Sungkyunkwan University (President Ji-beom Yoo) announced that its Institute of Confucian Philosophy and Culture (Director, Professor Doil Kim) has published Buddhist-Confucian Dialogue: A Contribution to the Comparative Philosophy of Religion through Springer Nature, one of the world's leading academic publishers. The volume offers a fresh examination of the relationship between Confucianism and Buddhism, two of the most influential intellectual traditions in East Asia.

Released as the seventh volume in Springer's renowned Comparative Philosophy of Religion series, the book was co-edited by Professor Doil Kim and Professor Leah Kalmanson of the University of North Texas. Bringing together leading scholars from Korea and abroad, the volume highlights the growing contribution of East Asian philosophy to international discussions in comparative philosophy and philosophy of religion.

Contributors examine a wide range of topics, including life and death, emotion and morality, self-cultivation, political order, meditation, music, and humility. Through these studies, the volume illustrates how Confucian and Buddhist thinkers often engaged one another through critique, adaptation, and creative reinterpretation, thereby enriching both traditions. The book further suggests that these intellectual resources remain relevant for contemporary discussions of moral development, human flourishing, and the search for meaningful ways of life.

Contributors include prominent researchers such as Steven Heine, Jea Sophia Oh and Albert Welter, together with distinguished Korean scholars including Professor Youngho Lee of Sungkyunkwan University and Professor Yongbin You of the University of Seoul, longtime collaborators of the Institute. Their participation reflects the Institute's growing role as an international hub for research on East Asian philosophy and religion.

This publication represents the culmination of more than four years of sustained scholarly collaboration. Since 2021, the Institute has fostered a series of conversations on Confucian–Buddhist dialogue, with earlier research outcomes collected in the Korean volume Confucian-Buddhist Dialogue: Communication and Harmony between Buddhist and Confucian Thought (Janggyeonggak, 2024). The new Springer volume brings these discussions into a global scholarly forum, demonstrating how Korean humanities research is not merely participating in international academic conversations but helping to shape and advance them.

Beyond its research achievements, the Institute has also emerged as a leading center for training the next generation of humanities scholars. Seven early-career researchers affiliated with the Institute's Center for the Contemporary Study of East Asian Classics and Critical Confucianism (CCECC) have secured faculty appointments at major Korean universities, including Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul National University, and Pusan National University.

Professor Doil Kim has also continued to expand Sungkyunkwan University's global academic presence through his own research. In December 2025, he published The Art of Seeing Beyond Oneself: A Confucian Perspective on Humility with Oxford University Press, further contributing to international scholarship on Confucian ethics and comparative philosophy.