Submitted by figinjosejospe t3_10jzker in books

Herman Hesse's Siddhartha is a remarkable book that encapsulates many of the truths and questions of life in simple but powerful language. To me, it reflects the teachings of Buddhism, particularly those of self- actualization and finding one’s true path in life. Siddhartha as an individual follows his spiritual journey, meeting various teachers who each give him perspective and insight into truth. Each teacher helps Siddhartha move further away from being emotionally crippled by worldly desires, pain, passion and suffering towards a more free state of wisdom.

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It captures very vividly the awakening of a man to achieve enlightenment, or Nirvana. He encounters characters along his journey who both enable him to succeed and fall back at times. This is engagingly drawn out through conversations with Govindas father and Govinda himself which demonstrate how we can be trapped, immersed in our own perspectives; or open ourselves to change which ultimately leads to wisdom born from experience – certain conversations throughout this great life-journey cause us to contemplate whether good or bad lessons are necessary for achieving enlightenment.

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The novel's main themes are about discernment and awareness – themes I found highly appealing; its descriptions of nature evoking vivid images and moments thereof remain with me still today. The story emphasizes that our choices determine the quality of our lives: intuitive decisions can give rise to opportunities leading to fulfilment, while purely reactive decisions generally result in reactionary patterns developing over time leading often towards guilt or limited prospects until corrective choices arise out again from growth – knowledge-seeking seems near the core of love for the divine and allows us independence from expectation only when encouraged by those allowing such exploration without dubiousness or doubt replacing open-minded acceptance in its stead…

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Overall this novel investigates life deeply on a spiritual plane, following journeys both physical (highlighting movement through India) and inner contemplation which some may find outside their comfort zone, but with patience offers an ample reward.. This is an impressive body work: insightful with vivid imagery easily translated into our own personal journeys serving as an inspiring reminder that we have all have something beautiful within us waiting to discover whilst growing along existing knowledge-paths set before us; very much worth a read!

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mskogly t1_j5nlbmd wrote

Lovely book, read it many years ago

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x_lincoln_x t1_j5nliyc wrote

"I can think, I can wait, and I can fast."

Good book.

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BereniceFleming t1_j5nsjlb wrote

Thank you for your review and the opportunity to think about this novel again.

It's my favorite Hesse.

The book reminded me of a colorful lake of ideas I dived into, dissolved in it for a while and surfaced as a little more enlightened person (at least I hope so :Р).

"Child-people" firmly entered my lexicon. :-)

The Glass Bead Game is different in many aspects, so I was pleasantly surprised to encounter Siddhartha's motifs at the end of this novel. Have you read it?

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tresfaim t1_j5q8sl8 wrote

Most of Hesse, especially Magister Ludi, are must reads imo. They helped me find my "inner man" if that makes any sense. I was also reading into a lot of wild/hairy myth at the time, so maybe it was a good coincidence, but I've told a lot of women that I think Hesse is a nice portal into a healthy search for a masculine psychology. If there was a male gender studies class, I'd hope that his literature would be included.

He was a patient-student of Jung iirc, you can feel the influence in his writing and meditations. Read Demian.

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snug_dog t1_j5np0yw wrote

Great book and well done review.

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[deleted] t1_j5nqc7a wrote

Thanks for the review !

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the-eyes-on-you t1_j5oo9rw wrote

Love this book. It's what pushed me back towards studying Buddhist teachings in a quest for inner peace.

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tooshpright t1_j62idg8 wrote

I just finished it. Not that excited, to be honest. A bit depressing in that the sons left their fathers.

All the wanderers relied on other people to give them food, shelter etc.

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