It is worth noting that Buddhism can push its distrust of the world itself, and of the self's present incarnation, into counterintuitive directions. Zen Buddhism in particular is noted for its contemplation of the paradoxes inherent in the Buddhist conception of the self: for example, we would assume that religions preach an implicit trust in following the precepts of their founder, but then how are we meant to interpret the Zen Buddhist koan recorded from Zen Buddhist Master Lin-Chi which states (on its surface): "If you meet a Buddha, kill the Buddha" (Watson 52)
His philosophy highlighted personal and governmental morality, correctness of social relationships, and justice and sincerity. Utilize since then as the grand convention, Confucius' thoughts have been developed into an enormous and complete philosophical system known in the west as Confucianism (Ancient Eastern Philosophy on the Ancient Wisdom of Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism & Confucianism, 2010)
The knowledge of Lao-tzu stresses the importance of meditation and nonviolence as a way of reaching higher levels of being. While some Chinese still follow Confucianism, this religion has lost a lot of its momentum due to resistance from today's Communist government (Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism, 2010)
Indigenous religions frequently feature pilgrimage in their traditions and experiences, such as the vision quests in traditional Native American religions. Journeys that qualify as pilgrimages might be short, one-day excursions to a temple, month-long journeys as with the ancient Christian pilgrimage routes from Europe to Jerusalem, or inner journeys as with the psychedelic drugs used by shamans in their respective traditions (Molloy, 2012)
For instance, pilgrimage is considered essential to the fulfillment of one's religious duties in Islam, but is not expressed as a religious imperative in Christianity or even Judaism. Yet pilgrimage remains an important personal and collective journey that solidifies one's bonds to the faith community (Swatos, n