From nihilism to Sunyata: Zen on the problem of Nietzsche's nihilism

• Main Author: Marfil, Magdalene N.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2007
• Subjects: Nihilism (Philosophy); Sunyata; Zen Buddhism; Philosophy
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_bachelors/2211
• Institution: De La Salle University

My thesis is about Nietzshe's metaphysical and existential nihilism. In nihilism, a duality arises between non-being/nothingness and being. Due to this duality, one is caught in the standpoint of relative nothingness -a nothingness that is seen in complete opposition to being. If nothingness is seen this way, the suchness of things becomes veiled to us. As a solution to this problem, this thesis attempts to throw our prejudice when it comes to dualistic thinking so that people will be able to realize that being and non-being are actually in unison. Only through this unity will we be able to experience the suchness of things. In existential nihilism, there is a spiritual malady that I believe one has to go beyond. My solution for going beyond existential nihilism is to face it squarely, pursue it further, push it further, and see it as a turning point to be able to reach the standpoint of absolute emptiness or sunyata the standpoint of which both the yin and yang of Life is seen. One then no longer drowns in the sea of despair and angst that nihilism entails, because in the standpoint of sunyata there is no longer attachment to these paralyzing emotions. But rather these are seen as temporary things that one has to go through to experience the deepest and most pristine aspects of what it means to be human.