“Phædrus is fascinated too by the description of the motive of "duty toward self " which is an almost exact translation of the Sanskrit word dharma, sometimes described as the "one" of the Hindus. Can the dharma of the Hindus and the "virtue" of the ancient Greeks be identical?”
Source: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (1974), Ch. 29
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Robert M. Pirsig 164
American writer and philosopher 1928–2017Related quotes

Source: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (1974), Ch. 29
Context: Lightning hits!
Quality! Virtue! Dharma! That is what the Sophists were teaching! Not ethical relativism. Not pristine "virtue." But aretê. Excellence. Dharma! Before the Church of Reason. Before substance. Before form. Before mind and matter. Before dialectic itself. Quality had been absolute. Those first teachers of the Western world were teaching Quality, and the medium they had chosen was that of rhetoric.
The Story of Islamic Imperialism in India (1994)

“Hindu body and soul, Hindu life, in every pore my identity is of a Hindu”
His poem quoted in "The truth according to Vajpayee".
“Sanãtana Dharma stands for self-exploration, self-purification, and self-transcendence.”
Defence of Hindu Society (1983)

“He strives after that which we translate 'virtue' but is in Greek aretê, 'excellence' …”
Source: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (1974), Ch. 29
Context: "What moves the Greek warrior to deeds of heroism," Kitto comments, "is not a sense of duty as we understand it—duty towards others: it is rather duty towards himself. He strives after that which we translate 'virtue' but is in Greek aretê, 'excellence' … we shall have much to say about aretê. It runs through Greek life."
There, Phædrus thinks, is a definition of Quality that had existed a thousand years before the dialecticians ever thought to put it to word-traps. Anyone who cannot understand this meaning without logical definiens and definendum and differentia is either lying or so out of touch with the common lot of humanity as to be unworthy of receiving any reply whatsoever.

Source: Glamour: A World Problem (1950), Certain Preliminary Clarifications

"Diwali is an integral part of Hindu culture" http://www.flp.org.fj/n021102.htm - speech at Diwali celebrations in Ba, 2 November 2002