原始佛教与叔本华的人生观有诸多相似之处。本文在概述其人生观的基础上，进行了相似性与差异性的比较。笔者认为，相似性在于它们都认为人生是苦，都认为人生是苦的原因是欲望与现实的冲突，也即“求不得”。而差异性在于原始佛教追求苦灭的理想境界是涅槃，是断除烦恼,证得中道的“空”，而叔本华追求苦灭的理想境界是绝对的无；佛教认为摆脱痛苦的方法是八正道，是温和的禁欲主义，反对苦行，而叔本华认为摆脱痛苦的方法是绝对的禁欲苦行，乃至绝食自杀。笔者认为，相似性产生的原因是两者理论继承上的亲缘关系以及佛陀与叔本华时代背景的相似；而差异性产生的原因是佛陀与叔本华对苦行的经验不同，学说性质不同以及它们理论自身的规定性不同。此外，笔者认为合理扬弃它们的人生观就可以对现实起到正面的指导作用。 Early Buddhism’s outlook on life is similar with Arthur Schopenhauer’s. This paper summarizes their views and then compares their similarities and differences. The author thinks, they both believe that life is suffering due to the conflict between desire and reality. However, Early Buddhism thinks people can get out of the suffering by abandoning defilements and obtaining emptiness of Middle Way , while Arthur Schopenhauer thinks people can only do this by severe abstinence and asceticism. Early Buddhism’s ideal is nirvana, whose characteristic is “Kong”, while Arthur Schopenhauer’s ideal is ”Wu” or nothingness . The author thinks, the two views are similar because they learned from similar theories and the Buddha and Arthur Schopenhauer lived in similar historical backgrounds. They are different because of the Buddha’s and Arthur Schopenhauer’s different experiences about asceticism, the different nature of the two theories and their theoretical limits in themselves. Besides, the author thinks the two theories can guide us correctly if we treat them objectively.