Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

The article is written with complete inspiration from the book by Robert Pirsig “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance”

It is one of my favorite books on Zen Philosophy. There are ways Zen is defined. One favorite statement I like from Dogen, Zen Philosopher – “If you cannot find the truth right where you are, where else do you expect to find it”. To experience Zen one has to live it.

This book is a penetrating examination of how we live, a breath taking meditation on how to live better. Here is a book that transformed a generation, an unforgettable narration of a summer motorcycle trip across North America’s northwest, undertaken by a father and a son. A story of love and fear – of growth, discovery and acceptance, that becomes a profound personal and philosophical odyssey into life’s fundamental questions, this uniquely exhilarating modern classic in both touching and transcendent, resonant with the myriad confusions of existence and small essential triumphs that propel us forward.

Few true, meaningful statements from the book.

1. The place to improve the world is first in one’s own heart and head and hands, and then work outward from there.
2. The state of “stuckness” is to be treasured. It is the moment that precedes enlightenment
3. When people are fanatically dedicated to political or religious faiths or any other kinds of dogmas or goals, it always because these dogmas and goals are in doubt.
4. We take a handful of sand from the endless landscape of awareness around us and call the handful of sand the world.
5. You look at where you are going and where you are and it never makes sense, but then you look back at where you have been and a pattern seems to emerge
6. Sometimes it is little better to travel than to arrive.
7. I am flawed if I am not free.

I read this book when I was in my college (1990 – 1994) at IIT Kharagpur. It was moving book for me. I loved the fact that how beautifully a father could love his son.

I wished, someday I should do it. Life happened as the sea of life kept tossing me up and down. In the journey of understating life, in between I lost living and experiencing life.

In July 2019, we as a family were sitting in a Tibetan restaurant for lunch in Dharamshala (A city in Himachal Pradesh). Saw some bikers with their Royal Enfield’s. They were on their way to Spiti and Ladakh.

I was enamored. I had to set my spirit free. I could imagine, listening to their conversation that they were experiencing Zen while riding.

Once I was back in Aug to Gurgaon I got myself the Royal Enfield Himalayan. It is genuinely the true extension and toy for a free spirited soul.

I love Royal Enfield Himalayan beacuse of the spirit with which it is made. It is truly expressed in this video

I had never ridden a Royal Enfield Himalayan before. On the back of the mind it was firm that I would master the art of riding. Also wanted to experience bike riding like Robert & the way he enjoyed riding with his son Chris.

It took some months to sync with the Himalayan, to make it move the way I wanted to. Finally had the guts to take out my son for a ride on 31 May 2020.

As I took the picture, this line flashed in my mind – “You look at where you are going and where you are and it never makes sense, but then you look back at where you have been and a pattern seems to emerge”

It was a Zen like feeling. It took to 27 years to fulfill the dream. Now I understand how Robert wrote such a moving book. A silent tear of joy, full of gratification rolled down as I looked up the sky and thanked that super consciousness.

The journey has been wonderful so far!!