Nietzsche and Buddhism: A Study in Nihilism and Ironic Affinities

by Robert G. Morrison

Morrison offers an illuminating study of two linked traditions that have figured prominently in twentieth-century thought: Buddhism and the philosophy of Nietzsche. Nietzsche admired Buddhism, but saw it as a dangerously nihilistic religion; he forged his own affirmative philosophy in reaction against the nihilism that he feared would overwhelm Europe. Morrison shows that Nietzsche's influential view of Buddhism was mistaken, and that far from being nihilistic, it has notable and perhaps surprising affinities with Nietzsche's own project of the transvaluation of all values.

Genres: Philosophy, Buddhism, Nonfiction, Religion

260 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

Reviews

[Bob · Rating 2 out of 5]

The affinities (ironic or otherwise) between Buddhism and Nietzsche are, prima facie, a fascinating topic for an academic study. It is certain that neither Nietzsche in his criticism of Buddhism, nor Schopenhauer in his embrace of it, fully understood this eastern religion. But unfortunately, Morrison is not the best-equipped person to bring these affinities out. Mostly this book consists in partial selections from Buddhist texts that try to make Buddhism over into (what he sees as) Nietzscheanism, i.e. into a life-affirming creed that doesn't at all see existence as fundamentally problematic and sorrowful. To do this, Morrison ignores a lot of stuff and papers over a lot of other stuff. He admits that, for example, Buddhism's attitude is definitely contrary to the eternal recurrence, yet moves on after this admission as if it indicated nothing serious for his argument. Mostly, Morrison strikes me as a man who is incapable of seeing the "tragic sense of life" and therefore fails to notice that Buddhism is, despite that it is not exactly what Schopenhauer thought it was, at base motivated by this. Thus he misses the opportunity to see more subtle affinities between Nietzsche and Buddhism that might really lead to an interesting and fruitful synthesis.

[Sadra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good

[Luke · Rating 5 out of 5]

The connection between western metaphysics and Buddhism is not taken very seriously in the west. It’s sad because a history of western metaphysics could easily be written in terms of progress toward the better understanding of Buddhism!

There’s no way Nietzsche spent this much time thinking about Buddhism. And that’s too bad for all of us. It haunted him more than anything else. It was the only time he was almost entirely off base about something. His retaliation against it was biased by his need to improve upon Hegel and Schopenhauer. Two greats who also forgot to give Buddhism their full respect…Meanwhile using it as a starting point for the improvement of all western philosophy. Butchering Kant in the process.

This book was refreshing because it was well researched in Buddhism and also understands Nietzsche at a high level. The writing shows how Nietzsche could riff on difference and repetition but didn’t fully get dependent co-arising. In many ways he didn’t really improve on Hegel who already admitted the illusions of negation and repetition.

There needs to be more acceptable writing on this cross polonation. Osho makes the connection. You could make an argument that Alan Watts did too. But not really any intellectual in western metaphysics…that we’ve heard of…Even Deleuze steered away from Buddhism. Surely to his detriment. To me this seems like the future of western metaphysics if it can at all be revived. It’s got to be communicated in a way that doesn’t get overly spiritualized. A focus on the cynical agnosticism of Buddhism. The inherent positivism of consciousness.

[Felix Konstenius · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was not what I expected since the author seems more interested in making a case for the striking and almost indistinguishable similarities between Buddhist and Nietzschean notions of self-overcoming or their active nihilism while shying away from some more problematic affinities. For example, Nietzsche's view of the cosmos and life as endless becoming because of the eternal occurrence is not really compatible with the Buddhist view of the arahant as someone who has transcended samsara and destroyed the fetters of becoming. The ironic affinities brought up in comparing Nietzsche's ultimately misunderstood and misread basis for his rejection of the Buddha's teaching, as life-denying negative nihilism, in contrast with his life-affirming positive nihilism, are mostly used by the author to cherry-pick examples for demonstrating that they in actuality basically say the same thing. The heavyhanded way of giving an account of almost doctrinally listing these affinities came off to me as box-checking and made the reading quite unengaging for me personally.

[Carlos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having found the philosophies of both Nietzsche and Buddhism hard to follow despite finding them genuinely interesting, I was willing to give this book a chance though fully prepared to find myself quickly out of my depth. Instead I was treated to the best explanations I have found on either of these topics. While the book is not easy by any stretch, Morrison gives great explanations and the structure itself, alternatively explaining Nietzsche’s faulty understanding of Buddhism, actual Buddhism philosophy and its similarities with Nietzsche’s philosophy, allows the reader to better understand both philosophies. While I wouldn’t recommend this book to anyone with simple curiosity regarding these great philosophies, I would definitely recommend it to those who, having read about both of these, still find them difficult to grasp.

[Brian · Rating 2 out of 5]

So I got something from this book, but for a lot of it I did not; consequently I did not like it. It is an interesting concept, but it just isn't really great for an audiobook with so many long, complicated, foreign words from both sides. Without the ability to refer back it is very difficult to keep track.