Download Siddhartha

Siddhartha
Hermann Hesse
Siddhartha by
Hermann Hesse (18771962) is loosely based
on the spiritual journey
taken by Siddhartha
Gotoma and deals with
the complications,
anxieties, and ultimate
rewards of shaping
one’s beliefs.
•Siddhartha has sometimes been called a work
of reverse missionary and colonial activity,
bringing to the West the lessons of a typically
Eastern story of spiritual searching and
fulfillment.
•Being the story of one man’s religious
journey, readers should leave the novel aware
of their own beliefs and where it is they are
going in their own paths.
Brahmanism
(Ancient
Hinduism)
•Ancient Hinduism, or
Brahmanism, is based on the
Vedas, an ancient group of
prayers and hymns brought
to India by the Indo-Aryans
around 1500BC.
•Hinduism is characterized
by a strict caste system based
on heredity. People are born
into a caste and remain in
that caste throughout their
lives.
There are five castes
•Brahmins: priests who guard the traditions and rites
of Hinduism
•Kshatriyas: the nobility or ruling class, military
•Vaishyas: those who engage in commerce, such as
farmers and merchants
•Shudras: servant class established to meet the needs
of the higher castes
•The Untouchables: the lowest caste; homeless,
criminals, sick
•The Upanishads is a collection of philosophical
texts that explains the Vedas and Hinduism.
•These texts give insight into the following
Hindu beliefs:
There is a universal soul called Brahman that
constitutes the eternal, or the essence of everything.
Sanskrit for “greater bliss.”
Hindus spend their lives trying to become one
with Brahman. This goal will be accomplished
when one’s Atman, or individual soul, remerges
with the universal spirit. Sanskrit for “oneself.”
Through prayer, sacrifice, and pilgrimage
one can tap more closely into atman and
come closer to Brahman, or the absolute.
Until one becomes part of the universal
essence, he or she will experience a cycle of
rebirth, or reincarnation, based on the life he
or she has lived. This cycle is called samsara.
The caste one is born into is based upon
the karma, or actions & works, undertaken in
a previous life.
Jainism
•Jainism is an ascetic faith that encourages fasting,
meditation, and extreme abstinence.
•According to Jains, one's highest goal should be
moksha, the liberation from samsara.
•To break ones earthly cycle, a soul has to be without
attachment or self-indulgence.
•This can be achieved only by ascetics who vow to
uphold: non-violence, honesty, chastity, wealth, and
attachment.
Buddhism
•For many adherents, the caste system and
constant struggle inherent in Hinduism made
Buddhism more appealing.
•Buddhism first appeared in the 5th century BC
when a wealthy Brahmin’s son, Siddhartha
Gotoma, left his family in search for a way to
end human suffering, in part reinforced by the
strict tenants of Hinduism.
•Gotoma was a sheltered prince and one day
left the safety of his palace compound to see
the world. What he found was sickness, death,
and poverty.
•In an effort to find enlightenment and
understand the world around him, he left the
palace and found many teachers to help him
understand and approach this world of
inequality.
•Through meditation,
Gotoma learned that the path
to Nirvana, the state of being
free from the cycle of endless
rebirth, could be found if one
was to break ties with earthly
love and desire.
•Once Gotoma had achieved
nirvana through his own
prayer and meditation, he
decided to spread his
philosophy. His followers
called him Buddha, or the
enlightened one.
•Buddha believed that if you lived
your life a certain way, based on
certain codes, nirvana could be
achieved.
•That code emerges from what
Buddha called the Four Noble
Truths:
1. Existence is suffering
2. Suffering is a result of desire
3. Suffering ends when desire ends
4. The way to end desire is to
follow the Eightfold Path
(guidelines for belief, conduct,
occupation, effort, etc.)
Yellow: color of
Earth/falling leaves,
renunciation
Lotus: flower that
begins its life in the
mud
Ear lobes: elongated
because of heavy
earrings that were
given up (wealth)
Mudra: hand
gestures, (banning
negativity)
Halo: inner peace,
enlightenment.
•Born in Germany, Hesse grew up as the son of Lutheran
missionaries who spent time in India.
•Hesse’s childhood was spent immersed in Eastern cultures
and that affected his work. He was raised in a strictly religious
household and could not participate in various social activites
(including dancing and sports).
•Hesse broke away from his parents at a young age after they
expressed a desire for him to become a minister. Instead, he
began his career as a scholar and writer by working in
bookshops.
•In 1916, Hesse’s wife was placed in a mental institution and
his son became very sick. As a result of these pressures, Hesse
was admitted to a sanitarium and underwent therapy.
•A combination of his
childhood and later adult
experiences prompted him
to write this novel about the
shaping of beliefs and
finding happiness.
•Originally published in
1922, the novel didn’t
become popular in the
United States until the
1960’s.
•Scholars have since studied this philosophical
narrative of spiritual exploration as an allegory for
Hesse’s experiences.
•An allegory is a genre in which the text can be
interpreted through a lens that reveals a hidden
meaning– layers of symbolism found within a text.
•Siddhartha is often seen as an allegory of
Buddhism, reflecting its many tenets and beliefs.
•During the Vietnam War, the novel was
embraced by young readers who found in his
protagonist a reflection of their own search for
meaning in a troubled world.
•Hesse's focus on Eastern culture, as well as his
persistent theme of the individual striving for
integrity in opposition to mass culture,
appealed to a generation in upheaval and in
search of renewed values. That journey is still
prevalent in youth today.
“Om is the bow, the arrow is the soul,
Brahman is the arrow’s goal
At which one aims unflinchingly”
Atman/Self/Soul
Brahman
Om/Meditation/Perfection
Same goal, different “bow”, different
“oms”. What could Hesse be pointing
out to us?