Although Taoism influenced the development of Zen Buddhism, Zen and Taoist practices differ both in intent and technique.
The intent of Zen practice is to put an end to self-centered thinking so that one can focus on genuinely helping others. Another name for this is "enlightenment."

The intent of Taoist practices can vary, but generally they focus on personal qualities of longevity, harmony, health, or stillness.

In general, Taoist teaching does not incorporate the bodhisattva ideal of Buddhism - the commitment to ease the great suffering in the world.

Buddhism doesn't place much emphasis on cosmological or ontological explanation. Rather, it focuses on how the mind functions to create suffering and how to transform the mind's function so that suffering does not arise.

Taoism, on the other hand, provides a fairly comprehensive view of the natural world and humanity's place in that world. And Taoism has developed many techniques to bring a person into greater harmony with ...more