Nietzsche and Zen - (Studies in Comparative Philosophy and Religion) by André Van Der Braak (Hardcover)

About the Book

In Nietzsche and Zen: Self-Overcoming without a Self, André van der Braak juxtaposes Nietzsche with four influential representatives of the Buddhist Zen tradition: Nagarjuna, Linji, Dogen, and Nishitani. In doing so, he reveals Nietzschean philosophy as a philosophy of continu...

Book Synopsis

In Nietzsche and Zen: Self-Overcoming without a Self, André van der Braak juxtaposes Nietzsche with four influential representatives of the Buddhist Zen tradition: Nagarjuna, Linji, Dogen, and Nishitani. In doing so, he reveals Nietzschean philosophy as a philosophy of continuous self-overcoming, in which even the notion of "self" is overcome, and allows a greater understanding of Nietzsche through the lens of Zen and vice versa. This treatment will be useful to Nietzsche scholars, continental philosophers, and comparative philosophers.

Review Quotes

This is a timely and important book. André Van der Braak does an impressive job of gathering together the variety of comparative work previously done on Zen and Nietzsche and moving the discussion forward in lucid and compelling ways. Nietzsche and Zen does not limit itself to exploring surprising similarities between this provocative European philosopher and this radical East Asian Buddhist tradition; it stages a friendly contest in which their legacies are allowed to join hands and challenge one another to proceed still further down their paths of self-overcoming.

This is the first book-length, scholarly study of Nietzsche and Zen, and it makes an auspicious and constructive start. The research behind the reading of Nietzsche is judicious and comprehensive, and the insights into the Zen ideas come across as informed by practice. Highly recommended.

We finally have in our hands the first comprehensive philosophical study of Nietzsche and Zen. Andre Van der Braak's Nietzsche and Zen: Self-overcoming Without a Self is a thoughtful meditation on doing intercultural philosophy in a Nietzschean way. Nietzsche ultimately seeks a 'way-knowing' more similar to Buddhism and Daoism than the truth-seeking of his own philosophical tradition. This book situates Nietzsche in an intercultural context that clearly resonates with his own way of knowing. Van der Braak's Nietzsche and Zen is not only much needed--it represents a serious contribution to comparative philosophy.

The great merit of his study lies in bringing together two different positions, one from the West and one from the East; one being a specific thinker, Nietzsche, the other a whole tradition, represented by Nagarjuna, Linji, Dogen and Keiji Nishitani, who did not know of each other (except Nishitani), revealing many parallels and deep relations, which are very helpful in clarifying each other and attest all the more for their validity and value as they come from very different backgrounds and are couched in different languages and styles.

About the Author

André van der Braak is research associate at Radboud University, Nijmegen.