1. 246p 2. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [242]-246)
關鍵詞
Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance; Zen Buddhism in literature; American Literature; Religious Philosophy; American Studies; Robert Pirsig; David Duncan
摘要
The novels Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig and The Brothers K by David Duncan are works promulgating the Zen Buddhist world view to America. Currently, the postmodern theoretical climate is conducive to an exposition of the Zen perspective. Postmodernism and Zen concur in their postulation of a decentered universe. There are no absolutes upon which we can rely. A corollary assumption negates the existence of an abiding "self." Our self identity is contingent and transitory, emerging from competing discourses. But whereas postmodernism holds there is no experience free of the contingencies of language, Zen Buddhism teaches that it is possible to transcend the boundaries of language and awaken to a vast store of consciousness uncontaminated by preconceptions. According to Zen, we are habitually deluded about the nature of world by the mental structures we impose on our perceptions, dividing reality into an assembly separate entities and selves. We are consequently unaware of the interconnectedness of all phenomena and of the potential magnitude of our own consciousness. Inducing this awareness heightens the intuitive powers and expands our affective responses.
In his autobiographical novel, Robert Pirsig attempts to undermine the subject/object dualism that Zen postulates is the principal ground of delusion. During the course of a cross-country motorcycle journey, he analytically demonstrates the "irrationality" of our subjugation to reason at the expense of affect. Seeing the world in terms of self verses other, we have dominated nature at the cost of becoming enemies to natural processes and one another. The practice of Zen mindfulness, of profound identification with the objects of perception, is offered as a means of gradually diminishing the power of dualistic thinking in our lives.
David Duncan presents Zen practices as useful in overcoming entrapment in narrow and deluded subject positions. He describes the evolution of relationships among members of the Chance family over a twenty year period when the family is torn apart by ideological battles. The fissures are healed by the characters who learn to be dialogically open and ideologically liminal. Thus, the Zen ideology of no-ideology is promoted.
