World Religion and Cultures - Research Paper Example

Yet the two are quite distinct in many ways yet share a common bond in the belief of natural goodness and the strength of the spirit within and without in the natural world. In the West experience is explained in words, in the East, words are slowly pealed away so one can experience reality directly. In fact the Taoist text, The Tao Te Ching, opens with the following, “The Tao that can be told is not the Eternal Tao Way, the name that can be named is not the eternal name.” (Novak 146-1479) So, in essence, words always fall short of the true meaning of experience.

Eastern religion must be felt and experienced rather than thought about. In these religions there is not just the mind but the heart-mind from which understanding comes, something the west has separated into two distinct entities. In regards to philosophy in the West it is intelligence versus emotion instead of a combination of the two when talking about morality, ethics and so on. Enigmatic, this is probably one of the best terms that a Western mind can come up with when initially trying to understand Taoism.

Phrases that can be used to describe the Tao such as, the more we know about it the less we understand, seek and you will not find it, and so on have left many people respectfully bewildered. This may also be the feeling that is left when trying to fathom many of the other Eastern religions including Buddhism. Taoism is the oldest of the group and was perhaps the initial driving force for the Chinese philosophical bent overall. Taoism, in a sense, paved the way for Buddhism as the centuries passed.

Confucianism as well but especially Taoism created some of the structures for understanding and even necessitating the philosophical and spiritual principles of the Buddhist philosophy. Taoism created a common thread of awareness, of collective insight that gave the Chinese