Although required for my English class, I have enjoyed the novel so far. It is a beautifully executed work with far reaching ideas that transend the physical being of a piece of processed wood.
My two cents.
Although required for my English class, I have enjoyed the novel so far. It is a beautifully executed work with far reaching ideas that transend the physical being of a piece of processed wood.
My two cents.
[Quoth="The Raven"]Nevermore.[/quoth]
Bah. Stupid forums code.
freaky I wonder if this is the universe telling me to read this?!
My mission in life is to make YOU smile
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"The time has come," the Walrus said,"To talk of many things:
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Originally Posted by piquant
I share your opinion. When I read Siddhartha, I personally felt this attachment to the character and his life journey. From this book, I then learned a little about the concept of OM in Hinduism, which represents the significance of God, Creation, and the One-ness of all creations. If you like Siddhartha, you might also want to check out The Journey to The East. It's not as good as Siddhartha (IMHO), but the story probably will also nail you to your chair
I enjoyed reading "Siddhartha" a lot, but I like other Hesse's books much more- "Steppenwolf", for example. I still haven't finished "Glass bead game", but I intend to as soon as I have some free time.
Boris, you might also want to check out Beneath The Wheel , which is Hesse's first novel. It is the story of how people's selfish expectations and ambitions ruined someone's life, which ended up with a tragic death.
Oh my god! What a masterpiece it is! Not only in its simplicity in telling the story of a man seeking truth and finding it in the simplest way. But the more complex story of Siddhartha (being the historical Buddha's birthname) visiting the Buddha himself, and turning away from him realizing that the truth is something that can only be found walking your own path, not following in another's footsteps. What a profound statement this is. Imagine how much religious conflict could be calmed if people stopped following in the footsteps of idols, and instead viewed them as milestones on the journey. Which is to say: if people could learn to see religious psymbols (such as saviour figures) as metaphors for what is inside all of us... Then we could see that there really is only one spiritual message that is spoken in numerous religious languages.
Walking your own path
There is much to be said in favor of what you have said about "walking your own path", the other side of which maybe about being witout a leader, or a guide.
However, it may be perilous.
I read something in Shakespeare recently where a character says to another,
"In following you, I follow myself".
Seemed to me to be the answer of the problems of leading and following.
I am inclined to believe that what Sidharta came to know he learnt and that he was taught by one higher than him, with whom he may have merged at some stage.
The mythology is not clear about this.
Oh indeed! Along the Hero's Journey there are guides, there must be. No one really goes it alone if they know how to trust in the guides that the spirit sends. Buddha's first thought after achieving enlightenment was: This cannot be taught. But then he reasoned: What I teach isn't Buddhism, but the way to Buddhism. In Siddhartha, his greatest teacher was the ferryboat man.
Hello SB
I have not read Siddharta yet. However, I am somewhat familar with the Buddhism story.
After I have finished reading Hesse's Steppenwolf, which I have just begun reading, I hope I will be able to get into the Siddharta book.
Nice to meet you here.
Last edited by A MM; 11-16-2007 at 09:02 PM. Reason: spelling error
Thank You! There is also a movie. It was made in India.
Much Metta to you my friend.
Hmmmmm....."How did I hate this world of the rich, of those who revel in fine food, of the gamblers! {is this a question? Who knows?} How did I hate myself, have deprived, poisoned, tortured myself, have made myself old and evil"
I chopped the tedious prattle at this point. Any considerate author is keen where one sentence ends, and another begins. Tripe interests a select few and fails to adhere the art of persuasion. The uneccessary exclamation points, incohent neverending sentences, and the writer hiding behind questions to avoid honest rhetoric. Bleck!
Hemingway's "A Farewell to Arms" is beautiful, Hess' "Siddhartha" is a grammatic slaughterhouse. "Tripe" is a generous description.
If you already read "Sidharta" you probably know what Siddharta is looking for, and this is Enlightenment. He is looking for Atman inside himself.(Atman is God). In the beginning he joins the ascetics and he tries to hide himself from the world and imerge in the world of the samanas, a world that is absolutely parallel with the world we are living in. But, at some point he realizes that hiding from the world and specially from the worldly pleasures won't lead him to Enlightenment and he decides to leave the samanas and go and experience samsara , which basically represents the world we are living in and of course this will be the longer period for him and this alludes to our own lifes in samsara. Finally, as he founds Enlightenment , he discovers compassion and human love and the most important thing,the middleway between the pleasures of the world and the ascetics's life. In the end we realize that no matter how much life splits from its source , everything seems to gravitate back towards it.
Beautiful novel!
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