Korea Journal of Buddhist Studies ISSN:1598-0642(Print) 불교학연구

Although Korea and Taiwan both experienced similar historical processes such as national civil war, domination by Japan, anti-communist polices, pro-American rules, dictatorships, democracies, etc. and been the members of Newly Industrial Economics, there are still a lot of differences between two countries such as the relatively strong Japanolatry sentiment, the economic system of giving priority to minor enterprises and the rather prevailing Buddhist and Taoist folk culture , etc. in Taiwan society. The features of Taiwan society has been discussed from the aspect of the traditional religious thought and where the spiritual strength of Taiwan people on the island with a population of 2.3 million came from has also been cogitated in this paper. The conclusion has been made as following. Taiwan is a society dominated by Taoism but fusing Confucianism and Buddhism, a utilitarian society valuing pragmatism, a society with religious belief as its focal point, a society with people of soft characteristics. The factors are totally different from the conditions in Korea. Korea is a Confucian society dominated by traditional values, a formalistic society seeking personal status, a society dominated by the moral order, a society with people of strong characteristics. The author believes that the traditional religious thoughts (Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism) have greatly impacted the contemporary Taiwan society’s ideology.