Kudos to amber00 and no_pseudonym for good interpretations in
understanding the relationships between these three traditions. I'd
like to add a bit form my own experiences.
First, It is important to understand that differences in these
traditions are based on practice. It has been my experience that
Taoism, Confucianism and Buddhism are adopted in a persons life at
different stages of their personal development. The biggest
distinction is between Taoism and Confucianism, Taoism focuses heavily
on "the way" which can be loosely translated as something like natural
law. Confucianism, is something of the opposite, it is much more rigid
in it's philosophy, dealing with procedure, protocol, rules,
expectations, etc. So younger career and school oriented people rely
heavily on aspects of Confucianism. You can think of it like a
motivator for discipline. Whereas older people will develop Taoism in
their lives as they settle into life, reflect on their experiences,
and develop wisdom. Traditional chinese practices are also associated
with Taoism (such as ancestor worship, etc). So when a Westerner asks
an Asian, what religion are you? sometimes they don't quite know how
to anwser. I have never met someone who will say "I am a Taoist", or
"Î am a Confucianist" like someone would say "I am Mullim", or "I am
Baptist". This just does not exist. So Taoism and Confucianism cannot
merge because they serve distince purposes in ones life.
Buddhism was introduced to Chine about 600 years after the death of
the Buddha (about 50 CE, look into the "journey to the west" epic
chinese story for a wonderful tale of the journey of a monk form China
to India to bring Buddhist doctrines to China, this is a classic epic
tale and well worth becoming accquianted with), and it would be
another 500 years before Busshism made its way over to Japan from
China. So traditional practices were already well established when
Buddhism came on the scene in these countries. Buddhism was able to
incorporate into Chinese culture because it spoke to common concerns.
For example, in Confucianism, if you work hard you, you can sit your
exams and become an academic and everything is great. Buddhism speaks
to this, as monks are usually quite well educated, and indeed,
Bodhisattavas are multitalented, so intellectual cultivation is
encouraged in Buddhist practice. Buddhism also favours structure in
practice and protocol, esp in monastic life. However, Buddhism also
speaks to Taoism, most obviously in its interpretation of karma as
being cause & effect, and sometimes the karma of an entire city or
country is considered, although this may stray from what the original
intent of karma, as cause & effect might have been intended for, it
does support an ideas of natural law in the world. However, Buddhism
is also distinct from these traditions. Buddhism would view the idea
of work hard=sit exams=get good job=success and founded in delusiion
and greed, two of the three poisons of Buddhism and so would advocate
seeing things for what they really are and sultivation of wisdom and
insight to obtain enlightment. Likewise, aspects of traditional
chinese religions, such as ancestor worship, etc, are sometimes viewed
by Buddhist as superstitious (although there are certainly lots of
superstitions in Buddhism) and so some of these practices are not
encouraged. So Buddhism is can be considered a journey, or a path, it
is a road you take that to cultivate qualties that will lead to
enlightment, or at least better conditions in this life and the next.
So it still has place in asian spiritual life, that is distinct from
Taoism and Confucianism.
As an aside, a similar thing is what separates different schools of
Buddhism. They are not in disagreement over doctrine (as you may find
with different schools in Western religions). Buddhism is not a
dogmatic tradition, and its doctrine grows (as evidenced by the many
schools which have developed all over the world). The difference
between these schools is practice. So for example, a Theravadan monk
collects alms in the morning and eats one meal before noon and
continues with the rest of the day. Monastic life in other schools are
quite different, and so these schools cannot practice in the same
space, and thus a new school arises (it is, or course, more
complicated than this, but you get a general idea here). Take for
example Nichiren (a japanese school that places emphasis on chanting
the full name of the Lotus Sutra, which when realized fully will bring
about enlightement as it contains within it, all the teaching of the
Buddha). This is a very differnt practice than other school, but it
leads to the same place, Nirvana, and is founded on the same
principles, as all the other schools, and so it is Buddhism, but it
needs its own place to practice this doctrine. I once asked a Buddhist
monk what tradition he practiced, he replied "Buddhayana" (yana means
vehicle, like in Mahayana, Hinayana (Theravada), and Vajrayana). How
true.....
I hope my understanding of this topic helps you out. As I mentioned,
this interpretation is from what I have come to understand in my own
various experiences. If someone feels that things are innacurate here,
or that I have misunderstood something, please do comment.. |
