Friedrich Nietzsche, Buddhism and the Superman.

[PDF] We will look first at the life and the work of Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) and then to proceed at once to one of the central conceptions of his thought, that is to say the conception of the Superman. Then we'll be comparing Nietzsche's thought, especially the idea of the superman with Buddhism as the embodiment, the exemplification, of the higher evolution of man.

Friedrich Nietzsche was born in Germany in 1844. His father was a Lutheran minister. It was, in fact, Nietzsche who said that the Lutheran minister was the father of German philosophy; but that's another story. His father died in 1849, when Nietzsche was only four or five, and Nietzsche spent his whole childhood surrounded by his mother, his sister, his grandmother, and two maiden aunts. And he was sent when he was a little older to boarding school, and from there he proceeded to the universities of Bonn and Leipzig where he studied Classical Philology; this was his subject. But for one reason or another he didn't obtain his doctorate, but in spite of that he received a call, at the age of 24, to Basle University to occupy the Chair of Philology. This came about on account of the strong recommendation of the very great scholar and philologist, Ritschl, who had been very much impressed by Nietzsche's work as a student. So there was Nietzsche at Basle University teaching Classical Philology. But he didn't drop his studies, he studied Philosophy, especially Schopenhauer, and he took an interest in music, especially the music of Wagner. And in 1872, when he was still a very young man, he published his first book which carried the title of The Birth of Tragedy. This was a short but very brilliant work of quite exceptional interest. During the next few years he published a number of other important works. But in 1879, when he was only 35, he resigned his University appointment, terminated his academic career, and thereafter he spent most of his active, that is to say his writing, life in Switzerland and in Italy.

As one reads the life of Nietzsche, despite his tremendous achievement in the field of philosophy, in the field of thought, quite brilliant, quite exceptional achievements, one cannot help feeling a little sad because Nietzsche's whole life from the time that he left the University was a life of intense, even increasing loneliness. He was completely on his own. There was, apparently, nobody, or at least hardly anybody who understood him or with whom he could be really friends, except in one or two cases just through the medium of correspondence. And he also had to suffer, more and more, very great physical pain. He wasn't a healthy person, and one of the scholars who have written about him has left a very moving, a very touching, portrait of Nietzsche and the way in which he used to live, this very lonely, this very secluded, very isolated life with continual mental and physical suffering. But despite all this, Nietzsche continued to write, and between 1883 and 1885 he wrote Thus Spake Zarathustra which was and is his most famous and most popular work. And he continued writing until 1888, but he continued writing amidst increasing isolation and increasing physical suffering, sometimes quite unbearable physical suffering. Not only that, but there came to him, as a result of his work, hardly any recognition. When he published, for instance, the fourth part of Zarathustra, I believe only a few dozen copies were sold. Nobody seemed to take any notice at all of his writing, of his ideas, and so on. So he had no recognition, or at best just a very tiny, very faint glimmer of recognition, certainly nothing commensurate with the importance of his work. And then in 1889, Nietzsche became insane and he died, still insane, in 1900 at the age of 55. So such was the life, such was the work of Nietzsche.

Friedrich Nietzsche, Buddhism and the Superman:

1. Friedrich Nietzsche, Buddhism and the Superman.
2. * The philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche.
3. The Superman, the Overman or Übermench.
4. Thus spake Zarathustra.
5. Man is something to be overcome.
6. Giving style to one’s character.
7. The will to power.
8. The Higher Evolution and the Overman.

By Urgyen Sangharakshita.

[in French] [Introduction] [Buddha] [Buddhism] [Meditation] [Sangharakshita] [FWBO] [the Centre]

25 rue Condorcet 75009 Paris - 01 44 53 07 31 -

Dernière mise à jour:
21 juillet, 2008.