A Zen That Shares Is a Zen That Cares

Last night the Alphabet net showed "Hope & Faith" in its new timeslot, airing an ep titled Now and Zen. Whenever I hear zen in the context of pop culture, I always think about Robert M. Pirsig's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.

The book was first published in 1974 and quickly gathered an inquisitive following. Bantam Books ran a 6th printing of Zen in 1975 and the mass market paperback edition of Zen in November 1981.

You can see from these ep title homages that Zen definitely hit pop culture paydirt in 1981 and that we continue the inquiry into the value of Zen.

• Zen and the Art of Cab Driving (''Taxi,'' 3/19/1981)
  
• Zen and the Art of Law Enforcement (''Hill Street Blues,'' 2/18/1982)
  
• Zen and the Art of the Split Finger Fastball (''Simon & Simon,'' 10/22/1988)
  
• Zen and the Art of Murder (''Homicide: Life on the Street,'' 4/2/1999)
  
• Zen and the Art of Milo (''Pepper Ann,'' 11/15/2000)
  
• Zen and the Art of Omelet Maintenance (''Good Eats,'' 7/23/2003)