The Debate and Confluence between Confucianism and Buddhism in East Asia: A Historical Overview

After the arrival of Buddhism toward the end of the Eastern Han dynasty (25-220), Buddhism found itself in a fierce conflict with indigenous Chinese thought. The controversies between Confucianism and Buddhism reached their peak in the time of the Northern and Southern dynasties (420-589). By then these two ideologies had gone through a long period of mutual conflict. When Buddhism spread East from China and entered Korea and Japan, a wide array of intense debates was aroused in 14th and 15th century Korea and in 17th century Japan that resulted in an ultimate confluence between Confucianism and Buddhism. This volume tells the story of the debate between Buddhism and Confucianism in East Asia and explains the reason why the confluence between these two systems of thought is possible.