Siddhartha Hero's Journey

Throughout Siddhartha, Herman Hesse demonstrations the different paths to enlightenment through the use of memorable characters such as Siddhartha and Govinda. Siddhartha and Govinda were the sons of Brahmins and thus grew up basked in the ways of religion. The boys were constantly praying and listening to teachings of the teachers in their town. Because of this, they are closer to enlightenment, or the knowledge of self, sought by everyone around them. Siddhartha believes that life has more to offer than praying and meditating like his father. Govinda, who is less of a leader than Siddhartha, believes that the only way to enlightenment is through following other teachers. Throughout the book it is shown the each person must find their own path to enlightenment.

Their journey as samanas and students in the stages of life leads them to questioning the path that they were following. Although, Siddhartha did learn and become much more knowledgeable after knowing the teachings from the samanas, he didn’t quite agree with their beliefs in retaining enlightenment. "[Siddhartha] is drawn by his goal, for he does not allow anything to enter his mind which opposes his goal. That is what Siddhartha learned from the Samanas. It is what fools call magic and what they think is caused by demons...there are no demons...everyone can reach his goal if he can think, wait, and fast." With this new found attitude Siddhartha sets out once again, with many new experiences and lessons waiting ahead for him.

Siddhartha parted from Govinda to leave behind the childhood memories and with that decision, he felt at peace, he had renounced friendship too. He was no longer going to leave himself behind and begin his day with the thinking of Atman. Atman is the subject of knowledge (Smart 203). His identity was plain and simple, Siddhartha, the awakened one, not his father’s son and not a Brahmin. (Hesse 38).

As with the Brahmins, Siddhartha’s experience with the Samanas is not a fulfilling one. Hesse writes, “he slipped out of his Self in a thousand different forms. He was animal, carcass, stone, wood, water, and each time he reawakened” (Pg-15). Siddhartha learned a great deal from the Samanas, yet he was still unable to reach enlightenment. During his time with the Samanas, Siddhartha never saw or heard of a single person achieving enlightenment. Feeling disillusioned with the teachings of others, Siddhartha decided to leave the Samanas, and seek out the venerable Buddha. Siddhartha seeks out the Buddha and hears his sermon, but he ultimately decides to seek his own path to enlightenment. In leaving the Buddha, Siddhartha begins to follow a Buddhist path. Siddhartha says, “But there is one thing that this clear, worthy instruction does not contain; it does not contain the secret of what the Illustrious One himself experienced he alone among hundreds of thousands" (Pg-34). In this part of his journey, Siddhartha realizes that no one can teach him how to achieve enlightenment. As Gautama did before him, Siddhartha heads out to find his own path to enlightenment.

Siddhartha is first taught by Kamala, who is a famous courtesan in the town he came across, and he immediately thinks she is a beautiful woman. She is not easy though, and makes Siddhartha become wealthier, and makes him wear better clothes. Siddhartha goes on to approach Kamala because she is beautiful and believes she can show him the art of physical love, “I have come to tell you this and to thank you because you are so beautiful. And if it does not displease you, Kamala, I would like to ask you to be my friend and teacher. . .” (Hesse 44).

Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse is a novel about the spiritual journey of a man named Siddhartha whose living in the time of Gotama Buddha. In this novel, Hesse explains in detail what Siddhartha learns as he searches for Nirvana. For Siddhartha to learn, he needs teachers, just like everyone else if they wish to pursue and education. There are four major teachers that Siddhartha truly takes something from, these teachers are Govinda, Kamala, Vasudeva, and the river itself. Another important thing is the aspect of self realization and teaching, which is ultimately what helps Siddhartha put those teachings together and reach Nirvana. This also allows Siddhartha himself to accept his new role as a teacher to his friend Govinda, which is the

As Siddhartha learns how to rid his self he begins to defeat all of his desires. “His wound was healing, his pain was dispersing; his Self had merged into unity.” (111) Siddhartha successfully achieves enlightenment and nirvana with his friend Vasudeva. Coincidentally after many years the path of Govinda and Siddhartha align and Govinda finds himself not far from where he began in his goal to attain

Govinda, Siddhartha dearest friend and confident, is often viewed as his Siddhartha’s follower, or as his shadow. In the beginning, Siddhartha goes with Gotama to hear the teachings of the Buddha, and Govinda remains with Buddha to become his disciple. Siddhartha believes that each person must find his or her own way to

Siddhartha is a good-looking, well-loved young man who has grown into the religious group of India,. He is full of knowledge, able to master the art of meditation.

Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse, is a novel about a young boy who is trying to find his spiritual enlightenment in life. The novel begins with a young naïve boy who is living with his father following the family’s traditions of the Brahmin. To reach spiritual enlightenment Siddhartha and his friend Govinda leave the town to seek

In the novel Siddhartha, the main character's life is changed greatly through the journey he embarks and the teachers whom he encounters. Many of the people that Siddhartha meets throughout the novel teach him important lessons that shape him into the person that he becomes at the end of the novel. He has his father, a respected brahmin and strong figure in Siddhartha’s childhood who teaches him everything he knows about religious doctrine. He has Vasudeva, the ferryman he meets on his travels who teaches Siddhartha a great deal about soul searching and patience. He also has Kamala as a teacher, who taught him sex and that the material world isn’t made for siddhartha.

Siddhartha represents all of humanity, in that he is many things, yet he is himself. He is a Brahmin, a Samana, a ferryman, and he is Siddhartha still in all these things. Unlike Gregor, Siddhartha is very active in his quest for destiny. His choice to leave his father and all he had ever known is not influenced by any force other than the thirst for knowledge sending him on the quest for the meaning of life. Just as a sheep wanders in a pasture, Siddhartha wandered the wilderness in pursuit of his true self. He searched his soul to find his place in the world and the unity of all. He examined how his Self responded to hunger, pain, and all achings of the physical in order to reveal the strength of the spiritual. When Siddhartha entered into the world of “ordinary” people, he fed his physical being and through that discovered the weakness of his spiritual. Siddhartha finally quenched his thirst for knowledge at the river, where he found wisdom. Siddhartha knew who he was and at the river, he discovered why he had to go on the path that he did, and he found peace and discovered how he fit into the universe along with all other things. Siddhartha’s identity at that point had little to nothing to do with who he had been. Yes, he was once a Samana, a Brahmin, a ferryman, but what mattered was that he was now at

Siddhartha was a significant person in history for the reason of formulating the religion of Buddhism and teaching what he has learned over the years to a small, growing community whose members came to see him as “Buddha” which means teacher. His teachings included the Four Noble Truths, The Eightfold Path, and The Middle Way which spread and became one of the most common religions in Asia.

Siddhartha is a young man on a long quest in search of the ultimate answer to the enigma of a man's role on this earth. Through his travels, he finds love, friendship, pain, and identity. He finds the true meaning behind them the hard way, but that is the best way to learn them.

Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse is about a man's journey to find inner peace and happiness.  He first decides to try to seek peace by following the Samanas, holy men.  Then he seeks happiness through material things and pleasures of the body.  After this path fails to provide him with the peace for which he searches, he follows Buddha but soon realizes that Buddha's teaching will not lead him to his goal.  Siddhartha finally finds peace when Vasudeva, the ferryman, teaches him to listen to the river.