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Zen After Zarathustra: The Problem of the Will in the Confrontation Between Nietzsche and Buddhism

Zen After Zarathustra: The Problem of the Will in the Confrontation Between Nietzsche and Buddhism 050 davis (89-138) 10/27/04 12:49 PM Page 89 Zen After Zarathustra: The Problem of the Will in the Confrontation Between Nietzsche and Buddhism Bret W. Davis s Nietzsche’s affirmation of the world and oneself as “the will to power—and Inothing besides” the path to a self-overcoming of nihilism; or is it, as Heidegger contends, the “ultimate entanglement in nihilism”? Is Buddhism the purest expression of a “passive nihilism,” as Nietzsche claims; or does it teach a radical “middle path” that twists free of both the life of the will to power and a pessimistic negation of the will to live? Does the Buddhist path go so far as to intimate a great affirmation of living otherwise than willing? From the outset, one thing does seem certain: venturing out to sail on the “open sea” (GS 343) of Nietzsche’s thought, we confront Buddhism as one of the most interesting and challenging “foreign perspectives” from which to “question one’s own.” And yet, rather than let his exposure to this other tradi- tion call into question his own philosophy of the will to power, Nietzsche him- self more often used his interpretation of Buddhism as a “rhetorical instrument” for his critique of http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png The Journal of Nietzsche Studies Penn State University Press

Zen After Zarathustra: The Problem of the Will in the Confrontation Between Nietzsche and Buddhism

Davis, Bret W.
The Journal of Nietzsche Studies , Volume 28 (1) – Nov 29, 2004
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Publisher
Penn State University Press
Copyright
Copyright © 2004 The Friedrich Nietzsche Society.
ISSN
1538-4594

Abstract

050 davis (89-138) 10/27/04 12:49 PM Page 89 Zen After Zarathustra: The Problem of the Will in the Confrontation Between Nietzsche and Buddhism Bret W. Davis s Nietzsche’s affirmation of the world and oneself as “the will to power—and Inothing besides” the path to a self-overcoming of nihilism; or is it, as Heidegger contends, the “ultimate entanglement in nihilism”? Is Buddhism the purest expression of a “passive nihilism,” as Nietzsche claims; or does it teach a radical “middle path” that twists free of both the life of the will to power and a pessimistic negation of the will to live? Does the Buddhist path go so far as to intimate a great affirmation of living otherwise than willing? From the outset, one thing does seem certain: venturing out to sail on the “open sea” (GS 343) of Nietzsche’s thought, we confront Buddhism as one of the most interesting and challenging “foreign perspectives” from which to “question one’s own.” And yet, rather than let his exposure to this other tradi- tion call into question his own philosophy of the will to power, Nietzsche him- self more often used his interpretation of Buddhism as a “rhetorical instrument” for his critique of

Journal

The Journal of Nietzsche Studies – Penn State University Press

Published: Nov 29, 2004

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