How do we understand Asian belief systems from a western perspective?

One of the biggest hurdles that we have to get over in world history is the way we Westerners view the world. Westerners like to categorize ideas, beliefs, ethics, etc. in nice, neat, little boxes. Unfortunately, the rest of the world and, for that matter, history itself, does not fit into nice neat little boxes of right and wrong, left and right, up and down, etc. As world history scholars, it is our quest to look at shades of gray and to appreciate and understand our differences. History and knowledge is an evolution of adaptations to situations over time. The examples that we have been focusing in class are the belief systems of Buddhism, Taoism and Hinduism to name a few. Can we fit those beliefs into nice, neat little boxes that Westerners can understand or should we just understand the basic beliefs and be content with that?