Xn3cTs

“He remembered his sadness well, but he could no longer remember what had made him so sad. It was that way with everything: even sadness passed, even pain and despair, as well as the joys. Everything passed, faded, lost its depth, its value, and finally there came a time when one could no longer remember what had pained one so. Pains, too, wilted and faded… Yes, doubtless this pain, this bitter need would also grow old and tired. It too would be forgotten. Nothing had permanence, and he regretted that, too.”

- Herman Hesse, “Narcissus and Goldmund”

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Am continuing my reflections on the possibility of a “Nietzschean Buddhism”…

Would like to sit again…

I’ve found something valuable in my practice. Hey, I may have not changed much but I detect a glimmer of hope… the possibility of overcoming deeply-ingrained bad habits of old. I’m no superman but like him, “I’m just out to find a better part of me.”

I came to Vipassana as a pantheist with Nietzschean leanings. I had strayed away from the Catholic Christian Church in the mid-1990’s. It was meeting Nietzsche (through his books, of course) that brought about my “conversion.” I found quite a number of my very deepest feelings and thoughts verbalized by this “madman.”

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Some people say that Christianity has been misunderstood. It looks to me more like it is Christianity which has misunderstood! The world, perhaps even Christ!

I’m not associating Christ with Christianity. When Nietzsche wrote “Der Anti-Christ” (usually translated as “The Anti-Christ”), his polemics was directed more to Paul and Christendom/Christianity, (a note in the translation says that it is probably more fitting to translate it as “The Anti-Christian.”) The same with Kierkegaard, his beef was with Christendom (the bureaucracy of Christianity). Christianity, as we know it today, is according to biblical scholarship, largely the work of Paul the Apostle.

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novermber 22, 2003

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To continue with Nietzsche’s criticism of Buddhism:

Nietzsche preferred Judaism over Christianity. He saw Christianity as the full flowering of Jewish resentment (as exemplified by St. Paul, who because he couldn’t observe the Law, turned against the Law…). Likewise, he preferred Hinduism over Buddhism, which he saw as the product of an old, world-and-life-wearied culture/civilization.

Nietzsche looks at Buddhism as a pessimism.

Life is full of suffering. How to end suffering?

End the very source of suffering, life itself. Since suicide was believed to produce more suffering (through karma/reincarnation), this particular option is out of the question.

How is life manifested? Through desire.

You want to end suffering, then desire no more.

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reposting… november, 2003.

best regards,

ian

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Nietzsche, Hume and the Buddha

When I first heard of Nietzsche, it was in association with Hitler and the Nazis. I simply dismissed him as a rabid, power-hungry maniac who probably had an unhappy childhood. A classmate in college wrote a paper on this Nietzsche guy and I was silently chuckling on the thought that a comic book idea (”superman”) can be the subject of a scholarly paper.

But when I did get to read him (years later), I was simply won over by this crazy guy! He says provocative things that, when thought about, actually make sense. He’s probably among the few philosophers who doesn’t come across as an insipid intellectual. He’s got style, lots of it. He doesn’t say things just for effect (although sometimes it feels like that). He’s an artist, an artist-philosopher. He’s very passionate and his sincerity comes across. He also has a weird sense of humor. Indeed, he writes with his blood. Indeed, he’s a dynamite.

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From an autografitti post… November 6, 2008.

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Hi peeps!

Hope you’re all doing fine!

In lieu of writing a clear presentation of what has been preoccupying my mind these days, I will be starting a series of rambling thoughts on certain topics (love, egoism, nietzsche, buddhism, christianity, power, passion, compassion, etc.) that have held me captive for sometime.

The stimulus, of course, is Buddhism and the Vipassana meditation course I just took.

My interest in Eastern religions and mysticism probably arose when, as a college seminarian, I took this course in Indian philosophy. I was simply fascinated by the stories, the immensity of it all, and the apparent contradictions contained within a philosophical system. I practically remembered almost without effort most of what we were taught in that particular subject. (Mostly basic concepts like “atman,” “brahman,” “maya,” etc.)

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Pantheism, Underwears, Coffee, Bread, Tea, and Everything in Between

Whenever someone makes the wisecrack that pantheism is the love for underwears, I retort, “No, on the contrary, I, a true-blue pantheist, hate lingerie. In fact, I have this great urge to discard it whenever I see it on a sexy female body.” LOL

Token reference for nerds: “pantheism” comes from the greek words “pan” (everything) and “theos” (god). Thus, pantheism is the “belief that everything is god, or conversely, that god is everything.” I don’t know exactly how “pantheism” is related to “deism” (which Rizal practiced, as gleaned from his exchange of letters with Fr. Pastells while exiled in Dapitan) but I have a suspicion that “deism” probably still sees God as transcendent from the universe while pantheism sees God as immanent to the universe.

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“Pan” and “te” are also spanish for “bread” and “tea.”

Anong konek?

After one has removed the underwear, one has “coffee.” Once satiated with “coffee,” then one can have bread and tea for breakfast.

=)

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Became a pantheist by way of Nietzsche and Buddhism/Hinduism.

If there is such a thing as a Nietzschean Buddhist, that’s what I am right now.

best regards,
panth-ian of the gods

Mwahahahaha! Just had to let the cosmic laughter resonate, no, reverberate in my body…

Everything is grace! Even when shit happens… Divine piss, holy shit!

I have always been wary of spirituality/religiosity that denied/denigrated the body. Non summus angeli! (We’re no angels!)

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