Featuring longawaited selections from Robert M Pirsigs unpublished writings from before and after Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance an original collection illuminating the central theme of Pirsigs thought QualityThe ultimate goal in the pursuit of excellence is enlightenment Robert M Pirsig More than a decade before the release of the book that would make him famous Robert M Pirsig had already caught hold of the central theme that would animate Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance Quality a concept loosely likened to excellence rightness or fitness that Pirsig saw as kindred to the Buddhist ideas of dharma or the Tao As he later wrote in Zen Quality is the BuddhaThough he was revered by fans who considered him a guru the famously private Pirsig published only two books and consented to few interviews and almost no public appearances in later decades Yet he wrote and thought almost continually refining his Metaphysics of Quality until his death in Now for the first time