Siddhartha Book Report
Daniel Soloff
The book I decided to read this semester is Siddhartha. This book was written by the late Hermann Hesse in the early 1900’s. Hermann Hesse is a Nobel Prize-winning novelist, poet, and critic. However, this new translation of Siddhartha is written by Susan Bernofsky. I chose this book because I was looking for a book that would change the way I would perceive reality and change the way I would think. I found this book in my father’s study and he said it is a great book and I should read it. Siddhartha is a story about a young man named Siddhartha who grew up as a Brahmin’s son in India. This is a story of a young mans quest for spirituality, inner-peace, and overall, answers.
Siddhartha grew up in a very religious atmosphere, where he had to learn the holy sacrifices, the teachings of the wise men, and the art of contemplation and meditation. He grew up with his friend Govinda, who admired Siddhartha very much, and wanted to follow him, as his friend and as his shadow. Siddhartha believed that he had learned everything the wise men could offer. But he felt that there was more out in the world for him to learn. Siddhartha left his family and the only thing he knew to become a Samana, which were wondering monks that had no want and no feeling of need for material goods. Of course Govinda had followed as well. They learned to be patient, to fast, to think, along with many other things. Siddhartha still needed more answers.
Siddhartha and Govinda had heard of a Sublime Buddha, Guatama, who taught a divine doctrine to his disciples. They left the Samana’s in search of this Sublime One. When they had heard the doctrine from Gautama, they were both amazed by the Buddha’s holiness and how genuine he was. Almost immediately Govinda had taken refuge in the Sublime One and his doctrine and was accepted to be a disciple. Siddhartha was rejoiced that his companion had for once chosen his own path, as his soul commanded. However, Siddhartha made it clear that he did not feel the same and would continue on his journey.
Siddhartha wondered into a city where he saw a beautiful woman named, Kamala. Siddhartha had expressed that Kamala was well trained in the art of love and that he wanted to be taught how to love. Kamala told him that he was not suitable until he had clothes and money. Since Siddhartha was able to read and write, Kamala was able to find him a job, where he became very successful and rich. But now Siddhartha felt like he had abandoned everything he loved for this lavished lifestyle, he had money, nice clothes, and even became Kamala’s lover. One day after a final visit with Kamala, Siddhartha had left the city never to return.
On Siddhartha’s travels he came a cross a river which he had crossed many years before to get to the city. Before he crossed he sat on the edge and contemplated, all he could hear was the flowing river, as if it was speaking to him, he felt connected with this river. When he was ready, the same ferryman who had helped him across was there to help him now. They began to talk and Siddhartha had told him about running away from his lavish life and how it must be lovely to live each day beside the water. The ferryman said that it is not a life for someone with fine clothes. Siddhartha said that these fine clothes did not represent him anymore and he wanted to get rid of them. Siddhartha finally expressed a connection to the river and wanted to remain by it and listen to everything it had to teach. The ferryman, Vesudeva had accepted his invitation to apprentice Siddhartha in teaching him how to handle the boat. Vesudeva himself became a master at listening to the river and would help Siddhartha find what he was looking for. Siddhartha had learned many things by listening to the river and after years of living by the river, Siddhartha had finally found the answers he was looking for.
First of all, I felt very connected with Siddhartha throughout the story and his search for enlightenment. This story has taught me many things from communicating with people more efficiently and with finding inner-peace when my life needs it most. I have learned to step back and listen and observe things instead of being in the heat of the moment. I have worked on this and it has really helped my relationships with friends and family. I have also started meditating to compile my thoughts and to find inner-peace. I have done this before, but for some reason had stopped and had lost the interest in meditating. Now that I have started to meditate again I feel more laid back and ready to take on the day. Meditating has helped me figure out what I want in life and to have the confidence that I can achieve those goals. Also, it has helped me to accept where I am at in life and where I am going. I really like where my life is right now and of course will continue what I am doing. Siddhartha has really helped me put together my life in ways I had forgotten.
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Reading Notes on Siddhartha
Siddhartha, set in India, is subtitled an "Indic Poetic Work," and it clearly owes much to Indian religions.
But the question of the exact nature of Hesse's debt to various aspects of Indian religion and philosophy
in Siddhartha is quite complicated and deserves detailed discussion. Elements of both Hindu and
Buddhist thought are present and it is useful to make distinctions between them when the sources of
the novel are discussed.
A. Buddhism
"Siddhartha" is one of the names of the historical Gotama, and the life of Hesse's character resembles that of his historical counterpart to some extent. Siddhartha is by no means a fictional life of Buddha, but it does contain numerous references to Buddha and his teachings.
The basic teaching of Buddha is formulated in the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path. Proceeding from the premise that suffering exists and that a release from it must be found; Buddha constructed his system. The First Noble Truth is the fact of suffering. The Second Truth is that suffering arises from human desire for something, and that this desire can never be satisfied. The Third Truth is that there is a way to achieve a release from suffering. And the Fourth Truth prescribes the manner of overcoming suffering and attaining true knowledge.
The first two steps in the Eightfold Path, which leads to the cessation of suffering, are right
understanding and right resolution; a person must first discover and experience the correctness of the
Four Noble Truths (it is not sufficient to profess a superficial belief), and then resolve to follow the correct path. The next three steps likewise form a kind of unit: right speech, right behavior, and right
livelihood. These reflect the external aspects of a person's life, which must not be neglected. The
interior disciplines constitute the final three steps: right efforts, right mindfulness, and right
contemplation. By this means, the follower of Buddha can arrive at Nirvana.
One critic, Leroy R. Shaw, has pointed out that Siddhartha is divided into two parts of four and eight chapters, and proceeds from this insight to interpret the work as an illustration of Buddha's Truths and Path; in the first chapter Siddhartha learns the existence of suffering, in the fifth (which corresponds to the first step of the Path) he begins his journey along the correct path, etc. Shaw, then, comes to the
conclusion that at the end "the difference between Siddhartha and Gotama, which had seemed so vast
to the seeker at his meeting with the sage, becomes non-existent." This is certainly true in one respect;
both Gotama and Siddhartha have arrived at a final condition of Harmony (although the nature of the
Harmony differs considerably). But Siddhartha's way was clearly not that of Buddha. The division of four
and eight seems nevertheless to allude to the Truths and the Path, since a more natural division of the
novel, considering its structure, would be into three sections of four chapters each.
Other aspects of Buddha's teachings are also of interest. Buddha was rather logical, scientific, and rational in his approach. He did not speak of supernatural phenomena or an afterlife, and he dismissed the possibility of miracles. Buddha taught self-reliance. He had little use for rituals and formalistic laws, and he urged each man to work out his own salvation-which would, of course, be possible only within the framework of the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path. The historical Gotama, like the figure in Siddhartha, taught that love and deep attachment to anyone or anything was wrong, since it leads to suffering. Buddha never defined the state of Nirvana as he understood it, beyond saying that in it the cessation of suffering is attained, and that this is accomplished by the absolute extinction of the will. B. Hinduism
Elements of this Indian religion are also present in Siddhartha. Hinduism is not as dogmatic as
Christianity, or even as Buddhism. One important - perhaps the most important - aspect of Hinduism is
the concept of the Search or Quest for Truth. Whereas the Buddhist and the Christian each has a specific
(if ultimately unknowable) goal and general guidelines which he can follow to attain it, for the Hindu the
quest itself is all-important. As T. W. Organ aptly remarks, "The Christian says, 'Seek and ye shall find.'
But the Hindu says, 'Seek and ye shall find.'"
There are obvious parallels between Hinduism and Siddhartha, and these have not been overlooked by critics. Most critics even assert that Hinduism is a more significant source for the book than is Buddhism. Eugene F. Timpe, for example, in a study which is methodologically similar to that of Shaw, has analyzed parallels between Siddhartha and the Bhagavad Gita, an important poetical document of the Hindu religion. Timpe maintains "that Hesse was influenced largely by the Bhagavad Gita when he wrote his book and that the protagonist was groping his way along the path prescribed by the Bhagavad Gita." Hesse was indeed familiar with this important work, and a comparison between it and Siddhartha is rewarding. As Timpe points out, the basic central problems of Siddhartha and the Gita are similar: how can the hero attain a state of total happiness and serenity by means of a long and arduous path?
The development of each character is divided into three distinct stages: in Siddhartha there are – as one would expect in Hesse - innocence, followed by knowledge ("sin"), which, together, lead to a higher state of innocence accompanied by increased awareness and consciousness. In the Gita the path is similar, but not identical. It goes from action to knowledge to wisdom. Action is the first stage in the hero's long road to perfection. Not arbitrary human actions are meant, but rather a form of action produced by acceptance of the Divine element in an individual. The person then moves toward knowledge-knowledge of the Self and of the Absolute, which ultimately are revealed to be identical. The renouncing of all earthly attachments is a necessary component of each of the first two stages of development. A kind of self-fulfillment is stressed. An individual must find and follow his own path, for the ultimate goal cannot be attained by any form of imitation, however noble and admirable the model or teacher may be. The final, and highest, stage is characterized by reverence and wisdom. The seeker reveres and even worships the Absolute, with which he is identical.
Direct parallels with Siddhartha can be drawn. Hesse's hero seeks his own path to fulfillment. Although his path is one of trial and error, he is always at least unconsciously aware of the nature of his quest. He comes to realize that seeking a goal will ultimately prove to be limiting. From Vasudeva he acquires knowledge of what true action is. Finally, he is transfigured and attains wisdom. "Author, History, and Culture." Siddhartha Background. Jones College Prep, n.d. Web. 21 May 2014. <http://www.jonescollegeprep.org/ourpages/auto/2014/1/16/49178910/Siddhartha%20background.pdf>
Other sources of information you should check out:
Buddhism: http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/5minbud.htm
Hinduism: http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/07/world/hinduism-fast-facts/
Herman Hesse: http://www.famousauthors.org/hermann-hesse
http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1946/hesse-bio.html
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Characters
Siddhartha – the protagonist
Govinda – his best friend
Gotama – the Buddha
Kamala – a courtesan
Kamaswami – a wealthy merchant
Vasudeva – a ferryman
Setting
India, 6th century B.C.
Vocabulary Words / Concepts
Brahmin: a member of the priestly caste in Hindu society who performs religious duties
Vedas: Hindu holy texts that include hymns, poems, and songs (this includes the Rig-Veda, Sam-Veda, or any other Veda mentioned in the book)
Upanishads: philosophical Hindu texts (including the Chandogya Upanishad, or any other Upanishad mentioned in the book)
Ablution: bathing as a religious ritual
Ascetic: a religious lifestyle characterized by abstaining from worldly pleasures, embracing poverty, and often participating in acts of self-denial or self-discipline
Samana: a sect of wandering ascetic monks who renounce worldly pleasures and live lives of poverty in order to attain Nirvana
Nirvana: the ultimate goal of Buddhism and Hinduism, also called “enlightenment”.
• Hinduism: the soul has become one with the Supreme Being, escaping the cycle of rebirth
• Buddhism: perfect peace with the world, free from craving, anger, or pain, where the mind becomes completely free from limits
• Note: Those who haven’t attained Nirvana cannot fully comprehend it.
Atman: translates to “soul”; sometimes used to mean the “universal soul”
Om: a sacred incantation or prayer
Courtesan: a prostitute with courtly, wealthy, or upper-class clientele
The 4 Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path are the “gist” of Buddhism. Both are mentioned in the novel.
4 Noble Truths :
1. Life is suffering. Both human nature and the world are flawed, which causes people both physical and psychological suffering.
2. The origin of suffering is attachment. To live is to suffer loss, because both life and the world are impermanent. When one is attached to worldly things, through desire, passion, greed, etc, one will suffer.
3. It is possible to end suffering. In order to end suffering, one must overcome desire. Ultimately, the goal is to achieve Nirvana, to be free from all worries or troubles.
4. The path to end suffering is the Eightfold Path. The Eightfold Path describes how to achieve gradual self-improvement in order to end the cycle of rebirth and attain Nirvana.
Eightfold Path : the “middle” path to Nirvana that avoids the extremes of self-indulgence (hedonism) and self-mortification (asceticism)
1. Right View: to see and understand things as they really are, and to realize the Four Noble Truths.
2. Right Intention: to commit to ethical and mental self-improvement.
3. Right Speech: do not lie, slander, or hurt others with words
4. Right Action: do not harm others, steal, or engage in immoral actions
5. Right Livelihood: earn your living in a righteous, peaceful way
6. Right Effort: put your energy into wholesome, not unwholesome, endeavors
7. Right Mindfulness: control and perfect your mind through contemplation
8. Right Concentration: the practice of meditation allows one to concentrate all mental activity on wholesome thoughts and actions
Conquer the self: Both Hinduism and Buddhism stress conquering the self in order to attain a higher state. The self is concerned with the world, distracting one from higher states of consciousness and spirituality. When one has conquered the self, one has reached a higher state of mind or spirituality, becoming one with the Supreme Being or the world.
le Themes
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