Book SummaryZen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, by Robert Pirsig

1-Page Summary1-Page Book Summary of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

Introduction

A cultural touchstone of the Seventies, Robert M. Pirsig’s Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (ZAMM) is a smorgasbord, equal parts autobiographical novel, travelogue, and collection of philosophical essays.

The book features a two-track structure. The first track, told in the present tense, follows an unnamed narrator (whom Shortform, because of the numerous parallels between the narrator and the real-life Robert Pirsig, has chosen to call “Pirsig”) and his 11-year-old son Chris on a motorcycle trip from Minnesota to California. This track features the vivid descriptive language, dialogue, plot, and character development typical of a realist novel.

The second track consists of a series of philosophical and autobiographical discourses. Pirsig calls these discourses “Chautauquas.” (In the 19th century, Chautauquas were traveling tent shows that featured lectures from religious and intellectual figures.) Pirsig’s primary concerns in these Chautauquas are three:

• Modern technology and human beings’ relationship to it
• The story of Phaedrus, Pirsig’s alter-ego
• Phaedrus’s concept of “Quality”

The First Track: The Story

When the book begins, Pirsig and Chris have just left Minneapolis on motorcycles. They are accompanied by John and Sylvia Sutherland, friends of Pirsig, who are riding with the Pirsigs as far as Bozeman, Montana. Whereas Pirsig is an editor of technical manuals, John is a drummer, and their differing attitudes toward motorcycle maintenance provide the impetus for Pirsig’s early Chautauquas on technology.

As the riders make their way west, the Pirsigs’ backstory is slowly revealed. The key plot points are as follows:

• Some years before the ride, Pirsig suffered a mental breakdown and was institutionalized. He was treated with electroshock therapy, which caused him to forget who he was before the treatment. Through occasional fragments of memory and his own research, he’s been able to get a sense of the person he was before. He calls this person Phaedrus.

• Phaedrus was a gifted child who enrolled in college at 15 to study science. He found himself haunted by philosophical questions and eventually flunked out. After a stint in the army, he returned to college to study philosophy.

• After graduating, again consumed by existential questions, Phaedrus spent years in India studying philosophy. He found Eastern philosophy equally as unsatisfying as Western philosophy and returned to the States. He earned a graduate degree in journalism and wound up teaching rhetoric and composition at Montana State University in Bozeman.

• His experience teaching led him to the discovery of “Quality,” an indefinable philosophical concept from which (he thought) sprung all of human experience and endeavor. Both for professional and intellectual reasons, he decided to continue researching “Quality” in an interdisciplinary graduate program at the University of Chicago. It was while he was living and studying in Chicago that he suffered his breakdown.

• Chris has been causing trouble at home lately. He also suffers from chronic stomach aches, but no doctor has been able to find a physical cause. His caretakers fear he’s at risk of a breakdown as well.

In Bozeman, the group stays with an old colleague of Phaedrus named DeWeese. After a few days, the Sutherlands return to Minnesota, and the Pirsigs press on to California. As they near their destination, Pirsig fears that Phaedrus is reviving in his mind and another breakdown is imminent.

When the Pirsigs reach California, Chris’s mood is at its nadir. Pirsig feels compelled to have a frank talk with him. He tells Chris that he, Pirsig, was once insane, and that the doctors fear Chris will end up insane as well. (Shortform note: The terminology and overall depiction of mental disorders in the book is dated.) In response, Chris descends into a wailing fit. As Chris rocks and cries, Phaedrus speaks through Pirsig, and Chris responds favorably. When Chris asks if Pirsig was really insane, Phaedrus, through Pirsig, says no. Chris suddenly brightens, and the book ends with the Pirsigs cruising along the Pacific coast, reconciled.

The Second Track: Chautauquas

Modern Technology and the Human Response

Pirsig’s discourses on technology are a response to the “Beat” and “Hippie” cultural movements, which equated “technology”—machinery, engineering, physical science—with either soulless consumption or...

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance Summary Shortform Introduction

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (ZAMM) is a challenging book, covering a wide range of ideas and interweaving philosophy with story. To aid your understanding, we’ve crafted our summary to highlight the main points.

Format

The published text of ZAMM is divided into four parts and 32 chapters. Because the summary features highly condensed versions of individual narrative episodes and Chautauquas, we’ve reorganized into fewer chapters to be coherent.

Structure and Style

Although ZAMM has been categorized as a self-help or advice text, the reading experience it provides is closer to that of a novel: Both...

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance Summary Chapter 1: The Journey Begins

The book opens in the height of summer with Pirsig on his motorcycle, his son, Chris, seated behind him. They’re riding from Minneapolis to Montana alongside Pirsig’s friends, John and Sylvia Sutherland; when we join the travelers, they’re on a two-lane road somewhere in western Minnesota. Pirsig catches sight of a red-winged blackbird taking flight and points it out enthusiastically to Chris, but Chris, who’s 11, isn’t very impressed. Pirsig theorizes that the reason he’s so taken with the surroundings is because they’re bound up with his memories, memories Chris doesn’t have.

Chautauqua: Motorcycle > Car

Pirsig follows a description of his memories—of the sights, sounds, and smells of the cold Midwest mornings of his past—with a riff on the superiority of motorcycling to car driving.

• In a car, we see the world through the frame of the windows. We’re sealed off from the scene around us, and we watch the passing signs much like we watch TV: passively, comfortably, disinterestedly.

• On a motorcycle, however, we are in the scene: the road in all its solidity rushes by just a foot beneath us; the wind whips us; the sound of the engine is loud in our ears....

Shortform Exercise: Mind Over Matter

Apply the concepts of “Making Good Time” and the “spectator attitude” with these exercises.

Think about the last trip you took. Were you more concerned with arriving at your destination or enjoying the act of traveling itself? Considering Pirsig’s ideas about “making good time” and overcoming discomfort, what are some ways that you can make your next travel experience more fulfilling?

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance Summary Chapter 2: The Scientist and the Artist

The next morning, Pirsig is up before the rest of the group. To kill time, he decides to tell us what to pack for a motorcycle trip across the Dakotas. He divides the list into four categories: clothing, personal stuff, camping equipment, and motorcycle stuff.

Along with the essentials for any long-distance riding trip—durable gloves, rain gear, and spare parts—Pirsig also brings books. On this trip, he’s brought three: his cycle’s shop manual, Chilton’s Motorcycle Troubleshooting Guide, and Thoreau’s Walden.

He’s brought Walden for Chris’s benefit. He errs on the side of too-sophisticated when he considers books to share with Chris, because then the book becomes a spur to conversation. He’ll read a sentence, Chris’ll ask a series of questions, then he’ll read another sentence. They can pass a whole evening reading and talking in this way.

Pirsig also notes that he hasn’t brought shoelaces.

At last Pirsig decides to rouse the group. They pack up and hit the road toward Ellendale, where they’ll have breakfast. It’s cold out, but the scenery is beautiful: dawn light, sparkling dew and mist in the fields. Pirsig looks fondly at his old gloves, which are frosty from the...

Shortform Exercise: The Personality of Belongings

Think about the objects that mean something to you.

Write down a possession of yours that you’ve held onto longer than you probably should. What about it keeps you coming back to it? What kind of “personality” does it have?

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance Summary Chapter 3: Two Ways of Thinking

Pirsig rises at 9:00 am; it’s already too hot to sleep. Licking his wounds from the hard ride the day before, Pirsig walks among the surrounding pines lost in thought. He admits that, as he pursued his Chautauquas, he’d hoped he would only have to refer to Phaedrus’s ideas and not the man himself. It’s clear to him now, however, that he cannot avoid talking about Phaedrus personally any longer. He recalls Chris’s American-Indian friend, whose grandmother said ghosts appear only when someone hasn’t been buried correctly. And that’s the problem: Phaedrus wasn’t buried right.

Presently John and Sylvia rise, and the adults begin packing up and cooking breakfast. Pirsig wakes a resistant Chris by yanking his sleeping bag right out from under him. The adults eat their eggs and bacon; Chris takes one bit of food then says his stomach hurts.

Breakfast over, the adults finish breaking down camp. As Pirsig loads the last of his gear onto his cycle’s luggage rack, he notices his rear tire is surprisingly worn down. There’s a problem with the chain as well, and he unpacks his tools to make the necessary adjustment. As John watches Pirsig loosen and tighten the axle, he expresses...

Shortform Exercise: Classical vs. Romantic

Figure out how you view the world.

Are you a classical or romantic thinker? Why? Write down an example or two that illustrates what kind of thinker you are.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance Summary Chapter 4: Who Was Phaedrus?

The riders stop in a town called Baker. Pirsig’s motorcycle is piping hot—it’s 108 degrees out—and there are some mechanical issues. He tends to them as best as he can. As they eat lunch, Pirsig recommends that neither he nor John drive faster than 55 mph—given the air temperature, the motorcycles are in danger of overheating and the tires might blow out.

Back on the road, John speeds ahead while Pirsig slows to 55. Pirsig, resigned to whatever may happen, returns to Phaedrus.

Chautauqua: Phaedrus the Individual

Although Pirsig believes Phaedrus’s ideas are the most important thing about him—more important than his personal history or physical appearance—there are some aspects of him as an individual that are essential.

• He had an exceptionally high IQ. On the Stanford-Binet IQ test, which evaluates a person’s analytic ability, he scored a 170. Only 1 person in every 50,000 scores this highly.

• He was focused. Phaedrus’s intellect was like a laser beam: intense, far-reaching, and highly precise.

• He was isolated. He had no close friends and traveled alone; and, although he had a wife and children, they couldn’t get through to him.

• _He was...

Shortform Exercise: The Scientific Method in Everyday Life

The scientific method can be applied broadly. Use these exercises to explore its uses in your own life.

Think of a problem, whether at work or in your personal life, that you seem to encounter again and again. Write it down.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance Summary Chapter 5: Phaedrus Adrift

Chautauqua: Phaedrus’s Discovery

Phaedrus was fond of a particular speech Einstein gave in 1918. In the speech, Einstein described “science” as a temple with many mansions and many inhabitants. Some take to science because they’re smart and ambitious, others for practical, problem-solving reasons. If you remove these two types of inhabitants from the temple, you’ll nearly clear it out. But only nearly—there will remain those who pursue science as an escape from the everyday world, who pursue science for its own sake. Phaedrus was this kind of scientist.

He completed his first year of college-level science at age 15. He was already a biochemist, specializing in molecular biology. But his rare devotion to science for its own sake led him to question the very foundations of science, in particular the development of hypotheses.

Over and over in the lab, as Phaedrus ran experiments to test hypotheses, new hypotheses would occur to him; in fact, as he ticked off hypotheses proven or disproven by his experiments, the number of possible hypotheses would grow rather than shrink. At first he found this phenomenon comforting—given a particular problem, there was...

Shortform Exercise: Lateral Thinking

Test out your own ability to think laterally with these prompts.

Revisit the problem you analyzed using the Scientific Method. In the space provided, brainstorm some out-of-the-box remedies you might try. Don’t edit yourself; just let the ideas flow.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance Summary Chapter 6: The Church of Reason

The riders arrive at the gates of Yellowstone Park and pay their fee to enter. Pirsig recalls that Phaedrus rarely visited the park even though he lived close to it when he was in Bozeman—it was too stagey for him.

Chautauqua: Phaedrus in India

Before Phaedrus wound up in Bozeman, however, Pirsig informs us he spent years studying Eastern philosophy at Benares Hindu University in India.

The experience wasn’t revolutionary for Phaedrus, at least not at the time. He was, however, exposed to a great deal of information that would influence his later thought.

One such influence was the religions of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Taoism. Phaedrus discovered that the differences among these religions were minor compared to the tensions among the major Western religions (Christianity, Islam, Judaism). The core tenet of the Eastern religions he studied was Tat tvan asi—Sanskrit for “Thou are that.” Tat tvan asi means that there is no division between who we are and what we perceive. Once a human being realizes that he is one with everything around him, it says, he has reached enlightenment.

**The best way to recognize our oneness with the world is...

Shortform Exercise: Activity as Artistry

Use these exercises to get yourself thinking like an artist.

What are you best at? In the box below, describe the facet of your life where you excel the most and list 3–5 reasons why you excel.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance Summary Chapter 7: Up the Mountain of Quality

The morning after Pirsig’s flashback, he and Chris pack their backpacks and hike into the mountains behind the DeWeeses’. Pirsig notes that mountains appear in every major religion as metaphors, especially for a spiritual obstacle that prevents the soul from reaching its highest goal.

Chautauqua: Phaedrus’s Inquiry into Quality

Phaedrus saw his inquiry into Quality as an attempt to find a new path up the mountain of existential meaning. His ascent can be divided into two phases: a creative, unsystematic phase, which Phaedrus found enjoyable; and a rigorous, hierarchical phase, which Phaedrus thought resulted in a new conception of human existence but came at the cost of his family and freedom.

Pirsig believes that a new theory of the meaning of existence—a new path up the mountain—is needed now more than ever. Many modern people still follow the precepts of Jesus and Moses, but if those figures were to appear today and start spreading their message, they wouldn’t be taken seriously. This isn’t because their ideas aren’t wise or true, but rather because the historical context has changed—a reference to “Heaven above,” in an age when we can see into distant space,...

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance Summary Chapter 8: Cultivating Quality

The hikers have stopped at a water source and are eating lunch. They’re descending the ridge along a different trail, into a different canyon. Although Chris is disappointed that they won’t be summiting the mountain, he offers to carry some of the heavy stuff Pirsig transferred to his pack.

Back on the trail, the going is relatively rough—the slope is steep, and Pirsig has to hack through the overgrown brush with his machete—but eventually the hikers make it to a road. Some fellow campers give them a ride back into Bozeman; it’s late by the time they arrive, and Pirsig decides to check them into a hotel rather than wake the DeWeeses. They’re asleep almost as soon as they lie down.

In the morning, Pirsig and Chris return to the DeWeeses’ to say their goodbyes, then they’re back on Pirsig’s cycle, heading West.

Chautauqua: Coming Down the Mountain

Pirsig wants to effect a change in emphasis, from the abstract to the practical. His final judgment is mixed on whether Phaedrus advanced human knowledge either of the Tao or Quality, but what he did achieve was an expansion of our notion of reason. Although he was a dyed-in-the-wool classical thinker, Phaedrus used the...

Shortform Exercise: Recognizing Quality

Quality can be a difficult concept to grasp. Try these exercises to train yourself to recognize Quality.

Think of the last time you were “stuck,” whether at work or in your personal life. What strategies did you use to get “unstuck”? Or, if you’re still stuck, list some reasons why you think you might still be stuck.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance Summary Chapter 9: Gumption, Gumption Traps, and Motorcycle Maintenance

In the morning, Pirsig packs everything up before waking Chris. Made mischievous by the coldness of the morning, Pirsig screams “Wake!” to rouse him and immediately starts reciting Persian poetry (which Chris, in his half-awake state, doesn’t appreciate).

Soon they’re on the road again. As they cross into Oregon, Pirsig is still reciting verses from The Rubáiyat of Omar Khayyám to himself. Chris yells to Pirsig that he has diarrhea again, breaking Pirsig’s reverie. They pull over at a stream, and Chris hops off to clean himself.

Chautauqua: On Gumption

In the process of attending to our task with a calm mind, there’s always the possibility that unforeseen problems may arise. Pirsig calls these annoyances “gumption traps,” for they siphon off the initial enthusiasm—the gumption—we feel as we become attuned to Quality and immersed in our work.

Although there are likely an infinite number of gumption traps, Pirsig narrows the field to two main types: Setbacks, which are external circumstances that divert us from the Quality path; and Hang-Ups, which are internal circumstances that do.

An all-too-common setback is the “leftover part” setback....

Shortform Exercise: Beating Gumption Traps

Use these exercises to make sure you keep your gumption levels high.

Which of Pirsig’s gumption traps is your kryptonite? Write it down and include what activities cause it. (If you have several, feel free to list them.)

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance Summary Chapter 10: Phaedrus at the Brink

Pirsig has his recurring dream, except this time he’s more interested in the shadowy figure than Chris. He interrogates the figure; the figure seems to cower in fear as Pirsig approaches it. Suddenly Pirsig lunges for the shadow’s neck—it writhes like a snake—but just as Pirsig is about to see its face he’s awakened by Chris’s cries.

As he calms Chris down, he tells Chris he saw the figure’s face: it was his own. Pirsig realizes that the shrouded figure in the dream is him—and the dreamer, the person trying to get through the glass door to Chris, is Phaedrus. This epiphany leaves Pirsig despondent. He believes Phaedrus is trying to reassert himself in Pirsig’s mind.

Pirsig has a flashback to a winter’s day when Chris was six. Phaedrus and Chris were in the car, but Phaedrus didn’t know where they were going or where in town they were. Chris had to remind him they were going to buy a bunk bed. Eventually Chris had to get out of the car to ask people for directions. They managed to find their way home, where Chris’s mother was irate that they weren’t able to find the bunk-bed store.

Haunted by this incident, Pirsig contemplates heading to San Francisco, putting Chris on a bus...

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance Summary Chapter 11: The Travelers Arrive

Chautauqua: Phaedrus’s End (cont’d)

Phaedrus returned to his study of Plato and Aristotle with renewed interest. He now wondered why Plato had spurned the Sophists and their teaching of aretê. But it turned out Plato hadn’t done away with aretê, or at least not completely. What he’d done was transmute it into an entity called the “Good,” which Plato considered the highest goal of human life except for Truth. The problem with Plato’s “Good” was that it was eternal and unchangeable—exactly the opposite of the Sophists’ aretê, which adapted to people’s beliefs and historical contexts.

Phaedrus guessed that Plato reinterpreted aretê to keep immutable Truth at the top of his hierarchical system. Because, if for every question there is but one true answer, then there must be only one true definition of aretê.

This demotion of aretê in favor of Truth left the door open for a philosopher like Aristotle, who sidelined aretê even more in favor of the kind of scientific inquiry, based on empirical observation, that we would find familiar today. In Aristotle’s system, which formed the basis of not only the University of Chicago’s educational approach but also...