A Brief Discussion on the Origin of Tao-Religionism in Hinduism, and on The Thirty-Three Heavens

Excerpt from Discord chat logs：

Oh, it's a great pity that most Westerners and Indians seem to have a very poor understanding of Tao-Religionism and confuse her with Tao-Schoolism, which Originated from the Classical Qwraagraas Civilization.

I am quite certain that Tao-Religionism either originated directly from Hinduism, or from one of the Indian Religious sects that existed at the same time as Buddhism and Jainism.

Hindus should have been very interested in this wonderful and surprising thing, but they lacked the resources and could not read the Chinese Tao-Religionist Canon, so most of them did not discover this Indianity of Tao-Religionism.

According to Manichaeism, the Primordial Celestial Venerable（元始天尊） is Narayana (Vishnu). The Tao-Religionist Canons's description of him also exhibits extremely strong Hindu characteristics. 

The original Tao-Religionist doctrine included the Four Brahmacaryas, the Six Senses, the Four Elements, the Three Karmas, Samsara, and the Three Realms.

These doctrines were accused of "plagiarizing Buddhism" and therefore were not taken seriously by later generations.

According to the Taoist Canon, the Primordial Celestial Venerable resides on Jade Capital Mountain in the Great-Ra/Daira/大羅 Heaven, surrounded by "Vast and Boundless Brahman Energy." Note that the Original Text uses straight the transliteration "梵/Buomh" of the Sanskrit word Brahman.

According to Tao-Religionist Doctrine, there are Six Heavens in the Desire Realm, Eighteen Heavens in the Form Realm, and Four Heavens in the Formless Realm—a view consistent with Buddhism, encompassing the Twenty-Eight Heavens of the Three Realms. Above these are the Four Brahman Heavens/Four Noble Disciples Heavens, totaling Thirty-Two Heavens. Above these are the Three Pure Heavens, and at the very top is the Great Ra Heaven, making a total of Thirty-Six Heavens. If we ignore the Three Pure Heavens, then Thirty-Two Heavens plus the Great Luo Heaven equals Thirty-Three Heavens…! According to Tao-Religionist Doctrine, these Thirty-Two Heavens are distributed in Four Directions, Eight Heavens in each Direction, which is remarkably similar to the Buddhist Description of the Thirty-Three Heaven Palaces within the Trayastrimsa Heaven.

In addition, various Sanskrit translations frequently appear in the Tao-Religionist Canons, such as "梵氣彌羅" (Brahman-Chi Mi-ra/Vast and Boundless Brahman Energy) and "無鞅數眾" (Asāṃkhya).

According to Buddhism, the Trimurti all reside in the Form Realm: Brahma rules the First Dhyana Heaven, Vishnu rules the Third Dhyana Heaven, and Shiva rules the Fourth Dhyana Heaven. However, the Heaven of Brahma's Subjects borders the Desire Realm, and Shiva's Heaven is located at the Top of the Form Realm—therefore bordering the Formless Realm. I can suspect this means that the Trimurti actually correspond to the Three Realms. If we say that Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva are the Three Aspects of The Great Indra, and Indra—The Emperor Śakra, the King of the Thirty-Three Heavens—and if the Thirty-Three Heavens are the Twenty-Eight Heavens of the Three Realms plus the four Brahman Heavens and the Great Ra Heaven, then this seems to be getting closer and closer to the truth.