Siddhartha

Siddhartha
In the novel Siddhartha by Herman Hesse, Siddhartha encounters many problems and faces many challenges. Siddhartha is a young man who follows the religion of Buddhism. He feels he learned enough from his first teachers so he moves on. During the course of the novel, Siddhartha continues to change teachers and eventually ends up in one very holy place where he learns the real meaningof Samsara and Nirvana. Throughout the novel, Siddhartha had many teachers, all of which contributed to his reaching of Nirvana. Siddhartha partook in the teachings of many people, and when he feels he learned enough, he goes on to other teachers. His first teacher, the Brahmins, teach Siddhartha many valuable things such as the ability to read and write. He felt like they have taught him allthat they know. Hesse illustrates this in this quote. “He had begun to suspect that his worthy father and his other teachers, the wise Brahmins, had already passed on to him the bulk and best of their wisdom, that they had already passed the sum total of their knowledge into his waiting vessel; and his vessel was not full, his intellect was not satisfied, his soul was not at peace, his heart wasnot still” (Hesse 7). Siddhartha went on to his next teachers, the Samanas. Siddhartha proceeds to see if the holy teachings and ascetics of the Samanas can help him. They do not. After years of practicing self-torture, Siddhartha leaves. He does learn how to fast and how to wait. This would come in handy later on. Siddhartha proceeds to seek the Buddha with his friend Govinda and The Buddhatalks to Siddhartha and gives him one useful piece of advice, to watch out for too much cleverness. That is when he realizes that he should not seek teachers, he has to teach himself. Hesse demonstrates this in this quote. “Slowly the thinker went on his way and asked himself: What is it that you wanted to learn from teachings and teachers, and although they taught you much, what was it that theycould not teach you? And he thought: It was the self, the character and nature of which I wished to learn. I wanted to rid myself of the self, to conquer it, but I could not conquer it, I could only deceive it, could only fly from it, could only hide from it. Truly, nothing in the world has occupied my thoughts as much as the self, this riddle, that I live, That I am Siddhartha: and about nothingin the world do I know less than about myself, about Siddhartha,” (38). Siddhartha advances to the forest alone and continues to see all these amazing things in the world. He feels like a “regular person.” Siddhartha meets a ferryman and the ferryman allows Siddhartha to sleep in his hut for one night. Siddhartha crosses the river the next day with the ferryman and meets a beautiful woman.Her name was Kamala. Siddhartha felt a spark of excitement when he saw her and could not contain himself. He asks her to teach him in the art of love. He in return says he can give her three things. He can think, he can fast, and he can wait. She agrees to this and gives Siddhartha many lessons. She also connected him to another teacher, a merchant. His name was Kamaswami. He really values the twospecial abilities that Siddhartha has. Siddhartha can read and write. Kamaswami teaches Siddhartha in the art of business. After many years of living the good life, Siddhartha feels awful. He goes to the river and attempts to kill himself but could not do so for some reason. It was as if the river spoke to him. Siddhartha chanted the word Om and then fell asleep. A follower of the Buddha stayedbehind when he saw the young man falling asleep in the dangerous forest. When Siddhartha wakes up, he finds that it was his old friend Govinda. They talk about what happened and then parted ways again. Siddhartha felt a deep love for the river and did not want to get away from it. Herman Hesse clarifies this in this quote. “In his heart he heard the newly awakened voice speak and it said to him:...