Of Buddhists and Taoists

[seadog]

Can you put Buddha to bed? Can you pack him a little lunch and send him on his way? Can you say Buddha what Buddha?

Is there any other truth besides the guru and his consort?

[Yoda]

I recently finished reading Journey to the West and in that the relationship between Buddhism and Taoism seemed not quite like siblings but more like cousins: The main characters were all Buddhist but the Monkey was Taoism trained and the Priest was Buddhism trained. The Monkey was very wise to the world and more worldly but the Priest was always on his case for killing too much, arguing, etc. The Priest was safely above the world and never killed anyone or cursed, etc but was always very easily manipulated by demons pretending to be Buddhas and Bodhisattvas and lived in a more idealized world.

 

In the book there certainly was conflict between Taoist Kings and Buddhist monasteries and that sort of thing but rarely conflict between Immortals, the Heavenly Kingdom, and the Bodhisattvas and the Buddha. The Buddha was tacitly above the Taoist Gods per the book which doesn't sense that one religion would accept the command structure of another, but I think this does reflect the political realities of China.

 

It's my understanding that the Ming dynasty destroyed many Taoism Temples and converted them to Buddhism which helped set the tone for J2W... that Taoism was officially second fiddle to Buddhism after that point.

 

Which is odd as the Buddhist monastic ideals definitely do not line up with the importance of having children in Chinese culture, but there you have it.

 

So the Monkey King makes the point that both Taoism and Buddhism have their primary focus on the "cultivation of conduct" and ethics which often gets lost in the shuffle in other religions so that is a point of unusual overlap and agreement which seems to be the basis of fairly good overall cooperation between the two religions in J2W. On the other hand, I'm sure many Chinese Taoists are irritated by the fact that a foreign religion from India gained the official upper hand.

 

Another theme in the J2W is that Taoist teachers go to the dark side all the time and that Buddhist teachers tended only to be victimized by evil but do not go evil themselves. Kwan Yin is a Bodhisattva in the story and she has a pet gold fish that goes evil and eats children as a cultivation practice but the Kwan Yin eventually reprimands the fish and returns it to its koi pond. Apparently the fish was able to draw upon Kwan Yin's power to become a demon in the first place and then wanted to enhance its career by taking energy from kids but got busted by the Monkey King who alerted Kwan Yin to her gold fish's rebellion.

 

But that's the level of Buddhist evility. Aside from that, the Buddhists tended to be easy pickings for demons and evil Taoists but remained fairly innocent throughout the book.

 

Yoda

[Vajrahridaya]

I recently finished reading Journey to the West and in that the relationship between Buddhism and Taoism seemed not quite like siblings but more like cousins:

 

Besides Kashmir Shaivism and Bon which are heavily influenced by Vajrayana and Dzogchen, Taoism is probably the closest thing to Tantric Buddhism while having entirely different roots. Thanks for that story Yoda... I dig your vibe! May the force stay strong with you.

[vsaluki]

So the Monkey King makes the point that both Taoism and Buddhism have their primary focus on the "cultivation of conduct"

 

Interesting. I would not agree with that being an aspect of Taoism. I think that Confusionism was all about the cultivation of conduct. And the Taoists pick on the Confusions for this. They think that it's artificial and pretentious. They think that it creates a person who follows something that isn't natural.

[Marblehead]

QUOTE(Yoda @ Sep 22 2009, 07:03 AM)

 

So the Monkey King makes the point that both Taoism and Buddhism have their primary focus on the "cultivation of conduct"

 

 

Interesting. I would not agree with that being an aspect of Taoism. I think that Confusionism was all about the cultivation of conduct. And the Taoists pick on the Confusions for this. They think that it's artificial and pretentious. They think that it creates a person who follows something that isn't natural.

 

 

Interesting points, these. I have nothing to say at the moment but they are interesting points none-the-less.

 

Happy Trails!

[Yoda]

Vajrahridaya, thanks for the kind words!

 

Interesting. I would not agree with that being an aspect of Taoism. I think that Confusionism was all about the cultivation of conduct. And the Taoists pick on the Confusions for this. They think that it's artificial and pretentious. They think that it creates a person who follows something that isn't natural.

 

vsaluki,

 

I'm sure there are Taoist sects who would disagree with the J2W understanding of Taoism.

 

Your pal,

Yoda

[Marblehead]