Whereas the whole ancestor obsession thing ... Asian fusion seems to be the way to go for dwarves - a Confucian/Shinto/Taoist/Buddhist mix ... much like a lot of actual Chinese people (if you substitute out the Shinto for traditional Chinese animism).
I also like the idea of dwarves whose funeral rites are very similar to their child dedication rites (each essentially marks you moving to or from the spirit branch of the family).
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Originally Posted by jason taylor
They are also very big on reciprocity which sounds a little more Zenish.
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Although thinking about it this could also be about the management of obligations - a dwarvern society in which every individual keeps a strict tally of their debts to one another could well look reciprocity obsessed to outsiders. Recall Pratchett's dwarves whose marriage rites include closing out your accounts with your parents ... in cash terms.
Actually, speaking of Pratchett, how do we portray female dwarves? Rare or just all but indistinguishable from the males? (And recall there was variation even in his dwarves ... the Copperheaders had acknowledged gender within their community whereas that was a massive taboo for dwarves from Uberwald