[mattbaker]

I’ve also found myself drifting away from Buddhism but I’ve been really excited to discover Taoism and the Taoist roots of Zen, which I think are often overlooked. As I’ve explored Taoism more I’ve found it contains many of the things I found wonderful about Zen Buddhism and far fewer of things that didn’t work for me. If you’re curious I suggest exploring it!

Some resources I liked: Alan Watt’s book on Zen Buddhism talks a bit about Taoism in the beginning since it’s an important foundational aspect of zen.

The Tao Te Ching translation by red pine, which pairs each verse with a sampling of interpretations for various scholars. It’s been a fantastic way to learn, by far my favorite translation.

[kar5pt]

The Taoist influence on Zen is overstated in my opinion. Most of the non-dual stuff Westerns would consider "Taoism" is right there in the Diamond Sutra (straight out of India). Westerners also typically underestimate how much Taoism has borrowed from Chan Buddhism. A lot of the similarities are because Taoism copied Zen, not the other way around.