Walking the Tightrope

In The Antichrist , Friedrich Nietzsche writes favorably toward Buddhism, especially in comparison with Christianity.  But Nietzsche probably only had a superficial understanding of Buddhism (and he never mentions Zen at all), which was just becoming widely known in Europe during his lifetime.  Nevertheless, one does not have to know everything about a systemic discipline or perspective in order for that system to match much of one’s personal beliefs, arrived at independently. In Nietzsche and Zen: Self-Overcoming Without A Self (2011) by Andre van der Braak the reader is introduced to numerous similarities (as well as differences) between the German philosopher and the ancient religion.  The two are not an exact fit, but van der Braak has done a decent job of bringing to light the importance of self-overcoming to both sources and in delineating the specifics of this essential concept to understanding Nietzsche’s theory of psychology.   In brief, though the specifics differ, Niet