The Dao Companion to Japanese Confucian Philosophy, part of the Dao Companion to Chinese Philosophy series, features essays by international scholars on key writings of Japanese Confucian philosophers, focusing on the early-modern period (1600-1868). It significantly enhances the study of Confucianism and Japanese philosophy.
A Historical Overview. Translated by Jan Vrhovski. With a foreword by Jana S. Rošker
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.