ABSTRACT
This chapter seeks to lay bare that there is much more than purely biographical significance to Foucault’s intimations on Zen, above all if we set Foucault’s observations and remarks within the larger framework of his late aeuvre. It seeks to substantiate that when collated, Foucault’s scattered, sketchy remarks on Zen are indeed germane, not just because they broaden and refine the general picture of spirituality, asceticism and techniques of the self beyond the familiar, admittedly quite narrow Western genealogical lineage and typology. The chapter claims that Foucault’s intuitions on Zen are particularly pertinent for the study on the notion of resistance and the composition of the Foucauldian political toolkit, its contents, its diversity, its repertoire of different political resources, arts, techniques and tools, its practical feasibility and its effectiveness in various sorts of struggles, confronting different kinds of power and government.
