The MC trip of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance was conducted on a 1964 Honda Superhawk, CB77. This turned out to be an historically important motorcycle and one that continues to conduct its riders on a journey to the “other side.” An entire worldwide community of devotees to this make and model exists and congreagates - for a wide range of reasons - on the website devoted to this motorcycle: http://www.honda305.com

The title is a play on Zen and the Art of Archery by Eugen Herrigel, a book about the meditative quality of any skills that require you to focus on the present moment. I’d like to hear folks discuss this connection.

Please mention Lila - an important followup to ZAAMM.

As a young man “Zen in the art of MC”..taught me the patience I needed to become one with the bolt under my ‘59MGA removing the oil pan…And to this day, 55 that I am with another MGA, I still use that feeling to be one with the bolt, or screw, or nut….

Wow! I had no idea that’s what the book was about.

I had heard of the book several times and thought grudgingly that I should read it someday. Now, after hearing the first 15′ of the show (called away), It has jumped the cue to 1 or 2.

Having read both his books and heard him interviewed.Having heard him say he doesn’t give a damn what his readers think.It is sad that he has decided, that on the day we fools( the human race) do ourselves in,that he will be happy to be yelling “I told you so”.After spending years on it myself, I’m hoping for more.

On my way to do an errand with my toddler in the back seat I turned on NPR at 11:37 EST, in the middle of a sentence by one of Tom Ashbrook’s interlocutors. I heard only a few words: he mentioned that the first time he read the book he skipped over the philosophy, whereas another critic had missed the road-trip aspect. There was a moment of instant recognition - triangulation in the original sense of the word (two points define one side of a triangle, an angle from each point uniquely fixes the third point and hence determines the triangle) - and I knew which book it just had to be!

I’d read the book as an 18-yr old in India. It served as a gateway drug into exploring Zen, philosophy, Buddhism, the importance of excellence, the importance of systematic approaches to repairing things and many of the other themes mentioned during On Point.

I even took Pirsig’s practical advice to heart: I laid out sheets of newspaper on the floor of my dorm room and placed parts on it in chronological order as I took apart an electrical fan to repair it. I discovered that one of the windings was loose and had rubbed itself frayed on the housing, and had to set the repair aside. A couple of days later, the sweeper came in and moved everything aside into a neat pile, small parts went missing and that was the end of that. In spite of that initial misadventure, I still follow this procedure, even with much more complicated lab apparatus.

The romance associated with cross-country trip stayed with me as well, and many years later, motivated by those most-esteemable of my American friends who had made similar trans-continental trips, I drove coast to coast, with many of my belongings, a visiting cousin, few planned stops, a large margin of error for the length of the journey extended to the last hours and numerous hitch-hikers of various stripes.

While I read ZAMM, my now “succesful and entrepreneurial” cousin read “The fountainhead”.

Thank you for making me feel younger again.

Sharkey, nicely said. For those of you who haven’t read Lila, pick it up. In Lila, Pirsig really got into the heart of what made Zen so good…

Doubtless this has little to do with today’s topic, except titularly…anyway, it was nice to hear about the book that inspired little pieces of fluff like this one…

http://dwscottjr.blogspot.com/2008/01/zen-in-art-of-snowblowing.html

A fun read if you have a moment.

-Don

I am a teacher who read ZAMM three times throughout the years, and have never found a book on education who has helped me as a teacher as much as ZAMM. The idea of turning what could be a ’stuck’ moment or a dull routine into “art” has helped me immensely to prepare for Monday mornings. Thanks to Pirsig I as able to write a book myself on education, turning what could have been a dull career in physical education into a passion to try out new ideas, new lesson plans, and turn them into something exciting.
He showed me the path to eternal gumption.

I recall the effect of Pirsig’s journey…AMAZING youth bible, simply and most beautifully GOT me, and in many ways made me, solidified my belief in the soul.

Also highly recommend ‘Continental Drift’ by the great Russell Banks…a similar bible of the soul.

PIRSIG IS A SAINT

What I also recall is the tested relationship he shares with his teenage son. As I have myself become a parent & walked that path in blind faith on many an occasion I can’t help but smile & embrace the ripples of life that his gorgeous source material played through my mind all those many yrs ago. Now is then, then is now.

I can’t remember how I came to read the book in the early 80’s, except I was in the motorcycle industry. I was also the divorced parent of two young sons. While the philosophy might have been mostly lost on me, the thing I remember the most is the interaction with his son, and how important it was for him. I took motorcycle trips with my boy’s. I just turned 60, my boy’s are in their 30’s, we are all still into motorcycles, and we are still close emotionally. After hearing this show, I’ll have to read the book again, and maybe send a copy to my boy’s. Thanks Tom for bringing it back to me.

I bought the book the day it was reviewed in The New York Times. Almost as soon as I started reading it, I decided that it was a book that I wanted my whole family to read and bought five copies for Christmas presents. It was the first and last time that I was so inspired. One way or another, Pirsig’s book has resonated throughout my life. I’m so grateful to Pirsig and what he shared.

Your first caller exemplifies my own experience. I was vaguely aware of ZMM right back when it first came out, and even saw it as an explicit reading list reference on a course later in life …. but I was the kind of person who just didn’t read books I didn’t have to at those stages in my life.

When I eventually did read it (aged over 40) it was because I already recognized that it must be about the frustration of the classical / romantic dichotomy, and sure enough found Pirsig’s words were kinda telling me what I already “knew” but had never seen written so assuredly.

And the rest is history
http://www.psybertron.org/?page_id=1551

I am informed by people who know about such things that Pirsig’s knowledge of Zen is seriously defective. I don’t know much about Zen but I know a hell of a lot about motorcycle maintenance and based on this book I wouldn’t trust Pirsig to check whether there’s gas in the tank.

I also know a fair amount about writing books (having done it for a living for most of my adult life) and I will state categorically that ZAMM is a lousy book, the success of which might well cause a despairing person to conclude that there is no God.

Hi William,

I might just point out that Pirsig makes the clear (rhetorical) disclaimer that ZMM is not really authoritative on either Zen or Motorcycles.

If he leads people to the conclusion that there is no god (other than the buddha in the machine, including the machine called “yourself”) then his writing has succeeded in achieving its aims.

Ian

I don’t know if anyone has posed this question before (and a little surprised it wasn’t mentioned on your show), but has Ron di Santo, Guidebook to ZAMM co-author, been approached about updating the Guidebook? It’s not that the book is out of date, that is to say, untrue, invalid, or outmoded, as much as incomplete with the passage of time. So much has happened since its publication in 1990 that needs to be consolidated for ready access by today’s readers. If economic exigencies of the publishing industry prevent an actual new book, perhaps the same end could be achieved by an Internet posting.

I am greatful for ZAMM’s passionate search for the “way” to live and for the behind-the-scenes/between-the-lines explanations of its message provided in Guidebook.

–Sylvia Jane Wojcik