Siddhartha Quote Analysis

Siddhartha finally comprehends why he knows nothing about himself, its because he is afraid to; he has a feeling of awakening as he understands that he now must become his own pupil and “learn the secret of Siddhartha” (Page 39, Paragraph 2).

Siddhartha comes to realize that he has discovered who he really is, he is Siddhartha. He knows himself more than any other teaching or religion. As he comes to self-realization, he comprehends he has been letting himself slip away, he has been running away from himself.

enlightenment after he had given up looking for it. Siddhartha is only able to find his

In order to find an answer he would look elsewhere. This is what led him to discover the samanas a group he felt he needed to follow. When denied by his father Siddhartha for the first time defied him and stood with his arms crossed in a battle of wills. Siddhartha joined the samanas with his demands met by his father but his journey proved fruitless “But though the paths led away from the ego, in the end they always led back to the ego. (Hesse 15).” Siddhartha wanted the knowledge of the samanas so he could find his own peace. This proved to be inadvertently ironic as the acquirement of knowledge through the samana teachings led to the flourishing of his ego which he was trying to rid himself of. This perpetuation was not helped by the vastness of knowledge he had as a Brahmin. This circular path led him nowhere and Siddhartha soon left the samanas to see a Buddha. The leader of the samanas did not want him to leave for he did not believe the rumors of the wise Buddha. Then “The old man went mute, his eyes glazed over, his will was paralyzed , his arms dangled: he was helpless, overpowered by Siddhartha’s enchantment (Hesse 22)”. The samanas wish to lose the self (ego) but their leader was selfish. Ironically he did not live up to his own doctrine of life. The leader's behavior reveals that Siddhartha would of never have found peace through them if the leader couldn’t. Siddhartha did not learn nirvana from

Thus, Siddhartha aspired to set out on a journey to discover his innermost self on his own; he knew he could not be taught so he would have to chart his own course and learn from his own experiences.

After three years, Siddhartha realizes that he is not progressing toward his goal. He had learned all the Samanas could teach, and "he lost himself a thousand times and for days on end he dwelt in non-being. But although the paths took him away from Self, in the end they always led back to it" (15-16). Siddhartha discovers this was not the path he sought; escaping from one's Self did not bring one to salvation. His wisdom grew when he accepted there was another path and this short escape from Self is experienced by others in a quite different way such as people who drink numbing their senses like he did with the Samanas. He sees that in truth, there is no learning and that his questioning and thirst for knowledge could not be satisfied by teaching. Seeking another path, Siddhartha hears of a Buddha named Gotama, and with Govinda, who also chooses to leave, ventures to see him.

He then decided for him to answers his questions he must change his lifestyle from a luxurious one to a more humble one just as a samana. However he did not find nirvana and on the contrary he discovered how the oldest samana was sixty and had not yet reached Nirvana. This led him to move again and look for Buddha. When he found Buddha he then again found fault in this teachings. He explained how Buddha reached nirvana through his own experiences. He, nonetheless, persisted he couldn’t reach nirvana through teaching causing him to yet again move. Ending him to leave his loyal friend, Govinda, yet taking Buddhas adive of not beng too clever. All through the story Siddhartha depicts how through the changes he decided to make took him a step closer to Nirvana and to answer his questions of what the good life is. He does through the willingness to changing his teachers and surrounding to learn

Man of Politics and Man of Faith When someone asks “what should an individual do?”, everyone is bound to have different answers due to the nature of the question, because each answers would be on the basis of his or her own philosophy and language he or she uses while explaining. The philosophy makes a point and that synthesized with the language, one makes a direction of his or her argument. To point out for the two men, Niccolo Machiavelli starts with a philosophy that people are gullible and “wicked” (Chapter XVIII), and Martin Luther starts with a philosophy that people can be born again from man of flesh desires to a man of faith if he truly believes in Christ and work toward helping others. Also, Machiavelli speaks in political language, when Luther speaks in religious language.

These two quotes express how important the river is to Siddhartha, and to the whole book. The river is the tipping point, it brings Siddhartha out of his previous mindset of many, suicide and hopelessness and awakens him to a stage of curiosity, and is back on his path to

Lessons are best learned through experience. This holds true in Hermann Hesse’s Novel Siddhartha. On his path to enlightenment, Siddhartha experiences many different circumstances that shape the way he becomes by the end of the novel. He encounters trials and tribulations, such as affection, self exploration, and sadness, much like I have. Through these experiences, both Siddhartha and I were not only guaranteed knowledge of our situations, but eternal wisdom through our experiences.

"Rule your mind or it will rule you..." This quote means to be aware of the value of your mind and don’t lose it to the ambushes of the world. In the novel "Siddhartha" by Herman Hesse, the 3 most influential things that impacted his life are : Leaving home, The Ferryman, Change in character traits. throughout this journey Siddhartha encounters these main thing that cause change in him.

Siddhartha felt as if he can’t learn by just hearing the Buddha’s experiences. He believes he needs to experience these things himself to truly reach his own self. As Siddhartha leaves the Buddha, he realizes something different inside of him. He no longer needs a teacher. From his teachers, he was able to discover the Self. Siddhartha says “Truly, nothing in the world has occupied my thoughts as much as the Self … that I am Siddhartha" (38) However, he only succeeded in fleeing from it. He was consumed in finding the self, that he lost sight of it. Instead, he realizes that "I [Siddhartha] will learn from myself, be my own pupil; I will learn from myself the secret of Siddhartha" (39).

Siddhartha’s discovered, “One can find it (wisdom), live it, be fortified by it do wonders through it, but one cannot communicate and teach it”(142). Because Siddhartha realized this, he finally discovered why one teacher could not teach him what he wanted to learn. To find enlightenment one must stop seeking and start finding, which has close relations between knowledge and wisdom. When Siddhartha addresses Govinda in the final chapter, Siddhartha confronts Govinda and says, “You, O worthy one, are perhaps indeed a seeker, for in striving towards your goal, you do not see many things that are under you nose”(140). This means that when someone seeks they miss many lessons along the way, unlike if someone is finding. This relates to knowledge and wisdom because both seeking and wisdom are the end result while finding and knowledge are the journey. If one makes the decision to try to seek or find wisdom, they will miss many important lessons along the way. If Siddhartha decided to stay and learn from the Illustrious One, or any one teacher he would have gone his whole life seeking and not finding. Siddhartha was able to attain all his knowledge through several different teachings and in result will finally be able to reach enlightenment. Siddhartha discovery of the difference between wisdom

In the novel Siddhartha by Herman Hesse, the main character experiences many ups and downs while on his journey to inner peace. First, he decides to live his life as a Samana. Later he abandons that life in return for a life as a rich man. In the end he decides that his rich life is unsatisfying and he begins the simple life of a ferryman. Herman Hesse writes about what it takes to obtain inner peace through his character Siddhartha.

Even though selflessness will always be driven by serving one's values, feelings, or desires which is ultimately serving you, altruism does exist. Altruism exists when it requires a person to sacrifice for another without consideration of personal gain because not every act has a selfish motive. People must learn to contribute to life through objective reality because it universalizes existence. Everyday life is filled with small acts of altruism. Or maybe altruism does involve being self-interested after all.