104. SIDDHARTHA

Herman Hesse 1951

A big dose of wisdom in a very simple, short book. Set in India, Siddhartha was born to wealth and privilege but soon abandons it to pursue deep peace and happiness. Along the way, he becomes a Samana and forgoes all material possessions including those necessary for the vital pleasures and needs of life. He meets but does not follow Buddha, falls in love with beautiful Kamala and fathers a son. And yet he continues to feel unfulfilled and unhappy. Ultimately, he meets Vesudeva, a simple ferryman by the river and through him he finally discovers a truly unique perspective, one that is provocative, inspiring and utterly relevant in today's world.

'In the shade of the house, in the sunshine on the river bank by the boats, in the shade of the sallow wood and the fig tree, Siddhartha, the handsome Brahmin's son, grew up with his friend Govinda.'(opening line)

'Siddhartha had one single goal-- to become empty, to become empty of thirst, desire, dreams, pleasure and sorrow-- to let the Self die. No longer to be Self, to experience the peace of an emptied heart, to experience pure thought-- that was his goal.'(14)

'What he said to the Buddha-- that the Buddha's wisdom and secret was not teachable, that it was inexpressible and incommunicable-- and which he had once experienced in an hour of enlightenment, was just what he had now set off to experience, what he has now beginning to experience. He must gain experience himself.'(47)

'Everyone takes, everyone gives. Life is like that.'(64)

"Most people, Kamala, are like a falling leaf that drifts and turns in the air, flutters, and falls to the ground. But a few others are like stars which travel one defined path: no wind reaches them, they have within themselves their guide and path.'(72)

'It was one of the ferryman's greatest virtues that, like few people, he knew how to listen. Without his saying a word, the speaker felt that Vasudeva took in every word, quietly, expectantly, that he missed nothing. He did not await anything with impatience and gave neither praise nor blame-- he only listened. Siddhartha felt how wonderful it was to have such a listener who could be absorbed in another person's life, his strivings, his sorrows.'(104)

'That the river is everywhere at the same time, at the source and at the mouth, at the waterfall, at the ferry, at the current, in the ocean and in the mountains, everywhere, and that the present only exists for it, not the shadow of the past, nor the shadow of the future?'(107)

'Within Siddhartha there slowly grew and ripened the knowledge of what wisdom really was and the goal of his long seeking. It was nothing but a preparation of the soul, a capacity, a secret art of thinking, feeling and breathing thoughts of unity at every moment of life.'(131)

'They all belonged to each other: the lament of those who yearn, the laughter of the wise, the cry of the indignation and the groan of the dying. They were all interwoven and interlocked, entwined in a thousand ways. And all the voices, all the goals, all the yearnings, all the sorrows, all the pleasures, all the good and evil, all of them together was the world. All of them together was the stream of events, the music of life.'(136)

'Knowledge can be communicated, but not wisdom. One can find it, live it, be fortified by it, do wonders through it, but one cannot communicate and teach it.'(142)

'Words do not express thoughts very well. They always become a little different immediately they are expressed, a little distorted, a little foolish. and yet it also pleases me and seems right that what is of value and wisdom to one man seems nonsense to another.'(145)

a Bantam Book edition, July 1971
152 pages
Book borrowed from the library