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John Slegers's avatar

You mention Stoicism and Buddhism. Isn't Taoism the Oriental equivalent of Stoicism, though, rather than Buddhism?

Either way, I've always found Taoism more appealing approach to life than Buddhism. Overall, taoism is more life-confirming, whereas Buddhism is more life-denying (similar to Christianity). Then again, Buddhism and Taoism are perfectly compatible & complementary takes on life, as demonstrated quite aptly by the allegory of the Vinegar tasters. Maybe it is by integrating the three big Chinese traditions, as the Chinese do themselves, that you find the a "positive, forward-looking narrative for life in the modern world" that you are looking for?

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinegar_tasters :

"Confucianism saw life as sour, in need of rules to correct the degeneration of people; Buddhism saw life as bitter, dominated by pain and suffering due to attaching possessions and material desires; and Taoism saw life as sweet due to it being fundamentally perfect in its natural state." But, also, "since the three men are gathered around one vat of vinegar, the 'three teachings' are one."

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Pete P's avatar

Sometimes it seems that depression arises from inconsistencies between our lives and our mental image of ourselves and our lives.

As children we view the world and don't understand it fully with our immature brain and develop habits and unconscious patterns of thought and behavior, based upon these faulty childhood impressions. At some point, this develops into sufficient difficulties resulting in anxiety and depression.

Stoicism, Buddhism, and Daoism all provides tools to help deal with these issues.

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