Siddhartha
Siddhartha, by Herman Hesse, depicts the journey and experiences of a man named Siddhartha, on his quest to reach enlightenment. Throughout the story, Siddhartha undergoes many epiphanies, experiences many different sides of life, and changes his idea of how to reach enlightenment several times. Once Siddhartha became a Buddha he was rather logical, scientific, and rational in his approach. He did not speak of supernatural phenomena or an afterlife, he dismissed the possibility of miracles; and he taught self-reliance. He had little use for rituals and formalistic laws, and urged each man to work out his own salvation. Nonetheless, at the end of the novel, can we say he is a good Buddhist?The historical Gotama, like the figure in Siddhartha taught that love and deep attachment to anyone or anything was wrong, since it lead to suffering. Buddha never defined the state of Nirvana, as he understood it, beyond saying that in it the end of suffering is attained, and that this is accomplished by the absolute extinction of the will. The basic teaching of Buddha is formulated in the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path. The First Noble Truth is the fact of suffering. The Second Truth is that suffering arises from human desire for so
He no longer realized on his past, his Samana upbringing and heritage, "Immediately he moved on again and began to walk quickly and impatiently, no longer homeward, no longer to his father, no longer looking backwards" (Hesse, 42). As the rivers water's are easily replenished, so too Siddhartha was rejuvenating after years of wrongdoing. The next three steps likewise form a kind of unit: right speech, right behavior, and right livelihood. He felt aware within himself that the materialistic things including love itself, were insufficient; so ultimately "Then Siddhartha knew that the game was finished, that he could play it no longer. Subsequently, he ventured out into the world and explored his senses in a desperate attempt to investigate his spiritual needs. And the Fourth Truth prescribes the manner of overcoming suffering and attaining true knowledge. Even after his death millions have found Buddhism as the one true way of life. Once Siddhartha got rid of his past, he continued the lifelong journey of samasara, in which he eventually discovered himself. the old, the tired, despairing Siddhartha wanted to drown himself in this river; The new Siddhartha felt a deep love and happiness for this flowing water and decided that he would not leave it again so quickly" (Hesse, 100). you, too, Samana, will come back" (Hesse, 49). The first two steps in the Eightfold Path, which leads to the end of, suffering, are right understanding and right resolution; a person must first discover and experience the correctness of the Four Noble Truths, and then resolve to follow the correct path. In this way Siddhartha left his childhood companion, Govinda, and followed the teachings of the Illustrious one.
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Acceptance Essays
