How is Taoism different from Buddhism?

[RedLantern]

While Buddhism was founded by Gautama Buddha in the sixth century BC.Taoism originated in China and it is also believed to have emerged in the sixth century BC. Buddhism originated in the Indian subcontinent.
Buddhism is an off short of the pre -existing religion of Hinduism and considered to be the forth largest religion
of the world.
Taoism is categorized into philosophical and religious Taoism.The aim of the Taoists is to find the path or "the way" that helps one achieve harmony with the perfect natural order of the Universe.According to this philosophy,good and evil must be balance to attain cosmic harmony.Besides Tao,there are other principles that are integral part of this religion tradition.The balance of Yin and Yang,which are opposing forces,is also an
integral aspect.Wu-wei refers to actionless  action or spontaneous/effortless action that promotes harmony.Taoism put emphasis on simplicity,naturalness and spontaneity,compassion,moderation and humility are referred to as the three treasures.
According to Buddhism,desire is the cause of suffering.Nirvana can be attained by giving up worldly desires. The knowledge of the true nature of reality can help one overcome the suffering that arises fro attachment to
desires.This can be achieved by following the noble Eight fold Path,which refers to having right view,right intentions,right speech,right action,right livelihood.right effort,right mindfulness and right concentration.
The Doctrine of the Buddha states that the ultimate goal is to become free from pain and suffering.One can attain a state of liberation and become free from the cycle of death and rebirth.
According to Taoism,life and death are complementary aspects and death is not to be feared.death is considered to be a transformation.The soul is eternal.It might migrate to eternal soul achieves harmony with the Tao.The emphasis is on valuing life and attaining Tao as Taoist focus on life. The stress is on achieving longevity or spirituality immortality.This can be done by turning the circulating life energy (chi or qi) into the primordial Chi. Thus, a person who lives longer is assumed to be saintlike.
While Buddha gave the Eightfold Path to achieve Nirvana,there is no set path in Taoism.Though the individual is guided by the Taoist beliefs,each individual may follow a different path to achieve harmony with Tao. Both religions emphasize on leading a righteous life.While Buddhist pay attention on spiritual aspects,Taoist stress on performing exercises and ritual to improve physical health.
Both Buddhism and Taoism are  believed to have emerged around the same time.Though they may have certain differences,these religions have deeply influenced each other.Since one's understanding of philosophy
or religion is greatly influenced by changing times,different sects, have emerged within this religion.

[Ensapa]

Taoism is a mirror reflex of Hinduism. All the main elements of Hinduism can be found in Taoism, including the pantheon of deities. However, a few things differ mainly due to cultural elements as well as location. But in general the core concepts of energy flowing through the meridians of the body are the same, and the structure of the gods is the same. However, Hinduism seeks to be one with the god, while taoism seeks to be the god by attaining immortality.

However, in both religions, mercury is used as a fixative for attaining immortality. go figure.

Buddhism focuses more on liberation and Buddhism does not believe in the eternal soul but in consciousness instead. Also, both Hinduism and Taoism focuses on attaining psychic abilities, while Buddhism focuses more on attaining enlightenment as opposed to psychic abilities.

[Q]

I was Taoist before I became Buddhist... and the funny thing is, I always thought I was Buddhist even though I was Taoist from birth lol!

Well, basically the concepts of Taoism is not that much different from Buddhism... I must say I do enjoy reading many quotes by some Taoist great masters... they are very very wise.

However, we must understand that Taoists do pray or take refuge in non-Enlightened beings such as beings in the God realms etc. But for Buddhists, we only pay homage to the 3 Jewels, on that are Enlightened.

The practice is also slightly different. In Buddhism, our ultimate goal is gaining Enlightenment... however in Taoism, there is no such ultimate goal.

[buddhalovely]

Taoism and Buddhism are two influential philosophical and religious beliefs both originating in Asia- the former from China, the latter from India.Taoism’s ultimate goal is Tao (the way), which is harmony with the infinite and first-cause of the universe. Buddhism’s absolute aim is Nirvana, the highest state of spiritual bliss, free from pain and suffering.The Taoist way of life is focused on aligning oneself to the natural way of cosmos. While the Buddhist’s is on understanding and surpassing pain and suffering through leading a moral life.Both Taoism and Buddhism employ the concept of reincarnation in their set of beliefs.

[WisdomBeing]

i have a few Chinese friends from university and they are taoists but think they are also Buddhists! I think there must be a lot of confusion regarding these two religions which are vastly different. As was said above by Q, Taoists pray to unenlightened gods while Buddhists pray to Buddhas! I think that the unenlightened gods by their very nature are actually not immortal since according to Buddhism, unenlightened beings are all subject to birth and death. Perhaps they live for such a long time that they are thought of as immortal. There is an overlap in that several Taoists I know also pray to the Goddess of Mercy though, called Guan Yin, which in the Tibetan tradition is called Chenrezig or Avalokiteshvara. Some say that the Goddess of Mercy is not taoist but Buddhist but others say she exists in both - does anyone have any light to shed?

[Tenzin K]

Taoism is a collection of spiritual and philosophical traditions that originated in China over 2,000 years ago. While it's difficult summarize Taoism in a few words, the concept of "wu wei" -- effortless action -- is central to Taoism. Taoists may believe in multiple deities and spirits and place special emphasis on relationships with the natural world. Taoism has influenced virtually all aspects of Chinese culture, including diet, medicine, geomancy, energy work, and martial arts.

Buddhism originated 2,500 years ago when Shakyamuni Buddha began to teach about the origin of human suffering and the way to end suffering. Over the centuries, this teaching spread throughout Southeast Asia, East Asia, Tibet and Mongolia, and more recently to the United States, Europe and other non-Asian countries. While there are many aspects of Buddhist teaching, Buddhist practices are designed to help practitioners attain enlightenment and thereby end suffering.

[Big Uncle]

I think there are a lot of similarities between Buddhism and Taoism. I am not really sure about what's Taoism and here's what I gathered from the BBC site:-
Taoism is an ancient tradition of philosophy and religious belief that is deeply rooted in Chinese customs and worldview. Taoism is also referred to as Daoism, which is a more accurate way of representing in English the sound of the Chinese word.

Taoism is about the Tao. This is usually translated as the Way. But it's hard to say exactly what this means. The Tao is the ultimate creative principle of the universe. All things are unified and connected in the Tao. Taoism originated in China 2000 years ago. It is a religion of unity and opposites; Yin and Yang. The principle of Yin Yang sees the world as filled with complementary forces - action and non-action, light and dark, hot and cold, and so on. The Tao is not God and is not worshipped. Taoism includes many deities, that are worshipped in Taoist temples, they are part of the universe and depend, like everything, on the Tao

Taoism promotes:
- achieving harmony or union with nature
- the pursuit of spiritual immortality
- being 'virtuous' (but not ostentatiously so)
- self-development

Taoist practices include:
- meditation
- feng shui
- fortune telling
- reading and chanting of scriptures

Before the Communist revolution fifty years ago, Taoism was one of the strongest religions in China. After a campaign to destroy non-Communist religion, however, the numbers significantly reduced, and it has become difficult to assess the statistical popularity of Taoism in the world.

Just from looking at this general explanation of Taoism, one would find that Taoism leans heavily upon the concept on duality while Buddhism in order to achieve higher states, one needs to develop non-duality. I read from elsewhere that the Taoist beliefs today is borrowed heavily from Buddhism. Even the concept of emptiness was borrowed over to Buddhism.