在西晉玄學與佛教的發展過程中，玄學的影響無疑居主導地位，表現在以其自由開放的清談學風與哲理辨析，使佛教玄學化并進入了士族上層知識界。同時，佛教對玄學本體論的完善也起了不可忽視的作用，表現在般若學影響了玄學的宇宙觀，使其去掉了傳統的宇宙生成論尾巴，以「體用一如」的思維方法，成功地融名教與自然於一體，最終解決了魏晉玄學的歷史課題。

　　　　　In their development during the Western Chin period, Neo-Taoism and Buddhism interacted with each other. Neo-Taoism, assuming the more dominant role in the process, made it possible for Buddhism to reach the aristocracy and literati by adopting the former's practices of free and open “pure conversation” (ch'ing-t'an) as well as in-depth philosophical analysis. Buddhism, in contrast, made a noticeable contribution to the completion of a Neo-Taoist ontology. To be more specific, Buddhist prajna teachings helped free Neo-Taoist cosmology from the influence left by traditional Chinese cosmogony. In addition, the Buddhist t'i-yung-i-ju (“the identity of substance and function”) mode of thinking contributed to the successful merging of ming-chiao (teachings based on the principled concern for names) and the Neo-Taoist concern for nature. With these achievements, Neo-Taoism was able to finally fulfill its historical role.