Beyond Form and Formless in the Myriad of Dreams   In the spiritual traditions, we sometimes speak of the formed and the formless. For many this is the idea of the things they can touch and the things they can’t touch, the things we can see and the things we can’t see- this may be the corporeal body vs. the aether of mind-emotion, for others they are the layers of human structure vs. energy (qi), while for some it may be this world vs. other (metaphysical) worlds, or the mundane condition vs. the existential condition.  Whatever your (conscious and unconscious) choice of perspective, as your awareness becomes more subtle, what was once perceived as formless- through increased clarity and awareness, will become formed; and formlessness will take on new dimensions of nuance becoming even more fine… until at last we work on things which are very very fine, things that are very very pure- things which are a part of Nothing. This is the process of refinement to Consciousness- physiologically, psychologically and spiritually, and it happens many times over and over until one comes to completion. So, what you once considered as ‘this’ or ‘that’ will transmute as your experience and perception deepens in nuance and subtly, no matter where your point of reference in understanding began, no matter who you thought you were and what this is.   Students, scholars and even some certain spiritual sages may argue with one another because their attachment to experience continues to be rooted in a fixed form- the idea of what is spiritual- be these concepts, rules or structures applied to thoughts, spirits, methods or processes. As this complexity of spiritual knowledge becomes clarified through experiential sense in Consciousness and resolves back in its origin of purity, we discover that the myriad of forms is actually rooted in an incredible simplicity- one that can begin to be directly recognized and understood through samadhi and the passage into non-being:   It is not possible to understand the condition of form if we do not know the formless;
and it is hard to know formlessness if we cannot recognize the nature of Emptiness.  
This evolution in Conscious being is an important aspect integral to what it is to experience spiritual transmutation. It is easy to think or imagine the process of transmutation of the Three Treasures in the tradition of Taoism to be different from the process of evolution of psycho-spiritual virtue in enlightened consciousness of the Buddhist tradition because few have fully recognized its essential source within themselves.  These inseparable aspects of our ontological process are one and the same even if spoken of in different directions, pointing to seemingly different trajectories: they actually direct to one (non-)thing. It is from this origin that you can come to understand that all those myriads of ways were ever really just one way.  It appears as many answers because you are made of the many and think of much, but the truth known by the Enlightened is much more simple, and it is pure. This is why the Buddha “points” and Lao Tzu says “nothing” without desire nor attachment to ‘this or that’, yet both answers arise from a single Consciousness residing in the Empty State.
So the Enlightened teaching is actually just one teaching- and ultimately there is only one lesson. From experience and to use the Taoist perspective of terms, I would put this metaphysical spiritual process to Consciousness like this: “A thousand transmutations leads to a single essence whose truth lies in Emptiness”   So as you say above, you hear Buddha’s words as a lot of ‘somethings’ and you hear Lao Tzu’s word as one mysterious ‘nothing’, but the reality is a single inspiration of unified light that has no words, for those who are enlightened share One True Consciousness. This is why these teachings are not the practice themselves, yet they are found in and through the practices- and this is also why the deeper key to any form is unlocked through Consciousness (ie. shen, Buddha-nature, the heart) within the formless and not willing formlessness through the formed by mentally and physically practicing entrenched ideas. And this is also why working on your nature and character are every bit if not more important than working on the body. The body becomes what is it in large part because of what you think it is and true transmutation lies beyond cognition to create, dissolve and resolve. This is why you must unlearn yourself to realize, and this is why practice and cultivation are so much more important than debating traditions, teachers and methods. When you approach the potential of a true teaching with fear and doubt, practicing half-heartedly, scattered and full of conflicting desire, then the truth of what that is, who you are and what you do easily becomes obscured. Instead, when your heart and actions are diligent, honest and move deeply in (self)awareness, it becomes easier to sense and know what is true (and therefore also what is untrue) about yourself, about life, and all that appears to be; from this perspective of such honest practice, living and cultivation are the same path to the same origin no matter what form it took.  When you come to this in yourself then all the invaluable insights and precious teachings of the Enlightened will no longer be a method or a mystery but a revelation in transcendent experience beyond all manifestations, both ‘formed’ and ‘unformed’ and it will become you.