Well like it says in the I Ching:

上火下澤睽君子以同而異
fire above, and water below [forms the image of] diversity; because of this the Superior Person is the same and yet different.

Most Chinese philosophy preaches the “Middle Way” similar to Buddhism’s viewpoint, although the middle way taught in the I Ching for example pre-dates Buddhism by maybe 12 centuries!! China at present is so far away from being in the ‘middle’ much as I think much of the West is to varying degree.

While much of Confucianism should rightly be critiqued hard from a Western philosophical perspective, it holds some essential truths that could provide solutions to problems faced in the West. So too Taoist and Buddhist thought.

While I find it interesting, Hinduism is unpalatable to me, way too steeped in class bullshit — I find the caste system particularly abhorrent, which is why I think Buddhism has always been the antidote for that problem.

But if you examine all the philosophies from Asia — and here I would include some of the Islamic philosophies and Sufism — and their various different schools of thought, you do find something that each of them have in common, and it’s that which is missing (or at least unpopular, or not talked about in the West).

There were times when it appeared in Western history, but the reality is that Christianity would inevitably strike it down. As beautiful and profound as the teachings of Jesus were, the resulting institution that was built around them has been tyrannical, perverse, and the worst combination of Imperialism the world has seen.

DT Suzuki was also an important part of bringing Zen to the West, much like Wilhelm bringing the Tao.

See, Chinese Philosophy (particularly the Tao inspired schools) are deliberately and inherently syncretic — and that’s where we can find a model that is truly inclusive!