Confucianism & Taoism?

Question

Does anyone here know about these two complementary religions of Asia, & can compare & contrast thei similiarities & differences?

Answer 1

I'm from Taiwan and can tell you a bit of the two. Both are philosophies, although Taoism has become a religion for a long time. If you delve a bit deeper into Taoism, you will find that it teaches people about a healthy way of living, such as you don't mix certain foods with others. Taoism seems to be more focused on yourself and doesn't seem to care much about the things around yourself. Confucinism, on the other hand, doesn't deal with health issues. It's not a religion, either. It teaches you the way to deal with others, with yourself. Everything begins from you, and then it goes out to others. I personally prefer Confucianism because it offers people wisdom to live.

Answer 2

Confucianism is not a religion. It's rather a social philosophy teaching your inter-realtions, your role in a family, society and country.

Taoism has two meaning. One is Taoism the religion, and the other is Taoism the philosophy. Both are different from each other.

Answer 3

Neither are religions, in the way that term is recognized in the west.

Taoism is a spiritual path (It means "way") that stresses peace and self-awareness, with an element of fatalism involved.

Confucianism is a system of social interaction that encourages respect, compassion and propriety between all people, and describes a complex and rigid structure of relationships (children and parents, teacher and student, master and servant etc.) and a formal frameworke for the duties and interactions between the parties of those relationships.

Neither is incompatible with the other, nor with any other religious/spiritual path. You can be a christian-taoist, a pagan-taoist, an atheist-taoist, etc.