Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism of the Sui and Tang: Their Relationships and Academic Influence

The relationships among Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, in some sense, determine the characteristics and trend of Chinese academic thinking since the Han dynasty. As a result of the individual development and long-term interactions among the three schools since the Han and Wei, the new academic situation of the tripartite confrontation in the Sui and Tang was an extension of their historical evolution. The tripartite confrontation, in turn, posed an e-normous influence on Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, and established an important basis for the syncretism of the three schools, first occurring in the Tang and Song and lasting for over a millennium.