Competition: Buddha, Confucius, and Nietzsche

Section 13: Ruj, Brandon, Erin

Competition: Buddha, Confucius, and Nietzsche  

We were inspired by this comic strip by Existential Comics that showed four very different philosophers playing a board game and how they would each approach the game. Their philosophy on life and competition would dictate whether they were focused on winning, focused on the experience, or focused on teamwork. We each picked three different philosophers that interested us to determine how they might approach a competition if they were to play together.

*Please follow the link to Existential Comics to view the full comic.*

Buddha's Approach:

Buddha is not a name but a title, it means “one who is awake” in Sanskrit; his actual name was Siddhartha Gautama. He was born into a royal family in modern day Nepal, near borders of India. Growing up Guatama lived a very extravagant life, however during his late 20s he came to the realization that his social status will not protect him from sickness, getting old, and death; he decided to leave his loyal responsibilities and begin a spiritual quest. After years of practicing and learning from different mendicant, he was awakened to the true nature of reality, after that he became known as the Buddha. After his enlightenment, he spent the rest of his life helping other people to recognize their own enlightenment.

Buddha strongly believed that we are all one and one person's success is everybody is success. He often mentioned that happiness, success, and bliss come when we appreciate one another's work. As he says, “When you move your focus from competition to contribution life becomes a celebration.” For Buddha cooperation humankind is more important than competition. For instance, in a running race if someone falls, Buddha will be the person who will stop and help that person back up to their feet, because he believes that we are all one and we succeed when we cooperate. Buddha’s approach keeps him away from hate, greed, ignorance, which is a positive concept that promotes harmony and peace. However, some philosophers view Buddha’s approach as a weak point, because he isn’t trying his best to reach his full potential and falling behind as a result of helping others.

Confucius' Approach:

Confucius whose real name is Kong Qiu (aka Mater Kong) is known as a Chinese philosopher and teacher. Confucius is a man that strived toward equality and motivating society. He felt that if he lived by what he believed, others will follow. This lead to his propagation of Confucianism, a Western term that has no counterpart in Chinese, but is a worldview, a social ethic, a political ideology, a scholarly tradition, and a way of life. This is sometimes viewed as a philosophy and a religion. He viewed competition as a great resource to learn from your peers regardless of winning or losing. Refrain from judging another from their bad qualities, instead uplift and learn from all.

For instance, if Confucius and a classmate were competing to see who will get a better grade on a test, and his classmate fails, Confucius would not brag or boast. He would ask questions to understand what the classmate did wrong and how he could help his classmate prepare to do better for the next test. As a competitor, we would be most focused on learning from the experience. Remember what mistakes that classmate did to help others avoid those same mistakes. Confucius has a lot of positive aspects, but there are also some negatives. Although we focus heavily on bettering ourselves, we also need to remind ourselves of how far we have come and how much we have accomplished. Realizing the success of your positive actions will make you want to do more and relieve stress. Overall, Confucius aim is to spread equality throughout the world using the silver rule, which is similar to the Golden Rule (treat others the way you want to be treated).

Nietzsche's Approach:

Friedrich Nietzsche was, and still is, a controversial individual in history. His philosophies relate to competition in many ways given his work focused on the obstacles holding humans back, overcoming challenges at all costs, and reaching our fullest potential. He believed that society was held back by collective values, which were reinforced by religion, that perpetuate weakness and punished the strong. He also believed that a “Transvaluation,” or collective reevaluation of societal values was needed in order to enforce values that promote the strongest to evolve. The individuals, what he called the “Ubermensch” or superman, would be closer to embodying humankind's full potential of power.

For Nietzsche, the priority is always power; the ends would justify the means in any competition or game. He does not adhere to the values of the weak like humility, kindness, compassion, or empathy. He would not only be focused on winning but achieving one’s highest potential. Positives of his approach are that it thrives in competition, open to risk taking which can garner greater rewards, and it pushes individuals to embrace their power and grow it. However, the negatives of his approach far outweigh the positives. It’s an extremely selfish way of life and very destructive. These are the same ideals that, thanks largely to his sister’s editing of his work after his death, were used to fuel the Nazi concept of a “Master Race” and allow them to unapologetically inflict cruelty on everyone, even their own people.

Quiz: Who is it? Buddha, Confucius, or Nietzsche

*Related to in-class presentation.

1. Who was descended from royalty? 
2. Who believed religion made humans weak?
3. We compete but don’t keep score, because win or lose we learn from the experience.
4. If only one succeeds through cooperation, then we all actually succeed.
5. In the fable of the tortoise and the hare, I’d be the tortoise. 
6. Who believed in loving every aspect of your life?
7. Obstacles make you more powerful.
8. I appreciate the talent and skill of my competitors, even if they may be more talented than myself.
9. Achieving one’s full potential is good for all of society, even if some are left behind in the process.  

Discussion: 

1. What kind of competitor are you? 
2. Is your approach to competition a conscious choice or did it arise naturally?
3. Which approach do you believe is the best for human kind? Why?