Buddhism vs Taoism

My parents sent me a link on this Buddhist monk named Ajahn Siripanno yesterday, who preached about the timeless teachings of Ajahn Chah. Although I am very sure that the video consists a lot of valuable lessons, I have to admit that I did not finish watching it. Sorry Daddy and Mommy! It’s not that I don’t like it nor believe in it, its just that I was suddenly caught up in an idea. I was wondering why there are no posts on Facebook regarding Buddhism as compared to Christianity and Muslim. Just glanced through the Newsfeed and am sure you would find at least a status that shouts a quote from the Bible or the Quran. Do not take me wrong as I am not patronising other religions. Granted, I do not believe in their teachings but I have the utmost respect for each of them. Who says you need to believe to respect? A lot of time, we see these dumb heads that felt intimidated just because the other is not a follower of the same religion. That indicates lack of faith in their own beliefs as well as lack of respect for other cultures which would subsequently lead to the ignition of meaningless war as mentioned by Samuel Huntington back in 1993 and as can be seen in the past decade. That was a horrible tragedy and it need not be repeated.

Anyway, I would also like to clarify that Buddhism is not Taoism albeit they do have similarities. Very often, people make this mistake when I told them of my religion and in my opinion, it is so inappropriate. For a start, Buddhist does not believe in God while Taoist believes in multiple deities. One might ask, if Buddhist does not believe in God, why do we pray to Buddha? Very good question indeed. Buddha is not our God as he is simply the “founder” of Buddhism and we do not pray to him, we offer our respect to him. And why do we not believe in God can be further explained by this guy:  http://www.buddhanet.net/ans73.htm. Another point is; if you had noticed, most Buddhist would not force another to be one. If you had met one that insists you to be a Buddhist then he/she is obviously not understanding the right thing. What Buddhism preaches is just the ways of life which are rather practical yet hard to be fully implemented. Well, it seems that I have already written way more than expected. I’m pretty sure that someone from my pool of friends would somehow be uncomfortable with some words that I had mentioned here and for that I would merely say again; I am not patronising others here nor am I saying that Buddhism is superior. Cheers!

Hatred does not cease by hatred, but only by love; this is the eternal rule. – Buddha-