I read Herman Hesse’s Siddhartha (1922) when I was in high school. I remember not liking it very much, because it moved so slowly. At the time I was into Robert E. Howard’s Conan the Barbarian stories and science fiction – both genres a far cry from the gentle story of a young Indian man trying to find meaning in his life!
Siddhartha is the son of an upper caste Brahmin – bright, eager to learn, and attractive. His best friend is Govinda. He’s on the path to follow his father and be a respected man who discusses weighty philosophical and religious topics with other Brahmins. However, something is bothering Siddhartha, namely, what is the meaning of life? When a band of ascetics called Samanas show up in hi village, he immediately decides to join them. Govinda, the loyal companion, goes with him.
While learning the ways of self-denial from the Samanas, Siddhartha subjects himself to extreme deprivation: fasting, staying outside in the hot and the cold, sleeping in thornbushes, etc.
A goal stood before Siddhartha, a single goal: to become empty, empty of thirst, empty of wishing, empty of dreams, empty of joy and sorrow. Dead to himself, not to be a self any more, to find tranquility with an emptied heart, to be open to miracles in unselfish thoughts, that was his goal. Once all of my self was overcome and had died, once every desire and every urge was silent in the heart, then the ultimate part of me had to awake, the innermost of my being, which is no longer my self, the great secret.
Hermann Hesse. Siddhartha: An Indian Tale (Kindle Locations 143-147). Standard Ebooks. Kindle Edition.
Eventually, he realizes asceticism is a dead end. He and Govinda come across some monks who are followers of Gotama, the Buddha, who has allegedly found true enlightenment and broken the cycle of endless death and rebirth. They go to see the Buddha, and Govinda immediately joins his followers. Siddhartha, on the other hand, admires his teachings, but seeks his own enlightening experience. As he explains to Gotama himself:
“The teachings of the enlightened Buddha contain much, it teaches many to live righteously, to avoid evil. But there is one thing which these so clear, these so venerable teachings do not contain: they do not contain the mystery of what the exalted one has experienced for himself, he alone among hundreds of thousands.”
Hermann Hesse. Siddhartha: An Indian Tale (Kindle Locations 372-374). Standard Ebooks. Kindle Edition.
After the extreme asceticism of the Samanas, Siddhartha embraces hedonism, learning the art of love from the courtesan Kamala and how to be a successful merchant from Kamaswami. He indulges all of his physical desires, but he still is not satisfied. As Kamala says to him one day,
“You’ve learned my art well, Siddhartha. At some time, when I’ll be older, I’d want to bear your child. And yet, my dear, you’ve remained a Samana, and yet you do not love me, you love nobody. Isn’t it so?”
“It might very well be so,” Siddhartha said tiredly. “I am like you. You also do not love—how else could you practise love as a craft? Perhaps people of our kind can’t love. The childlike people can; that’s their secret.”
Hermann Hesse. Siddhartha: An Indian Tale (Kindle Locations 765-768). Standard Ebooks. Kindle Edition.
For a while, Siddhartha is able to keep things in perspective, laughing when he loses at a game or a business deal, and not giving in to greed, but eventually his burning desire to seek the true meaning of life is dulled.
Siddhartha lost his calmness when losses occurred, lost his patience when he was not paid on time, lost his kindness towards beggars, lost his disposition for giving away and loaning money to those who petitioned him.
Hermann Hesse. Siddhartha: An Indian Tale (Kindle Locations 823-824). Standard Ebooks. Kindle Edition.
Eventually, he wakes up, and leaves it all behind. He returns to a river where he met a ferryman many years ago, and apprentices himself to him. From the river and the ferryman, Siddhartha finally learns peace. When Kamala shows up with a boy who is the son of Siddhartha, he welcomes them. Kamala, however, is bit by a snake and dies. Siddhartha loves his young son unconditionally, but the boy hates living in a rundown shack with two old men and runs away.
So Siddhartha experiences the joy and pain that comes from loving another person. He eventually achieves enlightenment by listening to the river and learning to be content no matter his circumstances. When his old friend Govinda comes by, Siddhartha explains his hard-won philosophy:
The world, my friend Govinda, is not imperfect, or on a slow path towards perfection: no, it is perfect in every moment, all sin already carries the divine forgiveness in itself, all small children already have the old person in themselves, all infants already have death, all dying people the eternal life.
Hermann Hesse. Siddhartha: An Indian Tale (Kindle Locations 1502-1504). Standard Ebooks. Kindle Edition.
Although Siddhartha was published in 1922, it became very popular in the 1960s as the so-called counterculture took hold. It is not a long book, and it is a relatively easy read. However, I had a hard time relating to Siddhartha – for most of the book he is self-centered and unable to give himself to any other person. Even the extreme asceticism he engages in with the Samanas has a selfish goal: to reach an enlightened state and no longer be trapped in his self.
Also, the goal of Buddhism, as far as I can tell from this tale, is annihilation – to get out of the endless cycle of birth, life, death, and rebirth. As a western Christian, this doesn’t make a lot of sense to me, but I can see how attractive it might be if I were raised in a different culture. By the end of the book, Siddhartha has found that simplicity is the key to a fulfilling life, and that true wisdom doesn’t come from books or teachings, but from being accepting of everything one experiences. I’m glad I gave Siddhartha a second chance, but it still didn’t speak that deeply to me.
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