Siddhartha's Journey Of Self Discovery

Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse is about a man's journey to find inner peace and happiness.  He first decides to try to seek peace by following the Samanas, holy men.  Then he seeks happiness through material things and pleasures of the body.  After this path fails to provide him with the peace for which he searches, he follows Buddha but soon realizes that Buddha's teaching will not lead him to his goal.  Siddhartha finally finds peace when Vasudeva, the ferryman, teaches him to listen to the river.

As with the Brahmins, Siddhartha’s experience with the Samanas is not a fulfilling one. Hesse writes, “he slipped out of his Self in a thousand different forms. He was animal, carcass, stone, wood, water, and each time he reawakened” (Pg-15). Siddhartha learned a great deal from the Samanas, yet he was still unable to reach enlightenment. During his time with the Samanas, Siddhartha never saw or heard of a single person achieving enlightenment. Feeling disillusioned with the teachings of others, Siddhartha decided to leave the Samanas, and seek out the venerable Buddha. Siddhartha seeks out the Buddha and hears his sermon, but he ultimately decides to seek his own path to enlightenment. In leaving the Buddha, Siddhartha begins to follow a Buddhist path. Siddhartha says, “But there is one thing that this clear, worthy instruction does not contain; it does not contain the secret of what the Illustrious One himself experienced he alone among hundreds of thousands" (Pg-34). In this part of his journey, Siddhartha realizes that no one can teach him how to achieve enlightenment. As Gautama did before him, Siddhartha heads out to find his own path to enlightenment.

Siddhartha comes to realize that he has discovered who he really is, he is Siddhartha. He knows himself more than any other teaching or religion. As he comes to self-realization, he comprehends he has been letting himself slip away, he has been running away from himself.

In the novel, Siddhartha, there is a concoction between teachings and his own experiences found in his concept of attaining wisdom. The Brahmins taught Siddhartha every religious aspect of their culture, including all the rituals, mantras, and holy books. Although he gained a significant amount of religious wisdom, he believed this was not enough to become enlightened. As a result, Siddhartha decides to join the Samanas with the goal to reach Nirvana. He became a wanderer with no possessions, in order to stop the body’s desires. From the samanas he learned how to fast and meditate, but this was not enough. Siddhartha says, “What I have learned so far among the samanas, O Govinda, I could have learned more quickly and more simply” (Hesse 16) . In other words, Siddhartha is explaining to Govinda that his transformation to a samana has had no significant effect in his life. He believes fasting and meditating is not his ultimate goal. As a result, Siddhartha leaves the samanas with Govinda to meet Gautama. Siddhartha believes he has not gained the true wisdom needed to reach the state of nirvana or enlightenment; he has only learned how to run away and suppress situation, without really being able to dispel of them.

Siddhartha’s life was more of a journey, a journey filled with whimsical decisions and many questions; Siddhartha simply did as he pleased. After living this capricious lifestyle, he noticed that he felt empty inside. He wondered why he felt this way for a long time and decided to leave his current life. He abandoned all possessions and left his father in a quest to seek peace with the shramanas. Soon the cycle of the nature of Siddhartha was formed. Siddhartha would seek something and pursue that something blindly and by abandoning his previous lifestyle. It was not until he was an old man did he finally reach peace through the guidance of a river. Siddhartha’s life had changed immensely numerous amounts of times by the time he was old, but the change he experienced was not necessarily caused by of outside influences. He experienced change, but every change originated inside of him; of what he wanted to follow next. Of course, this still required Siddhartha to change to his new surroundings in every instance he obeyed new lifestyle. When he followed the shramanas, he left everything he had previously known and owned. When he left for the city, he completely changed his demeanor and became rich. Once again, when he lived by the river, he abandoned all possessions and former values. I believe that Siddhartha

The continental army was not doing so well in the war, and when winter came around they decided to put the war on hold. The continental army built a camp called Valley Forge. In the chart The Estimates of death and Illness at Valley Forge (Doc A) in December 1777 they had about 12,000 people and in February 1778 they only had about 8,000 people. About 2,500 people died because of illnesses.

There have been many teachers in one’s lifetime, some more important than others. These teachers and instructors affect different people in different ways, and lessons are learned that are important to prepare for real life situations. In the book Siddhartha by Herman Hesse, a young Brahmin named Siddhartha is not content with his current spiritual self. Siddhartha is directed to spiritual enlightenment and Nirvana because of his guidance and teaching from Kamala, Kamaswami, and Vasudeva.

When Siddhartha leaves and joins the Samanas we begin to understand the origin of where his suffering is coming from; which is all seen as the second noble truth. In his search for enlightenment Siddhartha hoped that by joining the samanas that he would be liberated from

Siddhartha is going his own way; his destiny was beginning to unfold itself, and with his destiny, his own” (9). He wants to become enlightened and Siddhartha thinks that the Brahmins have already given all of their knowledge to Siddhartha, but he wants more so he decides to follow the Samanas in order to gain the amount of knowledge he desires. Siddhartha is talking to the Buddha about why he disagrees with his idealism. Siddhartha thinks that no one else will be able to teach him, since the

Govinda, who has spent time with both the Illustrious One and Siddhartha, thought his teachings were strange saying, “His ideas may be strange, his words may sound foolish, but his glance and his hand, his skin and his hair, all radiate a purity, peace, serenity, gentleness and saintliness which I have never seen in any man since the recent death of our illustrious teacher”(148). This shows even though Govinda thinks Siddhartha methods are strange compared to Gautama, he believes Siddhartha has without a doubt reached enlightenment. Siddhartha believes Gautama had only taught Govinda to be knowledgeable, while he himself has become wise. This is because the Illustrious one only taught Govinda how to seek which should be the destination and not what you learn on your journey. This is just one of many examples where Siddhartha and the Illustrious One disagreed. Others were love, and the belief in Nirvana. Siddhartha thought love was the most important belief while Gautama thought this was a great sin and when Govinda heard Siddhartha’s proclamation he said, “He forbade us to bind ourselves to earthly love”(147). Furthermore, Siddhartha thought Nirvana and Samsara were not real. Buddhist believe that one who reaches Nirvana has finally broken the cycle of death and rebirth called Samsara. Siddhartha

Their journey as samanas and students in the stages of life leads them to questioning the path that they were following. Although, Siddhartha did learn and become much more knowledgeable after knowing the teachings from the samanas, he didn’t quite agree with their beliefs in retaining enlightenment. "[Siddhartha] is drawn by his goal, for he does not allow anything to enter his mind which opposes his goal. That is what Siddhartha learned from the Samanas. It is what fools call magic and what they think is caused by demons...there are no demons...everyone can reach his goal if he can think, wait, and fast." With this new found attitude Siddhartha sets out once again, with many new experiences and lessons waiting ahead for him.

In the departure phase of his journey, Siddhartha completely shuns both internal and external desires and lives a more than humble life. During Siddhartha’s conversation with his father about leaving home, Siddhartha’s father, “returned again after an hour and again after two hours, looked through the window and saw Siddhartha standing there in the moonlight, in the starlight, in the dark” (11). Hermann Hesse’s use of dark and light imagery, emphasizes Siddhartha’s stubbornness for his desire to go with the Samanas, whose religious ideals are severe self discipline and restraint of all indulgence; he is adamant about leaving home, as his father checked on him countlessly and Siddhartha stood there unwavering despite the many hours and change of daylight so he could earn his father’s blessing to live the lifestyle of an ascetic. Furthermore, Siddhartha travels to the Samanas with Govinda to destroy Self and the multitudinous amount of desire by quelling each desire and all together Self even though he knows it is a difficult goal to achieve, “Although Siddhartha fled from Self a thousand times, dwelt in nothing, dwelt in animal and stone, the return was inevitable” (16). The effect of Siddhartha’s multiple attempted destructions of Self as a consequence of living as a Samana are failure in his attempt to discover Nirvana. Moreover, Siddhartha travels with Govinda to the Buddha after leaving the

Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse is a novel about the spiritual journey of a man named Siddhartha whose living in the time of Gotama Buddha. In this novel, Hesse explains in detail what Siddhartha learns as he searches for Nirvana. For Siddhartha to learn, he needs teachers, just like everyone else if they wish to pursue and education. There are four major teachers that Siddhartha truly takes something from, these teachers are Govinda, Kamala, Vasudeva, and the river itself. Another important thing is the aspect of self realization and teaching, which is ultimately what helps Siddhartha put those teachings together and reach Nirvana. This also allows Siddhartha himself to accept his new role as a teacher to his friend Govinda, which is the

Throughout Siddhartha, Herman Hesse demonstrations the different paths to enlightenment through the use of memorable characters such as Siddhartha and Govinda. Siddhartha and Govinda were the sons of Brahmins and thus grew up basked in the ways of religion. The boys were constantly praying and listening to teachings of the teachers in their town. Because of this, they are closer to enlightenment, or the knowledge of self, sought by everyone around them. Siddhartha believes that life has more to offer than praying and meditating like his father. Govinda, who is less of a leader than Siddhartha, believes that the only way to enlightenment is through following other teachers. Throughout the book it is shown the each person must find their own path to enlightenment.

   In Siddhartha's quest for enlightenment, Herman Hesse makes the river the final focal point of the novel. Siddhartha is set on his journey to the river by listening to his inner voice and questioning authority. The river comes to represent the ideas through which Siddhartha reaches enlightenment. The essential concepts of time and how it relates to life are discovered by Siddhartha through listening to the river. He comes to realize that his previous conclusion is correct, wisdom cannot be taught. When he reaches nirvana, he also sees how spiritualism and materialism both have a place in the cycle of life. Acting as Siddhartha's inspiration to his ultimate goal, the river