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The Cult of Nothingness: The Philosophers and the Buddha

by Roger-Pol Droit

Other authors: See the other authors section.

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The common Western understanding of Buddhism today envisions this major world religion as one of compassion and tolerance. But as Roger-Pol Droit reveals, this view bears little resemblance to one broadly held in the nineteenth-century European philosophical imagination that saw Buddhism as a religion of annihilation calling for the destruction of the self. Originally published in France in 1997, this book traces the history of the Western discovery of Buddhism. Droit shows that such major philosophers as Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Hegel, Cousin, and Renan imagined Buddhism as a religion that was, as Nietzsche put it, a "negation of the world." In fact, says Droit, such portrayals were more a reflection of what was happening in Europe at the time--when the collapse of traditional European hierarchies and values, the specter of atheism, and the rise of racism and social revolts were shaking European societies--than an accurate description of Buddhist thought. Droit also reflects on how this history continues to echo in contemporary Western understandings of Buddhism. The book includes a comprehensive bibliography of books on Buddhism published in the West between 1638 and 1890.… (more)
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> Fanny (Amazon) : https://www.amazon.fr/gp/customer-reviews/RYO69IUQOW151?ASIN=2020611651
> L'Express : https://www-lexpress-fr.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.lexpress.fr/informations/l-oc...
> Babelio : https://www.babelio.com/livres/Droit-Culte-du-neant--Les-philosophes-et-le-Boudd...
> BAnQ (Le devoir, 17 mai 1997) : https://collections.banq.qc.ca/ark:/52327/2767926
> Extrait et critiques : http://rpdroit.com/2004/04/16/le-culte-du-neant/
> Voir un extrait : https://books.google.fr/books?id=az1sAwAAQBAJ&hl=fr&printsec=frontcover&...

> Dans l'Oubli de l'Inde (PUF, 1989), Roger-Pol Droit exposait un projet ambitieux qui prétendait défricher un moment de notre histoire des idées: avec le présent ouvrage, il tient son pari en restituant ce qu'a été le rapport en effet méconnu des philosophes occidentaux avec la spiritualité hindoue. Cette page d'histoire ne débute qu'au début du XIXe siècle, période durant laquelle les orientalistes découvrent eux-mêmes un ensemble d'archives mongoles, chinoises, indiennes ou tibétaines, toutes placées sous la figure tutélaire du Bouddha. Hegel y voit une religion où « l'homme doit se faire néant »; Victor Cousin renchérit en parlant de « culte du néant », et Renan pousse la caricature en qualifiant le bouddhisme d'« Eglise du nihilisme » –, cette forme de pensée fascine et inquiète. Négation de la vie, destruction de soi, il en dégage cependant une éthique, et au-delà, une vérité. A laquelle Schopenhauer aura été le premier sensible, mais qui influencera aussi Nietzsche, et en France, Gobineau et Renouvier. Le contexte occidental se prête aisément à des philosophies désabusées: l'Europe d'alors vient de traverser une période révolutionnaire qui a renversé ses valeurs traditionnelles. Dans ce monde dépressif, sujet à la tentation de l'athéisme, la philosophie inaugure ce ton nouveau dont notre contemporanéité porte encore la trace. L'ouvrage de Roger-Pol Droit est très utilement érudit – plus de cent pages d'annexes et débouche sur quelque chose de plus que la seule évocation d'un chapitre de l'histoire des idées. En effet, il incite quasi naturellement à repenser notre siècle philosophique. (Marc RAGON)
Libération

> LE CULTE DU NÉANT Les philosophes et le Bouddha, de Roger-Pol Droit (Paris, Editions du Seuil, 1997, 368 p.)
Se reporter à l’article de Marcel CONCHE
In: Revue Internationale de Philosophie, Vol. 52, No. 203 (1), Auguste Comte 1798 - 1998 (MARS 1998), pp. 195-200. … ; (en ligne),
URL : https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oRZ-j5s4k1KAWeunHEJ-PrL3tfqT5eIC/view?usp=shari...

> Roger-Pol Droit, LE CULTE DU NÉANT, Les philosophes et le Bouddha, (Paris, Le Seuil, 1997), réédition augmentée d’une préface, Paris, Le Seuil, coll. « Points-Essais », 2004) ;
Id., L’OUBLI DE L’INDE Une amnésie philosophique (Paris, PUF, 1989), réédition augmentée d’une préface, Paris, Le Seuil, coll. « Points-Essais », 2004.
Se reporter au compte rendu de Gilles CAMPAGNOLO
In: Cités, No. 26, Secret privé et secret politique: L'illusion de la transparence (2006), pp. 178-181. … ; (en ligne),
URL : https://www.cairn.info/article.php?ID_ARTICLE=CITE_026_0177#s1n3
  Joop-le-philosophe | Jan 17, 2019 |
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» Add other authors (1 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Roger-Pol Droitprimary authorall editionscalculated
Streight, DavidTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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The common Western understanding of Buddhism today envisions this major world religion as one of compassion and tolerance. But as Roger-Pol Droit reveals, this view bears little resemblance to one broadly held in the nineteenth-century European philosophical imagination that saw Buddhism as a religion of annihilation calling for the destruction of the self. Originally published in France in 1997, this book traces the history of the Western discovery of Buddhism. Droit shows that such major philosophers as Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Hegel, Cousin, and Renan imagined Buddhism as a religion that was, as Nietzsche put it, a "negation of the world." In fact, says Droit, such portrayals were more a reflection of what was happening in Europe at the time--when the collapse of traditional European hierarchies and values, the specter of atheism, and the rise of racism and social revolts were shaking European societies--than an accurate description of Buddhist thought. Droit also reflects on how this history continues to echo in contemporary Western understandings of Buddhism. The book includes a comprehensive bibliography of books on Buddhism published in the West between 1638 and 1890.

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