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SIDDHARTHA AND HEGEL'S PHENOMENOLOGY OF THE
SPIRIT-A PARODY
Govinda adored Siddhartha, son of a Brahmin/Terrier mix, his
childhood buddy. He loved Siddhartha’s dark fuzzy eyes. They hung
out together and were inseparable. They chanted oooOM whenever a
siren went by. Both were into metaphysical readings and participated
in a local philosophy group.
While immersed in intellectual pursuit, Siddhartha seemed troubled
by restless thoughts...that his unhappy consciousness is a result of his
worldly incarnation?
In support of Siddhartha's wish to deepen their spiritual practice,
they moved into an Earth-Ship built on the Sangre de Cristo
Mountains as their hermitage. Together they studied both the Small
and the Great Vehicle of the Buddhist Canons. Once in a while,
they would go to the Upaya Zen Center on Cerro Gordo Road to hear
dogma talks. Siddhartha even gained a bit of weight as he often sat in
a state of "mountain is mountain and river is river".
One evening, Govinda could not sleep, he looked out the window and
saw Siddhartha was meditating under the pinion trees.
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Hermitage at The Earth-Ship
What synchronicity! They both knew it was time to join the Samana
pack and wander into the high desert. They bid farewell to their
parents and gave their possessions to the "Bark'n Boutique", a store
ran by the Espanola Animal shelter. They ate only once a day, all
organic, with occasional treats offered by strangers.
The bitter practice-only one meal a day
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In order to practice renunciation, they left behind the city lights, the
land of Enchantment...
and parted with their favorite playmate, Indra, who loved to party at
the Dog Park.
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In winter, as they trotted through the deep snow, the only book they
kept was "The Narrow Road to the Interior", a diary of Basho's
spiritual journey.
The sun and moon had always shone, the rivers had always flowed.
The world of phenomenon was only a fleeting dream. A life
of renunciation was not too difficult for them. Govinda and
Siddhartha had gotten used to a life of wandering.
But what was this strange uncertainty he felt inside? Siddhartha
pondered. What if his stoic practice, the control of sensory pleasure
was because of his soul was in love with its own purity, like the life of
the medieval monks as Hegel described?
However, at times, his alienated soul experienced its own unhappy
consciousness, yearned to be with the remote others.
Until...one day when he met the beautiful courtesan-Kamala.
Siddhartha felt his blood kindled. Ah, what strange fervor burned in
his heart!
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He visited Kamala regularly, made his offering to her:
"I can think and I can sit. O yes, I can also compose poetry, in
exchange for your kisses."
Kamala was quite fond of the handsome and intelligent Samana, her
heart fluttered. she smiled and said: "My nose is keen and my lips are
fleshy, and will fit yours even though you came from the jackals."
Meanwhile, Govinda had decided to follow Gotama, the Illustrious
One, and he was soon ordained as a monk.
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"Meditate, O monk, and be not heedless! Set not thy heart on the
pleasure of senses". The core teaching recorded in the Dhammapada
Sutra, concerns mainly with one's ethical conduct. Govinda faithfully
adhered to such practice because living a virtuous life is highly
regarded by both Socrates and Buddha. For years, he cultivated the
Buddhist Dogtrine and the path to Buddyhood.
In solitude, Govinda often remembered how Siddhartha could sit for
hours watching the storm clouds swirled over the mountains. Could
that be a sign of his intense interest in ontological contemplation?
He also remembered Siddhartha’s ears would twitch while immersed
in the difficult reading of Hegel’s "Phenomenology of the Spirit" and
his theory of the Picture Gallery.
According to Siddhartha’s interpretation, the picture gallery alludes
to different shapes of consciousness. As one shape of consciousness
dies, it gives birth to a higher shape, thus leads to a higher knowing.
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Like a beautiful soul, Govinda lived in pure inwardness, a realm
beyond time and history. But he was also interested in political
liberation since Hegel did lecture about the purpose of history was to
develop the idea of freedom.
While Govinda recited the Heart Sutra daily, he continued his
enquiry, how does one find reconciliation if the self is both the world
and one's self and yet each seems alien to the other? And how does
the beautiful soul finds its true belonging, "the I that is We?” ?
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Govinda found himself occupied with the discussions he had with
Siddhartha long ago, in particular, Hegel’s idea of the Geist or the
spirit, which permeates in all stages of consciousness, all the way to
the final self realization. Although for Siddhartha, it was more fun to
climb up Hegel's ladder to the Absolute than just sit.
Govinda admired Siddhartha's ability to integrate his artistic interest
and intellectual pursuit and yet able to follow the trail of earthly
passion in his quest for self knowledge.
Siddhartha, an accomplished artist
Govinda thus wrote a poem:
You are born with two souls
Entwined to each other
Within the Promethean sun
Burns the stoic moon
Savaged for love
Doomed to betray
Although Siddhartha was sincerely learning from Kamala the art of
love, but he had grown tired and often felt empty after a night of
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passion. In his mind, Siddhartha was searching for the meaning
of true liberation. He had no problem of relating to Sartre's existential
concept of Nothingness, since it connects to the notion of the void and
impermanence. But Siddhartha also found purpose in the
Buddysattva path by reading professor Peter Singer's "Animal
Liberation", to bring true justice and equality to all sentient beings.
While Siddhartha was making his own ontological synthesis, he
thought that it was never made clear to him how ignorance could
have originated from one's Buddha nature? And how could a
pure consciousness posited something apart from itself such as the
Ego, the cause of suffering? In other words, why would an all
encompassing and self-realized oneness constitutes a separate reality
that confronts itself?
Nevertheless, the dogtrine of the Four Noble Truths regarding the
existential conditions of all living beings, for Siddhartha, was
unquestionable.
Years went by, Siddhartha had lived a life as a painter, a devoted lover
and a wealthy merchant, but in his heart, he had always been a
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Samana. He missed his long separated friend, Govinda. In dark
nights, Siddhartha called out to his dear beloved...
Although Govinda had become a monk, he also yearned for
Siddhartha's company as they were born to be companeda.
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Even they have lost touch for many years, they never stopped
thinking of each other. Govinda poured his feelings for Siddhartha
into poetry:
The moon has already risen
The wind slowly dies down
A calm river is singing by my feet
I can almost hear a canto flowing from his quiet lips
Eventually, Siddhartha, no longer a youth, found his mentor, a
ferryman named Vasudeva, who taught him to listen to the many
voices of the river, the voice of life and becoming.
Siddhartha himself had also become a ferryman and grew wiser as
months turned into years. He took people daily across the river, but
he himself no longer travelled.
He had learned that there is a difference between knowledge and
wisdom; for knowledge is one-sided but the multiplicity of wisdom,
like the river, is time itself. It ever changes into thousand folds of
meanings; for everything is in a state of becoming . The river that
brought Siddhartha wisdom was the same river he had once wished to
drawn himself.
Vasudeva, the ferryman and Siddhartha's mentor
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It was here, by the river, Siddhartha finally reunited with Govinda,
though for a moment, Govinda could not recognize that the old
ferryman, who took him across the river, was Siddhartha. Indeed,
they both have aged and their hair already grew grey.
Govinda was invited to stay in Vasudea's hut with Siddhartha. As
buddies again, their dreams were as serene as the snowy river.
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Sitting by the swelling river, Siddhartha came to the realization that
all sucklings have death within them, and yet everything was
necessary including his life with the beautiful courtesan and the
meeting with Vasudeva. It is perfect in every moment. The world of
Samsara, with desires, sorrow, despair and abandonment, is the
Picture Gallery. It is the bearer of the Absolute. Ah, Hegel was right!
Siddhartha said to himself. He felt a great serenity from accepting
everything as is. What manifests in the phenomenal world is actually
the full expression of the Geist.
Gazing into Siddhartha’s calm but still fuzzy eyes, Govinda thought,
what saintly and gentle face! It reminded him the face of Gotama.
Govinda's eyes were full of tears; he felt a great love inside.
At last, they both came to the same understanding that
pure reason is pure feelings.
The transcendent inwardness and the socially engaged Buddyism are
integral for a beautiful soul.
The river flows gently, ever changing and reflecting,
Like the great mirror of wisdom.
There is neither bondage nor liberation.
The seeker has come to the end of its searching.
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This is home coming, Hegel's great synthesis.
There was neither Siddhartha, nor Govinda, as both had vanished
into the realm of wooOM.
Acknowledgement
The story is a parody based on "Siddhartha" by Hermann Hesse and
Hegel's opus magnum "The Phenomenology of the Spirit".
Text and the Picture Gallery by Mira Fong
January 1, 2007