[MD] RMP in India

[Ian Glendinning]

Agreed - You miss my point - he didn't dismiss it entirely - but he
did give up (for a time).

On Thu, Jan 24, 2013 at 10:43 AM, MarshaV <valkyr at att.net> wrote:
> Ian,
>
> When he returned from Korea and before he went to India he was studying philosophy in Minnesota.  Metaphysics can get under your skin.  I am not saying that Eastern philosophy was the only influence, but it's too easy to say that he dismissed it entirely and forever at the tender age of twenty-three.  I don't buy it.  Besides it is my favorite part of the story.  I, too, became very disillusioned with Eastern studies and went back to college to study Western philosophy.
>
> Finally, helping to setup a Zen Center is a bit of 'actions speak louder than words'.
>
>
> Marsha
>
>
>
> On Jan 24, 2013, at 5:22 AM, Ian Glendinning <ian.glendinning at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Ah yes,
>>
>> That's true, but that was before he started on science (biology) and
>> originally became dissatisfied with the received wisdom of scientific
>> premises.
>>
>> I doubt attachment to that narrow kind of rationality was the cause of
>> his subsequent giving up on his first foray into Eastern philosophy.
>>
>> Although - it is not at all clear what did cause this - it's something
>> I've pointed out he (or Wendy) needs to elaborate on in his own story.
>> Hence my interest.
>>
>> (My guess is that he probably found a superficial hippy / new-agey
>> interest in those visiting India at the time, and didn't find it deep
>> enough philosophically that time around.)
>>
>> Ian
>>
>> On Thu, Jan 24, 2013 at 10:09 AM, MarshaV <valkyr at att.net> wrote:
>>>
>>> Hi Ian,
>>>
>>> I came to this conclusion from the last dvd (all packed away at the moment) where Mr. Pirsig talks about having to give his father rational reasons for _everything_ (exp. using the car).  I'm sure his father had good intensions; maybe to train him to be a lawyer.  But of course this is what I intuited, it's speculation and not fact.  His helping establish a Zen Center is not the action of someone who "gave up" an Eastern interest.  I cannot believe that his trip to India did not have an influence despite not providing easy palatable answers.  Realization is not something that is Hindu, or Zen or Buddhist.  It is a personal experience beyonds words and labels.
>>>
>>>
>>> Marsha
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Jan 24, 2013, at 4:04 AM, Ian Glendinning <ian.glendinning at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Hi Marsha,
>>>>
>>>> Not sure it was "hyper-rational" parental influence specifically, he
>>>> was already dissatisfied with "science" and looking for something -
>>>> but Pirsig does strongly emphasise that he gave up any Eastern
>>>> interest after this earlier unsatisfactory experience. "Gave up" - his
>>>> words.
>>>>
>>>> It was only after the "seed crystal" in Bozeman, that the story
>>>> started to fall into place, and the rest is history.
>>>>
>>>> Ian
>>>>
>>>> On Thu, Jan 24, 2013 at 8:48 AM, MarshaV <valkyr at att.net> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> When RMP fled India and the University of Benares, he was twenty-three years-old.  That was at the beginning of his journey, long before his awakening and while he was still under the influence of a hyper-rational reality gifted to him by his father.  imho  That he later helped establish a Zen Center points to a reconsidering of Eastern philosophy.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
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