Nietzsche and Buddhism: A Study in Nihilism and Ironic Affinities, by Robert G. Morrison

Any mention of Nietzsche necessarily raises the question of which Nietzsche one has in mind. In recent years, French deconstructionists have awarded him posthumous admission to the Academie Franpaise. Jaspers and then Kaufmann taught an earlier generation to think of him as a prophet of existentialism. Robert Morrison has made Nietzsche recognizable once again as a German Romantic. More precisely, Morrison presents Nietzsche as a kind of romantic guru: a teacher interested in spiritual practice. Curiously, Morrison's return to Nietzsche's romanticism is made possible by rereading him using Pali Buddhist thought. Morrison's reading of Nietzsche is all the more intriguing when we note that Nietzsche himself not only predicted the West's current interest in Buddhism, but he was ready with a harsh dismissal of it. With the death of God, a weakened and degraded bourgeoisie will be attracted to Buddhism's nihilism and passivity. Western dalliance with Buddhism should be seen as a symptom of a cultural disease. For Nietzsche, Buddhism's nihilism and passivity must be overcome by means of the will to power