The Importance Of Enlightenment In Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha

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.

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.

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.

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.

After being asked how he was able to reach enlightenment, Siddhartha draws the distinction between knowledge and wisdom. He says, “ No, I am telling you what I discovered. Knowledge can be communicated, but not wisdom. One can find it, live it, be forfeited by it, do wonders through it, but one cannot communicate and teach it.” (115).

Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse, is a novel about a young boy who is trying to find his spiritual enlightenment in life. The novel begins with a young naïve boy who is living with his father following the family’s traditions of the Brahmin. To reach spiritual enlightenment Siddhartha and his friend Govinda leave the town to seek

This shows that even though Siddhartha is willing to go hear the Buddha’s teachings, he thinks that he has already learned what the Buddha has to say. The methods of searching Siddhartha utilizes in order to become enlightened are leaving the Brahmins to become a Samana and leaving Govinda behind with the Buddha in order to try to learn from himself. Siddhartha and Govinda meditate according to the practices of the Brahmins. After three wandering ascetics pass through Siddhartha’s town, Siddhartha tells Govinda “Tomorrow morning, my friend, Siddhartha is going to join the Samanas. He is going to became a Samana. ...

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.

French Historian Philippe Aries (1962) was influential in his work of childhood. Aries (1962) viewed childhood as a social construction, he supports this theory through the inexistence of childhood within medieval society (reference). Children were looked upon as ‘small adults’ who participated in the same rituals as adults and were treated in the same manner.

In the beginning of the novel, Hesse artfully defines Siddhartha as the most intelligent, dashing young man of his village. The untouchable Siddhartha, however, is unsatisfied with his life. Instead, he is possessed by an unquenchable thirst for enlightenment. He rejects his father’s dreams, he rejects his teachers, and he even rejects the honorable teachings of Buddha because he honestly believes that they cannot help him in his journey to enlightenment.

Siddhartha loved his father and the teachings that were provided to him by his father, but he began to notice that the teachings were not bringing joy into his life at all. As the novel states, “He had begun to feel that the love of his father...would not always make him happy,...” (Hesse, 3), showed how Siddhartha searched for Enlightenment through his dad’s teachings but fell into realization that he could not find Enlightenment with his father. Therefore, he begged his father to let him leave the teachings and search elsewhere. His father agreed, and this restarted Siddhartha’s journey to search for Enlightenment by joining groups such as the Samana and the Buddha. Also, when Siddhartha decided to leave his father, he was also accompanied by his childhood friend, Govinda. Siddhartha decides to the leave the group that him and Govinda were a part and by doing this, he had to leave his childhood friend, Govinda,

The story of a young man that searches high and low for the path of enlightenment. In Hermann Hesse’s, Siddhartha, it shows how a young man tries to find a balance in self and spirit. Many of Hesse’s books reflect the experiences he had as a adolescent, Hesse also had trouble balancing religious aspects of his life, in the same way Siddhartha did. Hesse had attempted suicide and was expelled from school. Unlike Siddhartha, he was not very loved among people in his early life. I believe that Hesse wrote about Siddhartha because he could relate and sympathise with his feelings.

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

Siddhartha and Govinda’s routes to discover enlightenment vary greatly. Siddhartha believes that one must find their own enlightenment. Siddhartha begins to believe that enlightenment cannot be taught early in his life. While he is still a boy living with his father, Siddhartha, “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…his intellect was not satisfied, his soul was not at peace” (5). Siddhartha doesn’t think that the teachers can teach him anything more and he is still a young boy. Later, Siddhartha leaves his friend to progress his life. After they meet the Gotama, Siddhartha says, “Always, oh

According to Albert Einstein, “wisdom is not a product of schooling but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it.” In Siddhartha, Hermann Hesse utilizes the reoccurring theme that knowledge and wisdom are different to show the readers how to actually learn and become more complete in life. This theme can be proven at multiple points throughout the novel such as when Siddhartha is young and leaves home, when he meets Gotama and his followers, and when he advises Govinda at the end of his journey.