 Koreans have been key players in Asian intellectual history and have historically been great propagators of intercultural adaptation. The “Three Teachings” of China, in the form of Buddhism, Confucianism, and Daoism (sometimes written “Taoism”), had all made their way into Korea by the fifth century CE, blending with the pre-existing institutions and culture there. Korean Confucians had used Confucian ideas, especially those advocating hierarchy and moral leadership, to bolster a powerful state bureaucracy in order to provide society with a rigidly structured and organised modus vivendi. In this context, philosophical thought was linked with action, and with concrete implications for oneself, one’s family, and one’s state (indeed, the world). Confucians, who were not particularly concerned with the spiritual life of individuals, sought an organised pathway to create an ethical and socially guiding discourse. Inevitably, confrontations arose between different groups, and intellectually, they gave rise to a series of philosophical debates that have shaped Korean Confucianism, especially during its phase of maturation during the Chosŏn dynasty (1392–1910), when its recalibrated form, Neo-Confucianism, displaced Buddhism as a rival intellectual and philosophical system.