All 35 Uses of

direct
in
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

Romantic understanding is directed toward the handful of sand before the sorting begins.†
Part 1 *

directed = aimed or focused

Chris points to a thermometer in direct sunlight and we see it has gone all the way above the scale at 120 degrees.†
Part 1

direct = unobstructed (with nothing in between)

It's important not to tune these machines in the direct sun or late in the day when your brain gets muddy because even if you've been through it a hundred times you should be alert and looking for things.†
Part 2

The high, dark Absaroka Range looms directly ahead.†
Part 2

directly = close, or in a straight line

Now I see he's a little nervous and answering a question that John had evidently directed at me.†
Part 2

directed = aimed, or intended for

I'd judge that although it's only the middle of the afternoon, less than half an hour of direct sun remains.†
Part 2 *

direct = unobstructed (with nothing in between)

It's the direct result of it," I say.†
Part 2

direct = clear, straightforward, or to the point

And, in the process of intellectual maturing that these abstract studies gave him, he would he likely to branch out into other theoretical areas that weren't directly related to machines but had become a part of a newer larger goal.†
Part 3

directly = closely

You take your analytic knife, put the point directly on the term Quality and just tap, not hard, gently, and the whole world splits, cleaves, right in two...hip and square, classic and romantic, technological and humanistic...and the split is clean.†
Part 3

directly = exactly where stated (used for emphasis)

All direct light is shut out from the forest floor and there's no underbrush at all.†
Part 3

direct = unobstructed (with nothing in between)

It's the direct result of contact with basic reality, Quality, which dualistic reason has in the past tended to conceal.†
Part 3 *

direct = clear, straightforward, or to the point

What it is has ceased to be a category of thought and is a continuing direct experience.†
Part 3

direct = personal (first-hand)

This is the domain of understanding which is most directly related to what happens to the machine.†
Part 3

directly = closely

You know there's an explanation for all this somewhere and what it's doing undoubtedly serves mankind in some indirect way but that isn't what you see.†
Part 1

indirect = not straightforward

standard prefix: The prefix "in-" in indirect means not and reverses the meaning of direct. This is the same pattern you see in words like invisible, incomplete, and insecure.

We're out of the marshes now, but the air is still so humid you can look straight up directly at the yellow circle of the sun as if there were smoke or smog in the sky.†
Part 1

It disappears when I look at it directly, but then reappears in the corner of my vision when I turn my glance.†
Part 1

Such an understanding will instead seek to direct attention to the endless landscape from which the sand is taken.†
Part 1

And to come at him directly would be to invite disaster.†
Part 1

And when you look directly at an insane man all you see is a reflection of your own knowledge that he's insane, which is not to see him at all.†
Part 1

To design an experiment properly he has to think very rigidly in terms of what directly causes what.†
Part 2

Neither does the battery, except in a very indirect way.†
Part 2

indirect = not straightforward

standard prefix: The prefix "in-" in indirect means not and reverses the meaning of direct. This is the same pattern you see in words like invisible, incomplete, and insecure.

The point at which the electrical system directly causes the engine to fire is at the spark plugs, and if you don't test here, at the output of the electrical system, you will never really know whether the failure is electrical or not.†
Part 2

He felt that institutions such as schools, churches, governments and political organizations of every sort all tended to direct thought for ends other than truth, for the perpetuation of their own functions, and for the control of individuals in the service of these functions.†
Part 2

The minister who delivers the sermon and directs the Sunday school understands these goals and normally goes along with them, but he also knows that his primary goals are not to serve the community.†
Part 2

I've heard only indirectly of the time Chris lived here, and yet to them it seems that he's hardly been gone.†
Part 2

indirectly = not straight; or done in a way that involves other people or things

standard prefix: The prefix "in-" in indirectly means not and reverses the meaning of directly. This is the same pattern you see in words like invisible, incomplete, and insecure.

The narrowing down to one brick destroyed the blockage because it was so obvious she had to do some original and direct seeing.†
Part 3

Once they got into the idea of seeing directly for themselves they also saw there was no limit to the amount they could say.†
Part 3

The rocks below it are too steep for a direct hiking climb, particularly with the heavy loads we are carrying, and Chris is way too young for any kind of ropes-and— pitons stuff.†
Part 3

This is not because Quality is so mysterious but because Quality is so simple, immediate and direct.†
Part 3

The ability to see directly what "looks good" would be ignored.†
Part 3

It has no direct relationship to external circumstances.†
Part 3

If you can't do the job directly you can always make something that will do it.†
Part 3

There are endless examples of how mythos differences direct behavior differences and they're all fascinating.†
Part 4

The Quality is the track that directs the train.†
Part 4

— But the Chairman now directs a question to the student next to Phaedrus.†
Part 4

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Best Example Sentences
From Other Sources
Grouped by 3 Meanings

Definitions:

(1) (direct as in: directly above; or buy direct)
without anything in between -- whether in time, space, or involvement
(2) (direct as in: gave a direct answer)
straightforward -- often clear, open, or blunt in speech or behavior
(3) (direct as in: direct a question; or direct a film)
to guide, aim, or manage -- such as actions, attention, speech, a project or company
(4) (meaning too rare to warrant focus)
meaning too rare to warrant focus:

Direct can take on many specialized meanings not included in this dictionary.
As an adjective or adverb, direct usually means there is a clear or straight connection with nothing in the way. It can also mean easy to understand, without confusion. For example:
- Direct action – taking quick and clear steps to make something happen
- Direct descendant – someone who comes straight from an ancestor, like a grandchild
- Direct line (in genealogy) – a family connection that goes straight from one generation to the next
- Direct deposit – money that is sent straight into a bank account
- Direct object – in a sentence, the person or thing that receives the action of the verb
- Direct kick – in sports, a kick where the ball can go straight into the goal without touching another player
- Direct cost – a cost that comes straight from making a product or providing a service
- Direct investment – putting money directly into a company or project
- Direct elections – when people vote for leaders without going through an extra step
- Direct current (DC) – a type of electric flow that moves in only one direction
As a verb, most all of the senses of direct involve giving orders or aiming.

Page Numbers by Book Edition

direct in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

direct
in
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance