SIDDHARTHA
BY HERMANN HESSE
Powerpoint 3
Gotama
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Gotama or Guatama
Siddhartha and Govinda arrive in the town of
Savathi. They spend the night nearby in the
Jetavana grove, where the Buddha lives.
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He looks like the hundreds of other monks, but
Siddhartha recognizes him by the complete
peacefulness of his demeanor.
In the evening, Siddhartha and Govinda listen to the
Buddha preach about the way to gain release from
suffering. Govinda is convinced by what he hears
and joins the Buddha's community. Siddhartha gives
him his blessing, but he has no intention of pursuing
the same path.
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In the morning Siddhartha speaks to the Buddha in
person. Siddhartha acknowledges the wisdom and
clarity of the Buddha's explanation of the chain of
cause and effect in life, but he thinks he has found a
flaw in the teaching. If it is possible to rise above
the world and gain salvation, as the Buddha says,
this means that the law of cause and effect has
broken down.
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It is not a complete explanation of life.
The Buddha replies that his goal is not to explain the world but to
give salvation from suffering.
Siddhartha then comments that in none of the Buddha's teachings
does he explain the secret of what he experienced in his moment of
enlightenment. Siddhartha says that he plans to leave all doctrines
and teachers behind and reach his goal alone.
The Buddha acknowledges that Siddhartha is clever, but warns him
not to be too clever.
Awakening
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Govinda becomes a disciple of the Buddha
Sidd begins relying on himself
Questions continue to plague Siddhartha as he
walks, but he begins to reason and supply his own
answers rather than hearing them from someone
else.
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He had foolishly thought that if he could destroy his
Self and his individual identity as Siddhartha,
erasing all memories of his own life, then Atman
would be left and he could recognize it. But it is not
that easy to do. Siddhartha gains confidence and
decides to embrace his identity, not to deny it. This
is his awakening, for Govinda is no longer at his
side; he is truly left to his own thoughts, free of all
influences. When he was a Samana he was exiled
from society together with others; now he is in exile
from everyone.
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His eyes begin to open to the outside world as he
begins to awaken inside. He sees colors around him
in nature, in the flowers and the river, not as illusions,
but instead as things of utmost beauty. The key to
finding unity in everything is to embrace it all at
once instead of denying it.
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Begins calling the world of appearances an illusion
His destination is uncertain, yet it only lies in front of
him, since he has rejected all he has learned in his
past. Siddhartha becomes a newborn child, ready
to re-experience the world for what it is.
Siddhartha as an Allegory
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Siddhartha is often interpreted as an allegory, a story in
which the character and setting symbolically represent
abstract moral and spiritual meaning. On each step of
his spiritual journey, Siddhartha encounters moral and
spiritual challenges, and in each chapter, Siddhartha
undergoes some degree of spiritual awakening.
Siddhartha can be read allegorically in many different
ways. To offer just one example, Siddhartha’s spiritual
journey could be said to reflect a greater struggle to
resolve his natural inclination to asceticism and
intellectualism with his need to learn experientially and
through feeling.
Tone
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Deliberate, formal
By writing in a more abstract, distant form, Hesse
gives his story a certain amount of gravitas. This
makes sense – talking about enlightenment in casual
terms does a real disservice to the subject.
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What purpose does self-denial serve in Siddhartha?
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Later, consider- What about self-indulgence?
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Complication
Govinda joins followers of Gotama Buddha;
Siddhartha joins with Kamala and his Samana
training begins to fade.
While Siddhartha recognizes the holiness of
Gotama Buddha, he believes he has to carve out his
own path to enlightenment. The next step on this
path is extreme self-indulgence. Siddhartha
becomes a wealthy merchant and skilled lover, but
soon he becomes greedy, unhappy, and troubled.
A bit about Kamala
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The relationship with Siddhartha is that of teacher and
student- Kamala is the teacher
Kamala represents Siddhartha’s foray into the world of
lust and greed.
Siddhartha willingly accepts Kamala as a teacher
(remember, he usually doesn’t like teachers), and dives
into the project of educating himself about sex with the
vigor characteristic of his spiritual endeavors.
Biography of the current Dalai Lama
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Remember, the Dalai Lama is only the leader of
Tibetan Buddhism.
http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=dalai%20
lama%20biography&ie=utf-8&oe=utf8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefoxa&um=1&sa=N&tab=wv#