Was Taoism Buddhism?

On What May Be the Greatest Debate in the History of Asian Philosophy

In comparative philosophy, specialists like to emphasize that great thinkers such as Socrates, Confucius, Laozi, and Buddha came from similar periods of human history. It is also common to read accounts that emphasize the similarities between their respective philosophical views.

But for a researcher to compare objects of research presupposes that these objects are regarded as different. This is because there is nothing to be gained by comparing an object with itself. There is an exception to this when the goal is to show the unity of two objects that are usually considered separate.

One example of comparison for the sake of unifying is the comparison of the Buddha and Laozi. Since ancient times some Chinese authors have believed that Laozi was actually the Buddha himself: Siddhārtha Gautama.

A notable example is the apocryphal text Huhuajing (化胡經, “Scripture of the Conversion of the Barbarians”), which is traditionally attributed to Laozi. It claims that Laozi traveled westward to India, where he either instructed the Buddha or became the Buddha himself, thereby spreading his teachings.

This story was most likely developed in response to the growing influence of Buddhism in China, with the goal of positioning Taoism as the original source of Buddhism and reinforcing the superiority of Taoism over Buddhism.

In the following article, I would like to present another thought-provoking hypothesis that has been proposed in Asian philosophy studies: the Buddhist sources of Taoism. But before I do, let’s provide some context about what makes such a theory not as implausible as it first seemed to me.

The Context of Semi-Ignorance