In 1882, Nietzsche playfully referred to himself as "der Buddha Europas" in his manuscript.

In the propagation of the Eastern Culture to the West, Buddhism once attracted a lot of attention and interest of Nietzsche. Buddhism is also a sub-theme throughout most of his texts. It is important to understand Nietzsche's view of Buddhism, in order to further comprehend his philosophical view of "truth as a 'way of doing' (Praktiken) rather than as any established dogma".

This lecture will examine in detail Nietzsche's Buddhist origins, his Buddhist view and his view of truth presented in the texts of the Antichrist, with reference to the path of "Geyi（Isogesis格义）" in the development of Wei-Jin Buddhism. We will conclude that Nietzsche, inherited the theories of Odenberg, Schopenhauer, and others, used physiology to define Buddhism as the stimulation and elimination of bodily desires. He believed that Buddhism could be ultimately condemned to a decadent and negative nihilism. Although Nietzsche’s approach caused some misunderstanding, it also helped deepen our understanding of Buddhism from another perspective. Geyi approach also had a positive impact on the European intellectual community as it introduced to them the Eastern culture and facilitated the cultural exchange between the East and the West.

About the Speaker

Luo Shiping, Ph.D. candidate in aesthetics at the School of Humanities, Tongji University. Luo is going to Germany for joint training at the University of Freiburg. Luo is also an art writer. His  master's research focuses on religion (mainly Buddhism), philosophy of art, modern German philosophy, and Buddhist philosophy, etc. His writings have been published on "Buddhist Studies", "History, Art and Humanities in Taiwan Series", "Book City" (forthcoming), etc., He has also published some of his essays of Yijing research on "The Explanation of Yijing".