**5. Conclusions**

One of the biggest di fferences in debates about the syncretism of Buddhism and Confucianism between China and Korea is that they peaked earlier in Korea, i.e., during the Goryeo period of Korea vs. the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644) in China. Moreover, while in both cases, we can ascertain what Brook refers to as a "division of labor", whereas in China Buddhism specialized in the metaphysical and Confucianism in the ethical,<sup>25</sup> in Goryeo, Buddhism embraced far more than the metaphysical. Besides the metaphysical, Buddhism was also considered more suited to ethical cultivation, e ffectively relegating Confucianism to the political domain only.

The arguments for the fundamental equivalence of Buddhism and Confucianism in Goryeo as analyzed in this paper do not sugges<sup>t</sup> that there was an actual syncretism (in most senses of the term) taking place. At the same time, simply characterizing this process as harmonization also does not do full justice to what was taking place. The basic arguments for the similarity of Buddhism to Confucianism started from a tradition of apologetics that revealed Buddhism's weaker hand: Buddhism had to prove its similarity to Confucian values, not the other way around. We see this in the discourse built up by Choe Chiweon. Yet, it appears that in Goryeo Buddhism encroached on the domain of Confucianism, to the point that it was thought essential to the cultivation of human nature, i.e., ethical cultivation. Thus, we have a kind of ecumenism in which Buddhism and Confucianism are seen as complementary systems that point to the same universal truths, but also with inklings of inclusivism, as Buddhism takes over quintessentially Confucian elements, while claiming to be better at them. The genuine convergence of Buddhism and Confucianism was perhaps not put into practice, but was definitely conceived of among the elites of Goryeo.

**Funding:** Publication of this article was aided by a publication gran<sup>t</sup> from Seoul National University.

**Acknowledgments:** This paper was first presented at an academic conference sponsored by the Panya Hermitage at Tongdo Temple on 2 June 2019. I would like thank the organizers of the conference, in particular Director Ven. Jian, for their support, and to all participants for their feedback.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The author declares no conflict of interest.
