. A Photo Taken By John Sutherland, Which Appears To Be From The 1968 Motorcycle Trip West Described In Robert M. Pirsig’s Book Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance.
…Sylvia Sutherland Is On Upper Left Wearing Sun Glasses; Robert M. Pirsig Is On Right, wearing his black beret which he mentions once in the book. Pirsig's cycle is his 1966 Honda CB77 Superhawk.
The Sutherlands' BMW R60/2 cycle is obscured by its load of luggage, one of the indications that this image is probably from that 1968 road trip.
…This photo was furnished to ZMMQuality by the Sutherland family in 2022, and the image is taken from a copy, not the original photo.
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…John Sutherland was an expert and photographer, and took many photos from that famous motorcycle ride west but is often not credited for them. Some forty boxes of his photos exist and more photos may emerge as the family sorts through them, hopefully including the original of this photo.
Special thanks to the Sutherland family for sharing this photo.

…Although there is no hint in the book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, John Sutherland was a knowledgeable man of many abilities.. His day job was as a social worker, and this would have helped him to be alert to other person’s mental states, and provide assistance. This may have even applied to his friend Robert Pirsig. Like Pirsig, John was interested in Zen practices & all things Eastern, having likewise served in the US Army in Asia, Japan specifically in John's case.
Indeed, it was a conversation between Pirsig and Sutherland on a motorcycle ride about Eugene Herrigel's Zen in the Art of Archery that lead to Pirsig to formulate his title: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.
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Pirsig mentions the beret shown in this photo at the end of Ch 21. The Narrator and Chris have cut short their mountain hike and get a ride into town from campers...

"Bozeman it’s dark and late. Rather than wake up the DeWeeses and ask them to drive in, we check in at the main downtown hotel. Some tourists in the lobby stare at us. With my old Army clothes, walking stick, two-day beard and black beret I must look like some old-time Cuban revolutionary, in for a raid."

File = JohnSutherlandPhoto1968

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A 1968 photo by John Sutherland showing Robert Pirsig and Sylvia Sutherland with their motorcycles on the trip west described in Pirsig's novel Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.