Basically, Buddhism and The Tao, are invaluable to those who want to be better human beings.
So are religions, though pure Buddhism and The Tao have no religious apparatus.
Sufism is exceptional. It is pure (or it is not Suf), has no religious apparatus, while Buddhism and Tao can be encumbered by human interference, dogma and made up religious practices.
With the exception of pure Sufism the others all get wrongly confused with spirituality as if spirituality is human.
Spirituality is not human. It is about the non biological, non-materialistic, non-human entity of Reality that creates all known and unknown existence, including humans, that the mystics experience.
So far as humans are concerned, Reality is only interested in individuals. Throughout human history It has tranfused some individuals with knowledge of Itself. Why? We don’t know yet.
These individuals report the experience is spontaneous, all consuming, irresistible. Reality reveals knowledge of Itself and creation, everlasting life, joyfulness, happiness, contentment, absence of suffering, unconditional, everlasting acceptance, ie. ‘divine’ love.
Mistakenly, some of these individuals have historically assumed the experience is meant for everyone. It isn’t.
Consequently these humans preach, prosyletise, bully, harass and cajole, torture and kill, all to organise religions to represent and propagate this experience.
These false human constructs fail spiritually. They are reduced to preaching the mere made- up human practices, moralities and ethics of the day.
Reality is not interested in human wants, in cooperation, worship or even reverence. It has given all aspects of creation what it needs and that’s all creation will get, including us, if my spiritual experiences are true.
All Is Well.
Mystical Experiences of Reality 
Perhaps those who realized the truth in all geographical or cultural contexts across ages, came upon the same experience of reality. The problem begins when they try to communicate it to others, which is already ‘’attempting to describe in words, the indescribable’’ as many have said before about this.
The ‘human’ translation and interpretation of what they hear/ read from these realized mystics is limited by their own understanding and is further distorted over time by the prevalent social norms, cultural beliefs, morality etc. So in the end, anything ending in ‘ism’ is probably only a very diluted, heavily contaminated version of the original truth, that was conveyed by someone who really knew.
They could still have value to relatively improve human lives as you pointed out, but best not to confuse their teachings with the absolute reality or truth. There is no religion (ism) which is pure, nevertheless, at their deepest core, may be each has something of value- but sadly that may not be accessible to their followers at all, by any of the prescribed means.
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There seems to be a resurgence of the innate, ineradicable individual human’s instinct to know and live in spiritual reality. Is this why the old secondhand religious and other man-made constructs are being abandoned?
Keith.
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