What are the basic beliefs of Taoism and Buddhism and what are the differences between the two religions?
Buddhism is a path of restriction. One must repress many emotions & desires – essentially focus the mind upon “buddhahood”. Therefore it brings in doctrines such as Karma so that one finds right action and some form of harmony. It leads to a good content life, in the right circumstances and cannot be knocked as a path for those that wish to follow that in themselves. Taoism is neither the path of repression nor indulgence. It is to find the centre in the midst of circumstances and to be able to function with total unity in any situation. This means that it goes beyond the concept of Karma and right action but eventually can lead to similar results but without having to trick or repress the mind at any stage. So I suppose my point of view is that Taoism focuses upon its practices and everything else falls into line through harmonious discipline. A good example of this is a personal one, I used to enjoy Alchohol & various intoxicants – upon starting my practices I did not repress any of
