Practice Emptiness: Zazen and Shikan-taza beyond Good and Evil

Abstract

This article sets out to elucidate Zen practices as practices from emptiness, situating their understanding form an elucidation of the Nietzschean expression of being beyond good and evil. For this, the text is divided into two parts, the first, entitled On the Nietzschean expression beyond good and evil, works the sentence of the German philosopher in the context of his reflection on nihilism; the second, entitled Zazen and Shikan-taza: to be beyond god and evil from emptiness, relates the practices of zazen and zhikan-taza to the term emptiness and, through this relationship, one can read to place oneself beyond good and evil from the Buddhist perspective studied here. The article concludes by returning to Nietzsche and the importance of keeping the reference of emptiness in mind.