About this episode

The episode explores Nietzsche's opposition to Buddhism and its implications for Western thought.

For all that is admirable in Buddhism, Nietzsche fundamentally opposes the movement towards the Last Man that Buddhism not only cannot oppose, but may even help bring forth. Why does the notion of a "European Buddhism" haunt Nietzsche's later writings? We will explore this question here: how a religion that is realistic, empirical, and achieves great practical success in the relief of suffering isnevertheless inevitably aimed at uprooting all action and delivering man to a state of passivity. Here we find another religion of pity, and another denial of the world - merely deprived of the sensualism and moral fanaticism of Christianity. Were such a religion to take hold in the West, Nietzsche believes, the opportunity of moment, which we face as a consequence of the death of God, would be squandered. Join me in exploring more sutras, as well Nietzsche's criticisms of Buddhism in The Gay Science, Daybreak, Beyond Good and Evil, and the Will to Power.

People in this episode

Host: Untimely Reflections

Topics covered

• Nietzsche
• Buddhism
• philosophy
• Last Man
• passivity
• suffering
• Western religion

Keywords

• Nietzsche
• Buddhism
• Last Man
• philosophy
• suffering
• passivity
• Western religion

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: The Gay Science, Daybreak, Beyond Good and Evil, the Will to Power

More episodes of The Nietzsche Podcast

• 148: Keiji Nishitani - Religion and Nothingness, part 2 · September 8, 2026 · 1h 26m
• 147: Keiji Nishitani - Religion & Nothingness, part 1 · September 2, 2026 · 1h 46m
• Q&A #16 · August 11, 2026 · 2h 51m
• The Gay Science #25 (V.372-393) · August 4, 2026 · 1h 51m
• The Gay Science #24 (V.364-371) · July 28, 2026 · 1h 37m

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