Siddhartha essays

Siddhartha essays What do you get when you cross a novel with a spiritual guide to life? Hermann Hesses Siddhartha. The book is the life story of a man who has one lofty goal: to become enlightened. He was born the son of a Brahmin, a member of the highest social class. Yet he was unhappy with the teachings of the Brahmins, so instead of remaining one of them and becoming a priest, he became a wandering ascetic (a Samana), then a merchant, then a ferryman, seeking some sort of enlightenment every step of the way. Eventually, at the end of his life, he reached enlightenment, but only after a lifetime of diligently following divergent paths. Siddhartha had to take so many different paths in his life because he didnt really know what he was searching for. His goal was enlightenment. But what is enlightenment? That was the question that he never asked himself. He was searching for something undefined, something that is indescribable. He had a general idea of what it was, and he had a general idea of how to get it, but however hard he tried, whatever path he took, it never seemed to come any closer. As a Brahmin, something was bothering him. He felt unfulfilled, like his life was empty. The Brahmins...knew a tremendous number of things but was it worth while knowing all these things if they did not know the one important thing, the only important thing? He knew that he could not attain enlightenment as one of them, so he joined the Samanas, thinking that they were on the right path. But after three years with them, he was able to realize that they werent going anywhere either. I believe that amongst all the Samanas, probably not even one will attain Nirvana. He had heard rumors of a man who had become enlightened, and so he left the Samanas with his friend Govinda, and went to seek out Buddha, the enlightened one. There, he acknowledged Buddhas transcendence but disagreed with his teachings. ...