‘Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance’
“The Buddha, the Godhead,” he writes, “resides quite as comfortably in the circuits of a digital computer or the gears of a cycle transmission as he does at the top of a mountain or in the petals of a flower.”
“A study of the art of motorcycle maintenance is really a miniature study of the art of rationality itself.”
“Metaphysics is a restaurant where they give you a 30,000 page menu and no food.”
“The only Zen you find on the tops of mountains is the Zen you bring up there.” — Robert Pirsig
When I was 20-years-old and an undergraduate English major in college, I read the novel “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values” by Robert Pirsig, and it changed my life. Published in 1974, it sold over a million copies in its first year and sold more than 5 million copies overall. His novel topped best-seller listings for a decade, making Pirsig arguably the most widely read philosopher of the modern era.
For those who are unfamiliar with the rigorousness of Pirsig’s work, it’s easy to stereotype “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” with the dozens of the so-called “Zen and the Art of” books; some titles include “Zen and the Art of Murder,” “Zen and the Art of Stand-Up Comedy,” “Zen and the Art of Disc Golf,” “Zen and the Art of Productivity,” “Zen and the Art of Poker,” “Zen and the Art of Collecting Old Cars,” “Zen and the Art of Business Communication,” and “Zen and the Art of Vampire Slaying.”
While Zen is a system of philosophy and meditation that is arguably applicable to all dimensions of existence, when so many people seek to speak for and define an ancient tradition, often without any actual knowledge or training in the tradition, it can raise issues of cultural misappropriation and misrepresentation.
Pirsig, however, was a serious, lifelong practitioner and student of Zen. He first became interested in Zen while living in East Asia. He studied with revered Zen Master Shunryu Suzuki, and after earning a Ph.D. in Asian philosophy in Benares, India, he returned to the United States to work as a college professor.
There is a classic saying in Zen: “Great suffering equals great enlightenment.” And Pirsig’s life embodied this Zen stance. At age 9 he was assessed as having an IQ of 170, and he entered college at age 15 to study chemistry. Being a genius arguably increased his difficulty. He stammered, had difficulty making friends and was expelled from the University of Minnesota due to failing his classes.
Pirsig was diagnosed with schizophrenia in the early 1960s. He was court-ordered to undergo psychiatric treatment and endured two years of hospital interventions, including extensive electric shock therapy. While he was receiving shock treatments his wife divorced him. One of the reasons he wrote “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” was to heal the trauma he experienced from his schizophrenia and related treatments. Pirsig’s son Chris was also hospitalized for mental illness, and in later editions of his seminal text Pirsig discussed how Chris, at age 22, was murdered outside the San Francisco Zen Center.
Though his text arguably became the most widely published and influential Zen text in the west, “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” made the Guinness Book of World Records for the bestselling book rejected by the largest number of publishers (121). Pirsig in both his life and his writing showed the world how to endure, and endurance is perhaps the most quintessential of all Zen traits.
“Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” was based on a real-life, 17-day motorcycle trip that he took with his 11-year-old son Chris and two family friends. They rode from the Twin Cities of Minneapolis-Saint Paul to San Francisco. The vast majority of the book consisted of Pirsig silently riding on his motorcycle, with Chris on the back, as he contemplated the intersections of Zen and Western thought.
For a military brat, such as myself, who grew up in the South playing football and going to conservative Christian schools and churches, Pirsig’s insights were a revelation. Pirsig championed the classic Zen position: that nothing was sacred in and of itself, and instead spirituality and transformation could manifest at any time depending on the intentionality of the meditation practitioner. Pirsig taught a generation that even the deepest suffering could be overcome if someone had a philosophy and practice that helped them make sense of the world, and they worked on cultivating endurance and gumption.
I read Pirsig’s book at a time of transition in my life. I was 24, a graduate student in English literature, and was offered a Peace Corps assignment in Nepal — which had been my dream job. My friend Rob had just purchased a motorcycle and suggested I buy one too and that we ride across the country. My friend’s suggestion seemed absurd; I had never ridden a motorcycle in my life. Taking a motorcycle trip across the country would mean I wouldn’t join the Peace Corps and a valuable chance to immerse myself in an Asian culture that I loved would be lost.
More Zen for Daily Living:Returning to the path
Instead of going to Nepal, I rode with my friend Rob across the country. I thought about Pirsig’s book as I rode my motorcycle. After the trip, I returned to the East Coast, finished my Master’s degree, met my future wife and enrolled in divinity school, leading to me becoming a Buddhist monk. The roots of karma are deep and ultimately unknowable. I wonder sometimes what my life would be like if I hadn’t taken that motorcycle trip: would I still have become a Zen monk, a psychologist, a father? The truth is I’ll never know. And it’s good Zen practice to sit with not knowing.
What I do know is I’m grateful for my journey. And I’m grateful for writers like Robert Pirsig who harness the profound suffering of their lives to make the world a better place. I’m also grateful for friends like Rob who propose bold directions and make us stretch our comfort zones; difficulty is often where we have the most growth. And I’m grateful for the causes and conditions of my life, seen and unseen, that have blossomed into my current existence. Pirsig’s work helped me become the monk I am today. What skillful resources have helped shape you into the person you have become?
Dr. David Zuniga is a clinical psychologist in private practice in Austin, and he is also a vice-bishop in one of the oldest lineages of Korean Zen; his website is a free, interdisciplinary source of support: drdavidzuniga.com/
