[MD] questions about cover art

[Adrie Kintziger]

Hi, Horse.
Just a far pitch, would it be possible that  the bike was build specific
for the American market?...(a sentence from the web)
Adrie

Op vr 5 okt. 2018 om 13:25 schreef Horse <horse at darkstar.uk.net>:

> Hi Christoph
>
> The flower half of the motif on the cover of Zen and the Art of
> Motorcycle Maintenance (ZAMM) is a Lotus Flower which has a special
> place in Buddhism. According to Wiki:
> "In*Buddhist*symbolism the*lotus*is symbolic of purity of the body,
> speech, and mind as while rooted in the mud, its*flowers blossom*on long
> stalks as if floating above the muddy waters of attachment and desire.
> It is also symbolic of detachment as drops of water easily slide off its
> petals."
> The flower is Zen, the spanner the motorcycle.
>
> Something else that may also be of interest are the markings on the
> spanner.
> On my ancient copy of ZAMM, on the shaft of the spanner I can see 2
> impressions from the 'casting'. One is 5/16W and the other is 3/8BSF.
> The first is for Whitworth (or British Standard Whitworth) and the
> second is for British Standard Fine which relate to bolt/thread sizes
> and were used extensively on British motorcycles, before and during the
> 1960's.
> I don't know if this is to symbolise Pirsig's links with the UK or if
> it's just an artist's attention to detail. It does seem a bit
> incongruous when you think that Pirsig's motorcycle was Japanese which
> would likely have used the metric system. It may be some other
> additional symbolism or it may be nothing!
> Food for thought?
>
> Have a look at:
>
> https://www.ebay.com/gds/Understanding-Whitworth-BSF-AF-BA-and-metric-tools-/10000000003499809/g.html
> for more background info
>
> There are other good references to be found if you search using Google.
>
> Good luck with your research and feel free to post again with other
> questions or ideas
>
> Horse
>
>
>
> On 02/10/2018 21:35, list wrote:
> > Hello,
> >
> > I am working on some research about the various editions of Pirsig’s
> books and I was wondering if anybody would know what flower/plant is
> depicted on several of the covers. I would suspect that it somehow relates
> to the philosophical ideas.
> >
> > Any ideas?
> >
> > Thank you,
> > Christoph
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