Satre's classic has been embraced deeply by the Zen buddist world. Nothingness is the goal in Zen meditation. Satori. A point where the dualism of subject and object no longer exists. Where the individual and the rest of the universe are no longer separate. Become one with everything, as the saying goes. To do that you must become nothing, empty your mind and being of all thought and feeling through meditation. Satre approaches this from a western based philosphy mindset and Zen from an eastern psuedo-religious approach. Not identical but simliar.

I have a japanese sushi chef friend in Cali who got me interested in this about 40 years ago while I was in college. I can't say I buy into the Zen religion (although it is a godless religion if there is such a thing). But when people ask me what religion I am or to define my belief system, I usually say I'm somewhere between agnostic and Zen buddist.

Robert Pirsig's "Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance" is a classic well worth reading.