Gateway to Dharma
What is the difference between the Attainment of the Tao and the Cultivation of Buddhahood?
Attainment of the Tao is a path of individual liberation. Its goal - similar to that of the Pratyeka-buddha - is to free oneself from the bondage of worldly concern through forming a union with the Absolute Reality. Cultivation of Buddhahood is a path of universal liberation undertaken by the Awakened Minds who wish to share with all beings the most expedient means to actualise their release from samsara - the cyclic existence of unsatisfactoriness. Most of the early Chinese Masters of Buddhism were originally Taoist scholars.