Siddhartha and Hinduism/Buddhism
Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse discusses the many paths of teaching that relate to Hinduism that Siddhartha followed on his journey through life and how each path helped him realize what he wanted with his life. Siddhartha follows many teachings or paths in which to reach his spiritual destination, which at the beginning was to reach Nirvana.
The four stages of life choices, which favor both renunciation and world upholding, are 1) student 2) householder 3) forest hermit and 4) wandering ascetic (Ghose, 1/18/01). In the book, Siddhartha participated in each of these lifestyles for a significant amount of time. Unlike his father, Siddhartha did not want to be a Brahmin. He thought his calling was to be a samana, which is very similar, if not an interchangeable term for wandering ascetic. Siddhartha and his beloved friend Govinda were at heart destined to be samanas. Siddhartha bid farewell to his family renouncing material wealth and sensual pleasure as in two of the four aims of life. They wander into the woods to concentrate and try to reach the heightened sensation that is to come with being closer to realizing Nirvana.
During his journey with the samanas, he learned to follow many paths that took him away from his self-centered ego. By following and voluntarily suffering through, and eventually overcoming things such as pain, hunger, thirst and fatigue, he was getting closer to what the samanas thought was pure and good. Although he would leave his ego, behind when enduring those scenarios he always came back to his ego, what he and Govinda were working for had only been a lesson in the many teachings and sets of goals they must accomplish to reach the ultimate goal they wanted; redemption (Hesse 14-17).
Their journey as samanas and students in the stages of life leads them to questioning the path that they were following, where these teaching helping them were they leading them on the right path? “There is, I believe, no such thing as what we call ‘learning.’ O my friend, only one knowledge: it is everywhere, it is Atman, it is in me and in you and in every being. And I am starting to believe that this knowledge has no worse enemy than the wish to know, than learning (Hesse 18).” Siddhartha and Govinda spend three years, as samanas in which Siddhartha’s soul feels not fulfilled. After these three ye...
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... youth. Vesudeva waited for Siddhartha to realize the revolutionary thought that everything in the world was together as one. The wholeness and the oneness of the river communicated him to show him serenity and understanding. The river also provoked a thought that gave him the understanding that of why as a child he had to leave the teachings of the teachers “wisdom cannot be communicated. Wisdom that a wise man tries to communicate always sounds foolish. Knowledge can be communicated, but not wisdom. We can find it, we can live it, we can be carried by it, we can work wonders with it, but we cannot utter it or teach it (Hesse 123-4).”
Siddhartha’s followed many paths in his life. Each of his paths led him to another lesson or teaching that furthered his quest for his spiritual destination. He experienced all aspects of life, from rich to poor, lonely to companionship, stranger to lover and from guest to friend. By going through those path changes, his emotions and mind were put to the test and succeeded. The paths and four different types of living made his spiritual journey a successful one and that is why he reached the highest of ‘wholeness and oneness’ feeling he did.
Siddhartha starts to get over the leaving of his son by learning the secrets of the river from Vesudeva. He understands the unity that Gautama taught, through the river. He learns 3 secrets from the river: time doesn’t exist, the river is always the same and the river has many voices. The world is like this river, eternal and whole. Now that Siddhartha can really listen to the river too, Vasudeva reaches Nirvana, and he leaves the river with Siddhartha and moves on. Govinda hears about a ferryman and goes to find him. He doesn’t recognize Siddartha and asks for help to achieve enlightenment. Siddhartha says that everything is part of a whole and is always in the present
...his son. The boy is the first person that he had ever truly loved. The boy despises life with his father and never listens or is nice to his father. Finally the boy can no longer live a poor simple life and runs away. Siddhartha wants to follow but the old ferryman tells him not to. It is then that he realizes it is just as when he was a boy and hated his father so and wanted nothing but to be out from under his roof. I suppose it is this way with most Father and Sons. Finally his friend the old ferryman led him to the river for one more lesson. He told him to listen and asked what he heard. It took awhile but finally he heard that the river first had happiness, joy, and sorrow. Then when he listened closer he heard the ‘om”, and he knew he had reached enlightenment. The old ferryman saw his friend finally achieve enlightenment and he walked into the woods to die.
Vasudeva, the ferryboat captain, was the most important person in Siddhartha’s life. If he hadn’t allowed Siddhartha to live with him and share the beauty of the river, Siddhartha may have never reached Nirvana. Sitting with his pupil by the water and forcing him to listen and look into the depths led Siddhartha to his place of peacefulness.
Siddhartha ends his knowledge quests: Brahminism, Samanic asceticism, and Buddhism. He turns to the use of his senses in finding his goal. His main goal is to be his 'Self'. His sense of 'being' is isolated by his knowledge. He realizes that he does not know his 'Self' which he has spent his life avoiding. He vows him self to explore the 'Self'.
The first teacher that Siddhartha had was the Samanas. Siddhartha followed their path for a few years, and learned much from them. He had accomplished the eightfold path and the four noble truths in a short time. Although he had learned much he came to a decision to leave the Samanas. Siddhartha was grateful for they’re teachings, but in the end he believed he could have learned everything that they had taught him on his own.
The more knowledge Siddhartha learns the more he feel the emptiness inside of him. Than as a day came where he seen the priests named by the Samanas , he sees his only way out was to join them and see where that takes him. But in order to do that he must leave...
...dhartha and learn from what he sees without being taught. Theodore Ziolkowski notes that characters of Hesse have transformed from trying to escape their problems more toward trying to resolve their inner vision. Siddhartha and Govinda are both. The two characters try to escape their suffering by trying to learn how to deal with pain by exposing themselves to immense amounts of it while they are with the Samanas. However, they realize that this approach will not help the problem: human suffering exists as emotional as well as physical pain. They must learn how to separate themselves from this suffering, not hide from it; that is Nirvana. Their paths separate because Siddhartha's adventures are based on those of an independent man who will try to teach himself, whereas Govinda's are based on those of a dependent man who prefers to learn by example.
Throughout the tale, Siddhartha strives to be one with Atman, or internal harmony/eternal self, but by his own attainment. Even when he is offered the insight of Gotama, the divine and perfect one, who is the embodiment of peace, truth, and happiness, he refuses following him and decides to attain Nirvana in his own way. In this, Siddhartha shows his prideful nature but also reveals a positive aspect: self-direction. He realizes that others' ways of teaching can only be applied to their past experiences, but is still reluctant to ac...
...e chased his son. Siddhartha is soon reminded by the river of how he left his own father. He continues to listen to the river and he beings to see people from different walks of life. These images soon flow together, and begin to make a single sound, Om. Siddhartha realizes that the earth is intertwined and now is spiritually complete.
Living with the Samanas, Siddharth learns most of their skills, such as how to think, wait, and fast. Siddhartha will lose these skills when he becomes a merchant and lives a luxurious life (p. 95). This proves knowledge is temporary, meaning it will be forgotten if not practiced for a while. In his path to enlightenment, Siddhartha meets an enlightened ferryman named Vasudeva who lives by a river. He tells Siddhartha that he has learned everything from the river. Vasudeva also tells him that the river symbolizes life, stating, “The river is everywhere at the same time, at the source and at the mouth, at the waterfalls, at the ferry, in the ocean and in the mountains, and that the present only for it, not the of the past, or the of the future” (p. 107). The river reveals many things about enlightenment. Similar to a river, wisdom flows through everything. Reading about the natural process of the river reminds the readers of the challenges that exist in life, which is the path to enlightenment. Vasudeva emphasizes that the river is beautiful because it only exists at present. This demonstrates the happiness in the wise people’s lives. In particular, wise people enjoy the moment because they do not regret their past mistakes and do not have any concerns about their future. Overall, wisdom is a lifelong understanding of life, while knowledge is transitory information acquired through
	The second concept in Siddhartha is the idea that knowledge can be communicated, but not wisdom. Siddhartha believes this very strongly, and feels it is only right that one must gain wisdom for himself. When he and Govinda come to the garden of the Buddha and listen to Gotoma’s words, Govinda is immediately converted and stays. Siddhartha, however, does not. He respects Gotoma and believes that he has actually reached Nirvana, but Siddhartha does not believe that Gotoma can teach him to reach it. Later Siddhartha finds himself at a river, having run away from his riches. Here he sees another wise man, Vasudeva, the ferryman. He stays at the river and learns wisdom for himself. Siddhartha learns of the wonders of life, and that what he had always held to be true was true; that wisdom is not teachable.
In Hesse's novel, Siddhartha the title character, Siddhartha leaves the Brahmins in search of Nirvana - spiritual peace. The journey he endures focuses on two main goals - to find peace and the right path (http://www.ic.ucsb.edu/~ggotts/hesse/life/jennifer/html). Joseph Mileck, the author of Hermann Hesse: Life and Art, asserts that Siddhartha focuses on a sense of unity developed through Siddhartha's mind, body, and soul (Baumer). Hesse's Siddhartha revolves around three central journeys - a physical, a mental, and a spiritual journey.
76). All of the spiritual aspects Siddhartha gained as being a Brahmin’s son and a Samana was turning into a memory because of his new pleasures. Siddhartha was not a man like he used to be. He went down a path that caused him to lose his kindness and became arrogant. Even though Siddhartha felt superior compared to the people around him, he had a feeling of becoming more like them. Also, he became extremely unhappy and hated himself for how he was. The teachings he learned from Kamaswami only lead to negative effects on Siddhartha. He did not gain a sense of enlightenment from having pleasure of being rich and gambling money. Siddhartha realized he needed to continue down a different path if he wanted to discover enlightenment. He felt this in his heart that made him reach for a new goal: “A path lies before you which you are called to follow. The gods await you” (83). Siddhartha went through a life of pleasures that only decreased his hope of reaching full
...nt. The river does not grant this enlightenment in itself; its purpose is to direct Siddhartha’s thoughts to someone who is ready to listen to him and help his journey.
The novel, Siddhartha, by Herman Hesse focuses on a young man named Siddhartha and his lifelong pursuit to attain enlightenment. Throughout his endeavor, Siddhartha follows the way of rejection and doctrines from the Samanas and Gautama the Buddha, respectively. Soon enough, however, Siddhartha realizes that following the path of others is hopeless, and he starts to look within himself to gain wisdom and become enlightened. By looking at and listening to the river, Siddhartha begins to realize who he actually is through the visions and voices that appear from the river. This helps bring Siddhartha to the conclusion that gaining wisdom is completely different than gaining knowledge. Hesse suggests, via Siddhartha, that wisdom, unlike knowledge, cannot be passed on or taught. Siddhartha’s character serves to display how wisdom can only be found through the self.