Siddhartha: Overcoming Misfortunes of the Past
On page 132 we read "Everything that was not suffered to the end and finally concluded, recurred, and the same sorrows were undergone." What does this mean in regards to Siddhartha and any other of the characters in Hesse's story? Do you agree with this statement? Explain.
This quote is taken from the context of when Siddhartha is crossing the river and he sees his reflection and it looks like his father. This quote refers to a repeating of events. It is illustrated by Brahmin being separated from
Siddhartha and Siddhartha being separated from his own son. This parallels the quote in three ways. Taken literally it identifies the “father-like-son” aspect of the situation. It can be taken as a metaphor for the endlessness of time as well. Taken out of context, this quote identifies that anything that is not followed or completely worked through will continue to exist and it will repeat itself. Siddhartha left his father, Brahmin, at a young age to join the ascetics.
Siddhartha is now considering the pain his father must have gone through not seeing his son again. Siddhartha's son, too, was separated from his father.
Without dealing with this situation, the distance between father and son would never be reconciled. Thus the situation Siddhartha had with Brahmin would be repeated. The quote can also be interpreted as a metaphor for time. Obvious recurrences can be noted in time, suggesting that time repeats itself. Instead of a river, another symbol can be used for time, perhaps a pool. According to this quote, things repeat themselves in time. In a pool objects float around until they finally make their way to the outlet. Events swirling around in time without reconciliation are “trapped” until they are dealt with. The entire pool makes up all that time is. All the experiences and thoughts of past, present, and future that have not been dismissed all contribute to the whole of time.
If the quote stood alone, without the context of Siddhartha's reflections on his father and his son, it would state that anything that isn't finished through completion would forever hang in the cloud of time. “Every thing that has not suffered to the end...” If something is not carried on to completion, it will repeat itself until the initiative is taken to finish it. “
...recurred, and the same sorrows were undergone.” I can identify with this quote because at time I am prone to over committal. I will devote myself to too many things and I cannot physically complete them all.
Siddhartha, by Hermann Hesse, follows a young man through his path of enlightenment Siddhartha is born and raised in India by family of the Brahmins class He has a best friend named Govinda, who loves him very much, just like everyone else does Siddhartha is considered to be the golden child of his community He is the best at everything that he does and everyone wants to befriend him His father makes sure to protect Siddhartha from all the wrong things in the world He doesn 't get to see the real world and all of the bad things it has, only the goods He believes he isn’t learning anything from this and can not grow Through this story we follow Siddhartha in finding himself through Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Path
It is now in the novel that the mystic Buddha arrives.. Siddhartha goes to listen to the Buddha and decide for himself what he thinks about this holy man. Siddhartha recognized the Buddha immediately and saw the man has achieved Nirvana. The confidence and peace he moved and talked with radiated from him. “There was salvation for those who went the way of the Buddha" (Hesse). Here is a central theme of the book and that is suffering and peace from suffering usually by accepting Buddha. After a long spiritual discussion with the Buddha, Siddhartha was indeed able to find a flaw in the Buddha’s teachings. The Buddha reminds me of a holy person, this holy person from Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. “The Oracle was called Agbala, and people came from far and near to consult it. They came when misfortune dogged their steps or when they had a dispute with their neighbors. They came to discover what their future held for them or to consult the spirits of their departed fathers.” (Achebe) The Buddha from the novel and the Oracle have a lot in common. Finally after hearing the Buddha speak, and finding a flaw in his teachings Siddhartha knows he must go in to the world and seek his own Nirvana because Nirvana is obviously something that cannot be taught by any teacher.
In Herman Hesse’s novel Siddhartha, a young man leaves his prosperous Brahmin family because he is spiritually dissatisfied. A solemn, divine traveler, Siddhartha is entirely consumed by his quest for spiritual enlightenment. One could argue whether or not the acquisitive Siddhartha is a hero. By accurately following steps in Joseph Campbell’s “Heroic Quest Model” and abiding by the dictionary definition of a hero, however, Siddhartha is indeed considered a heroic figure.
he makes a number of choices, "turns", that put him on a path of his
"I have become distrustful of teachings and learning and that I have little faith in words that come to us from teachers." (Page 18) Siddartha experienced this when he was with the Samanas, still seeking for peace of the innersoul. He distrusted teachings because to attain peace, he must learn everything from himself. However, along his journey, he was indebted by a beautiful courtesan, a rich merchant, a dice player, a Bhuddist monk, and Vasudeva, for they had influenced him and he gained great knowledge from each of them.
Through out the novel Siddhartha had constantly taken risks that he believed would lead him to nirvana. He would take these risks even if it meant leaving his family, his best friend, and having to live as a poor man searching for himself. Siddhartha has many teachers during his journey. Although he had many teachers he believed that with or without them he would have learned what he needed to learn to obtain nirvana.
In Siddhartha, by Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha and his friend, Govinda, leave their sheltered lives as Brahmins, Hindu priests, to be Samanas, ascetics who deny themselves all pleasure. Some years after, they meet the Buddha, whom Govinda stays with to be a monk while Siddhartha leaves to continue on his own adventures. Toward the end of their lives, they meet again at a river bank and discover if they have truly achieved inner peace. Hesse uses Govinda as a contrast to Siddhartha. As displayed in excursions with the Samanas, with the Buddha, and on other adventures, Siddhartha is a character who is more independent and must learn on his own while Govinda is more dependent and feels he must be taught.
Siddhartha, written by Herman Hesse, is a novel about a man's progression towards his goal to center his life with a combination of peace and balance. Many of the displayed philosophies can be applied to today's world. Through my reading, I noticed many similarities between my life and Siddhartha's. First, Siddhartha felt a need for independence, that to truly be happy with his success, he must attain his achievements in his own way, and not others. Even though, he feels he must acquire this by himself, he tries to be as removed from his human side as possible. Only later does he learn that individuality and freedom from necessity must be united to procure his objectives and free him from his imperfections. Second, Siddhartha discovers that things and riches do not bring happiness. They are only temporary. No matter the extent of wealth a person has this never satisfies the insatiable need for possessions. Lastly, Siddhartha found that balance is the key to peace and happiness. Although a simplistic teaching, it is very complex to learn and apply. In my life, I can relate to his path and lessons, because I feel the same struggles and battles with attaining serenity.
In this paper, I will be explaining how Siddhartha had arrived at the Four Noble Truths. The first paragraph contains how Siddhartha’s life was full of suffering, pain, and sorrow. The second paragraph will be the cause of suffering is the desire for things that are really illusions in Siddhartha’s life. Following, in the third paragraph I will be explaining how the only way to cure suffering is to overcome desire. Finally, I will be explaining that the only way to overcome desire is to follow the Eightfold Path.
"On the great journey of life, if a man cannot find one who is better or at least as good as himself, let him journey joyfully alone." The story of Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse makes this point true. The main character Siddhartha dealt with the Samanas and Gotama Buddha, the second with Kamala and then the ferryman. The three parts correspond to the three stages though which Siddhartha passes on his journey to enlightenment: The stage of the mind; the stage of the flesh; the stage of transcendence.
Joseph Mileck asserts in Hermann Hesse: Life and Art that Siddhartha is a perfect exemplification of what he calls, "conscious craftsmanship". For Mileck, Hesse consciously synchronized form and substance in Siddhartha to best illustrate a feeling of unity and the journey through the mind, body, and soul. In Siddhartha, Hesse consciously crafted a piece that is unified in form, style, and content, and created an atmosphere in which each one of these elements is perfectly complementary with the others.
	Religion plays a large part in everyone’s life. In Herman Hesse’s epic story Siddhartha the aspect of religion is taken apart and looked at from nearly every possible angle. There are many key concepts revolving around the main theme of religion, but three which seem to me to be the most important and powerful are the ideas of control of self and soul; that knowledge can be communicated, but not wisdom; and the closely related ideas that time is not real and The Oneness of All Experience.
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.
Running along the outermost rim of the shield is the Ocean River, the river that is at once the barrier between the quick and the dead, and also the frontier of the known and imagined worlds. One of the last descriptions on the shield, this river could perhaps be a symbol for total inclusiveness and eternity, and for the stability of the larger perspective.
In Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha, a classic novel about enlightenment, the main character, Siddhartha, goes on a lifelong journey of self-discovery. Along the way, Siddhartha encounters many who try to teach him enlightenment, undoubtedly the most important being the Buddha himself. Although Siddhartha rejects the Buddha's teachings, saying that wisdom cannot be taught, we can see, nevertheless, that along his journey for understanding Siddhartha encounters the Four Noble Truths that are a central theme in Buddhism: suffering, the cause of suffering, the end of suffering, and the middle path.