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<p>This essay compares two attitudes to Buddhist thought as developed by two notable twentieth-century philosophers, Alexandre Kojève and Mou Zongsan (牟宗三, 1909–1995). In doing so, it undertakes both a simple historical, and more complex philosophical, enquiry into Buddhism as a response to individual, material life and the suffering of which it is never free. Is the true and final goal of Buddhism extinction, as the cliché has it, a bold rejection of conditioned and cruel life or is it merely a compromise, a harmony with conditioned and cruel life? Is the grandeur of Buddhist thinking its boldness as a rejection of life or its complicated expression of affirmation of life? While Kojève seems to embrace the radical core of Buddhism, Mou takes the path of moderation, the middle way of the “great compassion” that imposes unwisdom upon the compassionate sage as an expedient in favor of universal salvation—a metaphor of creative extinction.</p>

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Two modern attitudes to Buddhism: Alexandre Kojève and Mou Zongsan

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2025年8月30日

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  • Jeff Love

摘要

This essay compares two attitudes to Buddhist thought as developed by two notable twentieth-century philosophers, Alexandre Kojève and Mou Zongsan (牟宗三, 1909–1995). In doing so, it undertakes both a simple historical, and more complex philosophical, enquiry into Buddhism as a response to individual, material life and the suffering of which it is never free. Is the true and final goal of Buddhism extinction, as the cliché has it, a bold rejection of conditioned and cruel life or is it merely a compromise, a harmony with conditioned and cruel life? Is the grandeur of Buddhist thinking its boldness as a rejection of life or its complicated expression of affirmation of life? While Kojève seems to embrace the radical core of Buddhism, Mou takes the path of moderation, the middle way of the “great compassion” that imposes unwisdom upon the compassionate sage as an expedient in favor of universal salvation—a metaphor of creative extinction.