the true greatness of Zen is that it cannot be reduced to an ‘inner journey’ into one’s ‘true Self’; the aim of Zen meditation is, on the contrary, a total voiding of the Self, the acceptance that there is no Self, no ‘inner truth’ to be discovered. This is why the authentic Zen masters are fully justified in interpreting the basic Zen message (liberation lies in losing one’s Self, in immediately uniting with the primordial Void) as identical to utter military fidelity, to immediately following orders and performing one’s duty without consideration for the Self and its interests – that is, in asserting that the standard antimilitaristic cliché about soldiers being drilled to attain the stain of mindless subordination and carry out orders like blind puppets, is identical to Zen Enlightenment. This is how Ishihara Shummyo made this point in almost Althusserian terms of an act of interpellation which grasps the subject directly, bypassing hysterical doubt or questioning:
‘Zen is very particular about the need to stop one’s mind. As soon as a flintstone is struck, a spark bursts forth. There is not even the most momentary lapse of time between these two events. If ordered to face right, one simply faces right as quickly as a flash of lightning… if one’s name were called, for example, “Uemon,” one should simply answer “Yes,” and not stop to consider why one’s name was called… I believe that if one is called upon to die, one should not be the least bit agitated.’
Slavoj Zizek,
Welcome to The Desert of the Real
