Hello Elitheeli, I'm assuming you mean The Tao and both main schools of Zen (or Chan) Buddhism in their unadulterated forms. Taoism or the Tao boiled down to it's essential quality is basically the stream of life. What is, is...no muss, no clutter, no complicated "philosophy". This is a loose description, because The Tao cannot be described. If the Tao is described, it is not the Tao. A caution to be noted: Taoism as practiced in a "folk religion" manner is full of beliefs, practices, some dogma and some forms spiritism. This, of course, is NOT The Tao. Zen or Chan Buddhism is often described as a merger of The Tao with the moral guidelines of the Lord Buddha's 8-Fold Path (I'll let you Google for a definition--the Eightfold Path is the moral foundation of all of the Buddhadharma.) Zen or Chan is similar to The Tao in many ways, including the lack of definition. Ie. The finger pointing at the moon is not the moon. In addition, Zen relies upon Zazen or Shikantaza simply sitting (as a form of meditation). There are other subtle differences, but I don't have the scholarship nor the time, now to get into them. If you're sincerely interested, there are numerous excellent books written by extremely knowledgeable, intelligent authors on those topics. swabby

Zen Buddhism is more formalized, like an organized religion with monks & temples. While there are a few Tao temples, it is mainly about wandering around in peace with nature (there are different schools within Tao but I'll stick to the core). They basically just did their own thing in sync with nature's principles. The Zen form of Buddhism happened when Buddhism went from India to China. It later moved to Japan, where Zen was embraced. Zen's roots are in Buddhism, where Tao's roots are in following nature. The Zen form of Buddhism has the concept of insight enlightenment, where one can gain powerful insights through puzzles called koans. Zen is also heavy on zazen (seated meditation). A Zen person might sit in zazen all day, while a Tao guy would take a hike in the mountains. Some people say that Zen is a combination of Buddhism & Taoism, but I see Tao as a very unorganized -- follow nature kind of pagan thing, as opposed to the more formalized Buddhism. Tao Te Ching (The Way of Virtue) by Lao Tzu is the main text on Taoism.