SOURCE: "Absolute Nothingness: Preliminary Consideration on a Central Notion in the Philosophy of Nishida Kitaro and the Kyoto School," in Monumenta Nipponica: Studies on Japanese Culture, Vol. XXI, Nos. 3-4, 1966, pp. 354-91.

In the following essay, Waldenfels discusses the notion of "absolute nothingness " in the Japanese philosophical branch known as the Kyoto School and in the work of Nishida in particular.

This paper aims at calling attention to the discussion about "Absolute Nothingness" carried on in Japan. Its contents are restricted to some philosophers of the Kyoto School.

Being and Nothingness

In his article "Buddhism and Existentialism: The Dialogue between Oriental and Occidental Thought," Takeuchi Yoshinori states:

Whenever discussion arises concerning the problem of encounter between being and non-being, Western philosophers and theologians, with hardly an exception, will be found to align themselves on the side of being. This is no wonder. The idea of 'being' is the...