Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

[Semper Fidelis]

I'd like to get your input about this work as well as Sam Harris and Buddhism.

The reason I ask is that someone in my extended family has apostatized and is obsessed with having "conversations" with his Christian family members about what they believe.

The conversations, however, are more questions that try to show the person how stupid they are for believing in such a monstrous God. He talked to my wife so I decided I should talk to him too and it was a rambling conversation with him making lots of assertions even though he said all of us are "idiots" and can't really know anything.

I frustrated him with our conversation and he reached out for a new conversation. Since I was travelling on business for a couple of months I had to delay but our conversation is coming up. He asked me if I've read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. I hadn't but, since he seems obsessed with it, I'm almost done with it after a couple of days. It's a story of a father and a son travelling cross-country together on a motorcycle as the backdrop of the author's desire to show that western thought is defective. As a basic introduction to an abridged understanding of philosophy it's interesting but his whole point is to show the inadequacy of dualistic thinking.

I hadn't ever heard of the book and wondered if many this young man might also be into Sam Harris who practice Zen Buddhism from a meditation perspective. I haven't studied Buddhism much but from some friends I've heard that there is more of the religious Buddhism of parts of Asia alongside some atheistic Buddhism and the popular Buddhism that just adopts the "way".

Have any of you seen any really good Christian and philosophical critiques of the book and/or, for that matter, Sam Harris himself? I just wan to be prepared for the conversation. The goal is not to "take him down" but to make sure I can probe and see where he's coming from and redirect his energy.

 

[Logan]

I had to read at least part of it for one of my engineering classes, of all things. I thought it was pretentious tripe and couldn't understand the appeal. But then again, I am admittedly not an enlightened individual.

I've not come across any good critiques of it, but perhaps that's because few take it seriously? Like this reviewer who gave it 1 star and simply said:
"I feel like Robert M. Pirsig has wronged me personally."

I'd be interested to read a more in-depth critique of the contained buddhist philosophy.

 

[Edward]

I don't recall if I read it when it came out; I haven't heard any discussion about it in decades.

 

[VictorBravo]

I read it when it came out. Significant parts of the book took place in Bozeman MT (near where I lived) and the art instructor mentioned was my sister's professor. I think she even met Pirsig, once, and thought he was strange.

I felt sorry for Pirsig, actually. He thought he had come up with a new insight--"quality" as a fundamental. I appreciated his observation that those who appreciate technology the most were those who could get by without it: ranchers and farmers as opposed to city-bound consumers.

But beyond that, even in my pagan state at the time, I found it pretty trite and pathetic. Certainly not something to build a worldview on.

As far as critiques, when it was all the rage the discussions bounced back and forth from "what's his problem?" to "if you don't get it, you never will."

 

[KMK]

I read it 30 years ago. I enjoyed it at the time and, as a musician, found his thoughts on 'quality' interesting. But then again, I enjoyed all of Carlos Castaneda's books at that age too.