all elements of life are a combination of karma, which starts here and ends here. This kind of otherness Buddhism is called the emptiness of self, which means that the eternal self does not exist, and the existence of life is like a dream, and any persistence in life is wrong. Secondly, life is continuous, and it is always a process of life and death, cause and effect. According to the origin theory, everything has a causal relationship. Since people have this world, there must be past lives as the cause and afterlife as the result. People don't come into this world for no reason, and they don't end up fruitless. From the perspective of modern philosophy, this life dialectics of Buddhism is quite thorough. Say it's empty and continuous, say it's continuous, it's just a cyclical process, and there is no constant entity. On the one hand, Buddhism opposes the view that mechanical materialists turn off the lights, on the other hand, it opposes the view that the body can live forever. Buddhism has always adhered to the view of origin and the dialectical view of life and death. The philosophical basis of Taoist view of life is the theory of shun and inverse expounded by Taoist body theory. First of all, from the theory of Tao, Taoism regards life as the externalization of Tao, so the Tao Te Ching says,' Tao gives birth to one, two, three and all things three.' Yijing pointed out: "When the main road changes, their lives will also change." "Life is expensive" says:' Avenue is born naturally, and heaven and earth are born. Heaven and earth, hermaphrodite. The sky is cloudy and sunny, the earth is just soft, and the animals are human. "In this sense, Tao and life are the same thing, and the existence of life and death in human life is the externalization and popularization of Tao. Tao is constantly externalized and popularized, and so is life. Taoism also has a set of life class theory with strong local culture in China. This is what the four gods say, that is, knowing God, Yuan God, Holy God and Jade God. Knowing God is equivalent to the first six senses of Buddhism. Yuan gods are divided into yin gods and yang gods. Yin God is equivalent to eschatological knowledge, Yang God is equivalent to Araya knowledge, and Holy God and Jade God are higher levels of life, which can only be proved if the truth is cultivated to a very high level. On the question of whether life can be eternal, Taoism, starting from the style theory of Tao, believes that if you delay along the externalization of Tao, you will die, and if you return against the externalization of Tao, you will live. It is on this basis that Taoism established the theory of repairing truth, and all methods of repairing truth are concrete ways. The purpose of fixing the truth is to live forever and finally realize the eternity of life. Buddhism says liberation and Taoism says soaring, all in order to solve people's inner anxiety about death, transcend life and death, and seek the longevity of physical life and the eternity of spiritual life. However, due to cultural roots, there are obvious differences between Buddhism and Taoism, which can be summarized as three aspects: First, the perspective of understanding life is different. Starting from the origin theory, the Buddhist view of life emphasizes the causal relationship of life, the dependence of life and the emptiness of self, which is an internal experience to interpret life. The basis of the eight senses, such as eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, mind, end and Araya, is human feeling, which is the interpretation of life made by Buddhist sages in deep meditation. Taoist view of life is about therapy, and it interprets life from the unity of opposites between sex (innate self) and life (acquired body). Huang Yuanji's "Yu Yue Tang Quotations" said: "Without sex, there is no life, without life, there is no sex. Talking about sex can lead to life, and you have to know that life is sex. " Second, there are different ways to transcend life. Because Buddhism and Taoism have different starting points for their outlook on life, they have different ways to transcend life. "Gui Zhi of Life" said: "The teaching of Zen teaches people that the greater the illusion of life, the higher its meaning; The old man's teaching teaches people to cultivate self-cultivation and live forever, and its purpose is serious. "Buddhism pays attention to the causal relationship of life and the inner experience of life, so it does not pay attention to the external form. Pay attention to sexual merit in the method of practice, understand nature and seek wisdom in meditation. Because Taoism pays attention to the unity of opposites in life, it pays attention to the double cultivation of life. Taoist practice methods, especially Inner alchemy, all take double cultivation of life as the fundamental principle. Third, the attitude towards life is different. Life is bitter in Buddhism and joyful in Taoism. Since Buddhism is a kind of life illusion with super consciousness, it will inevitably not pay attention to people's secular life. For example, Buddhism has a saying that life is eight bitter. Eight bitterness means bitterness, old bitterness, illness bitterness, death bitterness, resentment, love leaving bitterness, seeking no bitterness, and taking bitterness with five meanings (color, acceptance, thought, action and knowledge). Buddhism even regards the human body as a stinking bag that can be discarded. Taoism is just the opposite. Those who are loved by a wife are born, and those who are loved by life are humane. "If there is water in the fish" (Sima Cheng Zhen's Sit and Forget). Taoism attaches importance to people and life, which has two meanings: (1) the body becomes the Tao, and the human body in this world is the foundation of the Tao; (2) Immortality is the foundation and goal of Taoist immortal ideal and health philosophy, which is different from Buddhism's emphasis on the afterlife and seeking liberation. Real life is bound to be short-sighted because of the obstacles of self-persistence. The most typical idea is to eat, drink and be merry, because life is no longer, people die and lights go out. The so-called' drinking and singing, life geometry; For example, the morning dew, it is more bitter to go to Japan' (Cao Cao's "Short Songs") is the poetic expression of this idea. The idea of "eat, drink, and be merry" can never satisfy the pursuit of desire, but it also causes all kinds of bad karma and brings all kinds of troubles in life. For example, the great richness of contemporary material wealth is followed by the lack of contemporary spirit. Nervousness, anxiety, emptiness and troubles always accompany human beings; The destruction of the environment and the conflict between culture and group interests always threaten the survival of mankind. This vicious circle can't be solved simply by the development of science and technology and economy, and the outlook on life of Buddhism and Taoism is just a good medicine to cure this vicious circle. Only by thoroughly understanding the cause and effect of life and eliminating ignorance and self-obsession through the practice of life can the vicious circle be turned into a virtuous circle. From the view of life of Buddhism and Taoism, Taoism is more humane. Through the transformation of human life, we can transcend life, get rid of the torture of desire and enter the realm of great freedom and happiness.