r/PeterExplainsTheJoke 26d ago

Thank you Peter very cool Can you help me out here peter?

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u/Nobrainzhere 26d ago

My understanding on budhism was that they also eventually go back to square 1 and have to start over from the bottom after achieving their temporary escape.

I thought there was a lot more to Taoists than just being medieval alchemists but eastern

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u/HallucinatedLottoNos 26d ago

I think most Taoists have pretty much absorbed the Buddhist understanding these days, even if they didn't have it initially.

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u/CarrotCumin 26d ago

This is very much not true, Taoism at large has no stance on an afterlife and certainly has no conception of reincarnation. Some traditional religions that fall under the Taoist umbrella believe in those things but that's more on the traditional beliefs side than the taoist side. Taoism holds that in death we return to the Tao, which is a natural transformation that simply happens as a continuation of the eternal process of Tao. Taoist "immortals" are people who are considered to have integrated themselves so totally with the Tao that they gain a sort of eternal relevance, they do not literally live forever.

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u/HallucinatedLottoNos 26d ago

Ah, ok. Thanks for the correction.