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They were asking, as a Mahayana Buddhist, what westerners get out of reading the daodeing. Implying that it is a a somewhat pointless philosophy that does not p
by dudefeliciano 3y ago
They were asking, as a Mahayana Buddhist, what westerners get out of reading the daodeing. Implying that it is a a somewhat pointless philosophy that does not provide a path to follow (comparing it to nihilism). Also pointing out the different currents (philosophical daoism vs religious/magical daoism) as you mentioned, which most westerners are not aware of.
A somewhat out of place critique coming from a lack of understanding IMO.
- FrustratedMonky 3y agoAh got it. Was pretty curious, since as religious conflicts go (or disagreements), I thought buddhism and taoism were pretty far down the list of groups that were antagonistic.
- morelisp 3y agoThis isn't a wrong view in an absolute sense (Taoism and Buddhism I suppose "agree more" than say, Taoism and Baha'i - though as soon as you have diverging metaphysics "distance" becomes very hard to characterize). But, it's heavily colored by the fact that one of the earlier popularizers of Buddhism in the English language was also an advocate of Zen as an ideological evolution of Taoism; so he is often selective in how he portrays both leaving many in the West with a view that these ideologies are much closer than have been historically or are in practice today. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._T._Suzuki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._T._Suzuki