Download Siddhartha * Background Information on the Novel, Buddhism

Siddhartha
by Hermann Hesse
Background
Hermann Hesse
Born in Calw, Germany, in 1877, he
was influenced by his family's mix of
background and beliefs. His father, a
Pietist-Lutheran, believed that man is
basically evil and requires austere
discipline.
Hermann Hesse
His parents and grandparents had
been missionaries in India and the Far
East, and their homes yielded the flavors of
Indian, Buddhist, and Mohammedan
cultures. Hesse said, "From the time I was
a child I breathed in and absorbed the
spiritual side of India just as deeply as
Christianity."
Hermann Hesse
Hypersensitive, imaginative, and
headstrong, Hermann behaved rebelliously
while yearning to be a poet and magician.
He left school and stayed at home
gardening, assisting in his father's
publishing house, and reading books on
Eastern philosophy and religion in his
grandfather's library.
Hermann Hesse
In 1899, Hesse, who had become
something of a misfit, moved to Basel,
Switzerland, determined to learn the art of
living with other people. In 1904, he
married and moved to remote Gaienhofen.
Hermann Hesse
Seven years later, he left for a trip to
the East, expecting to find wisdom in India,
which he considered to be a center place of
innocence. Finding only poverty and
commercialized Buddhism, he returned,
suffering from heat exhaustion, dysentery,
and disillusionment.
Hermann Hesse
World War I left an already unsettled
Hesse badly shaken - he abhorred war.
Hesse later underwent Jungian
psychoanalysis, a process that put him in
touch with the irrational forces that lurk
beneath both individuals and society at large
as well as with the idea of a self-quest
through synthesis of these forces.
Hermann Hesse
In 1919, he settled alone in
Montagnola, where Siddhartha was written.
Until his death from leukemia in 1962, he
remained in Montagnola, rarely leaving it
and never going outside of Switzerland, not
even when he was awarded the Goethe Prize
of Frankfurt am Main and the Nobel Prize
for Literature in 1946.
Setting
India (563 BC – 483 BC)
•The caste system in India has kept social
changes to a minimum, making this story as
possible today as it was almost 2500 years
ago.
•The immediate setting changes several times
as Siddhartha moves throughout civilization
as a member of most of the castes.
•The major settings are the city, the river, the
desert, and his parents home.
HINDUISM AND THE NOVEL
• Possibly the oldest religion in the world.
•The concept of “perfection” can be related to the
idea of reincarnation, which according to Hinduism,
is a series of births and deaths.
•During these successive lives, you accumulate good
karma by doing good; being hurtful and selfish
accumulates bad karma. Your karma determines your
“placement” in the next life.
Upon reincarnation, you will be higher or lower on
the karmic ladder. The farther up the karmic ladder,
the closer you are to perfection or Nirvana.
HINDUISM AND THE NOVEL
•One of the structures of Hinduism is the caste
system which divides people into social classes.
• Castes are strict and hereditary. People are born
into a caste and remain there throughout their
lives. There are five classes:
1. Brahmin—the priest class
2. Nobility—royalty
3. Merchants—those who engage in trade
4. Servants
5. Untouchables—those who deal with any type
of human waste, disposal of carcasses, etc.
HINDUISM AND THE NOVEL
The Four Life Stages
1. the student – This stage is characterized by the
individual being engaged in learning.
2. the householder – The individual engages in the
domestic duties of maintaining a household.
3. the retired person – An individual is at or near the
end of his life. He has already been a householder and
a student.
4. the ascetic – This is a stage when the individual
dedicates all his energy to spiritual goals and rejects
worldly pleasures.
HINDUISM AND THE NOVEL
The Four Life Goals
1.DHARMA - the practice of virtue. What is virtuous
depends most on your caste and your stage in life.
2. ARTHA is the goal of success and achieving
success. This is also relative to caste. It is spiritually
significant for you to be successful at your craft or
trade. Seen in his work with Kamaswami.
3. KAMA - the pursuit of pleasure. Siddhartha pursues
this goal with “Kamala.”
4. MOKSHA - is a rejection of all the life-affirming
goals and a pursuit of release from life.
HINDUISM AND THE NOVEL
The Four Life Goals and Stages – Meaning
•Like the first three life stages, the first three life
goals are life-affirming goals, and the last in both
groups is life-negating.
•The first three (in both sets) celebrate life and
confirm the participation in certain life duties as
necessary to spiritual development.
•The last item in each set, the life-negating item,
typically is a rejection of worldly pleasures and
goals.
BUDDHISM
•The story of Hesse’s Siddhartha is similar to what
is known about Siddhartha Gotama, the man who
came to be known as the Buddha.
•The real man was born an Indian prince in
approximately 623 BC.
•He was born a Hindu, and many of his teachings
have their roots in that religion.
• Near age 29, Siddhartha Gotama left his family
and the comforts of wealth and walked the world
for six years as an ascetic where he practiced
extreme self-denial and self-mortification
BUDDHISM
•He decided that there were no known ways that
could lead him to himself.
• He began his own individual path that avoided
both extremes of self-mortification and selfindulgence, often referred to as the middle way.
• Siddhartha Gotama found enlightenment while
meditating under the fabled Banyan tree.
BUDDHISM
In short, the teachings of Siddhartha Gotama
challenged Hinduism in the following ways:
• Questioned the authority of the Brahmin class
• Rejected all caste divisions
• Condemned the developing philosophies
regarding “religion” (it is only what one does,
not what one believes, that matters).
• No God, nor any specific ritual, can bring
enlightenment
The Four Noble Truths of Buddhism
1. Suffering Exists (Life is Suffering): To live
means to suffer, because the human nature is
not perfect and neither is the world we live in.
During our lifetime, we inevitably have to
endure physical suffering such as pain, sickness,
injury, tiredness, old age, and eventually death;
and we have to endure psychological suffering
like sadness, fear, frustration, disappointment,
and depression.
The Four Noble Truths of Buddhism
2. Desire Causes Suffering: The reasons for
suffering are desire, passion, ardor, pursuit of
wealth and prestige, striving for fame and
popularity, or in short: craving and clinging.
Because the objects of our attachment are
transient, their loss is inevitable, thus suffering will
necessarily follow. Objects of attachment also
include the idea of a "self" which is a delusion,
because there is no abiding self. What we call
"self" is just an imagined entity, and we are merely
a part of the ceaseless becoming of the universe.
The Four Noble Truths of Buddhism
3. Cessation of Suffering is Attainable
Suffering can be overcome simply by removing
the cause of suffering. Attaining and perfecting
dispassion is a process of many levels that
ultimately results in the state of Nirvana.
Nirvana means freedom from all worries,
troubles, complexes, fabrications and ideas.
Nirvana is not comprehensible for those who
have not attained it.
The Four Noble Truths of Buddhism
4. The Cessation of Desire Is Found Through
the Eightfold Path: It is the middle way between
the two extremes of excessive self-indulgence
(hedonism) and excessive self-mortification
(asceticism); and it leads to the end of the cycle of
rebirth. The path to the end of suffering can extend
over many lifetimes, throughout which every
individual rebirth is subject to karmic
conditioning. Craving, ignorance, delusions, and
its effects will disappear gradually, as progress is
made on the path.
The Eight Fold Path of Buddhism
A. Wisdom
1) Right View – know the truth
2) Right Intention – resist self-centeredness
B. Ethical Conduct
3) Right Speech – refrain from unkind,
negative speech
4) Right Action – respect all life
5) Right Livelihood – work for the good of
others
The Eight Fold Path of Buddhism
C. Mental Discipline
6) Right Effort – exert oneself in freeing the
mind of evil (egocentric thought)
7) Right Awareness – elevate one’s thoughts
beyond the haze of emotion and mood
8) Right Meditation – practice the discipline
of meditation
D. GOAL = Nirvana (enlightenment) – an end to
the cycle of rebirths, release of the Earth-bound
self and the Buddhist equivalent of salvation.
Relation Buddhism and Hinduism to the Novel
Allegory - a story that represents abstract
ideas or morals; both a literal and symbolic
meaning.
For purposes of Hinduism and
Buddhism, Siddhartha operates as
a religious allegory.
Relation of Hinduism to the Novel
Siddhartha & Hinduism
a. The four life stages
b. Four life goals
c. Journey of Siddhartha and Govinda begins in
innocence, followed by knowledge ("sin"),
which, together, lead to a higher state of
innocence accompanied by increased
awareness and consciousness.
Relation of Buddhism to the Novel
Siddhartha & Buddhism
a. Four Noble Truths and 8 Fold path
b. Both Siddhartha and Buddha are logical, scientific,
and rational in their approach.
c. They do not speak of supernatural phenomena or an
afterlife, and they dismiss the possibility of miracles.
d. Both are taught self-reliance.
e. Love and a deep attachment to anyone or anything is
wrong, since it leads to suffering
f. Life Journey is similar – from wealth to poverty to
wealth and then understanding