This essay examines the role of suffering in An Inquiry into the Good and argues that Nishida Kitarō's serene and abstract philosophical style represents not a denial of personal pain but an embodied ethical stance grounded in Zen Buddhist principles and Japanese cultural tradition. Rather than addressing suffering through confessional or emotional discourse, Nishida adopts technical and detached philosophical language that reflects his commitment to transcending the ego-centered self. Through a comparative analysis examining how Herrigel's Zen in the Art of Archery describes the process of overcoming frustration and attachment in spiritual practice and how Suzuki's Zen and Japanese Culture explores the cultivation of mushin (no-mind) and self-negation in martial arts, this study establishes a cultural framework for understanding Nishida's approach to suffering. His concept of "pure experience" and the negation of subject-object dualism operates through the same logic of ego-transcendence that characterizes Zen practice. The essay demonstrates that Nishida's serene philosophical style represents a performative dimension of his moral philosophy. Rather than indulging in personal tragedy through emotional expression, his abstract language embodies the very ideal of selflessness he advocates. This stylistic analysis reveals how philosophical writing itself can function as spiritual practice, offering new insights into the relationship between form and content in early modern Japanese philosophy. This study contributes to Nishida scholarship by introducing a methodological approach that examines philosophical style as moral positioning, while also illuminating how cultural traditions shape not only philosophical content but the very modes of philosophical expression.

Authors:
Roxanne Montoya Mahecha, University of Tsukuba, Japan

About the Presenter(s)
Ms. Montoya Mahecha is currently a research student at Tsukuba University. Her interests center around the relationship between fiction and philosophy, with a recent focus on Japanese and Latin American literature.

Connect on Linkedin
https://www.linkedin.com/in/roxanne-montoya-mahecha-b08066ba/

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