A Comparison Between Taoism and Buddhism in Perfect Teaching:Mutual Verification Between Metaphysics and Tiantai Buddhism
Mou Zongsan has conducted an in-depth elaboration of the doctrine of Perfect Teaching of Taoism and Tiantai Sect.He believes that while the Daoist argumentation,mainly led by Wang Bi and Guo Xiang,is indeed harmonious,the Perfect Teaching in Daoist style has not yet reached the essence of Perfect Teaching of Tiantai Sect,which is actually based on the"on-tological harmony",and can only be regarded as a subjective harmony rather than an objective ontological one.According to Mou,the comparison between Taoism and Buddhism can be explored from the perspective of mutual verification between meta-physics and Tiantai Buddhism.From Wang Bi's understanding of nature through"Wuwei(effortless action)"and Guo Xiang's meaning of"being in harmony with things",this can reveal the role of responding to external things,and inaction implies action through inaction.Furthermore,based on the meaning of"Xiaoyao"in Zhuangzi's annotations,it is argued that Guo Xiang's in-terpretation has already expressed the affirmation of the ontological harmony that embodies the meaning of all laws in all different situations of existence.Therefore,although the content of the Perfect Teaching in Daoist style expressed by Guo Xiang is not as rich as that of Tiantai Sect,the two are the same in terms of the doctrine.Through the content of metaphysics,it can help to un-derstand important statements of the Perfect Teaching in Tiantai Sect.
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