Siddhartha essay

Elliot Popenhagen

April 29th

When things break or die, there is disappointment or sadness usually following that event. Everything is connected, yet, there is still an inevitable feeling of loss when things don't go as planned. This cycle of Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha realizes this cycle through slowly learning how humans are connected and through accepting the fact that life is transitory. Humans can understand Samsara by understanding the impermanence of the world and the unity that connects sentient beings.
losing and winning, of death and life, this cycle has always existed, yet, it affects people all the same. The question is how to escape from this cycle, also called Sansara. Sansara literally translates as "The wheel of birth and death, cycle of rebirth; empirical existence". However, it metaphorically means that every life form (meaning, even plants and animals) are inherently connected through the fact that life is eventually followed by death.  In

It is important to realize how transitory the world is in order to accept it. Siddhartha sees how the world is impermanent, how things come and things go. He realizes that everything eventually ends or dies. He walks through a town and sees people doing different daily activities and thinks, "and all these things were unworthy of being looked upon by him; it was all a lie; it all stank, stank of lies, it all gave the illusion of meaning and happiness but it was all putrefaction that no one would admit to" (12-13). Siddhartha sees this underlying death and decomposition under all the joy and happiness.  This is an
important realization because he sees life and happiness for what it is, instead of being diluted and mislead to think it is something greater. Siddhartha next starts to question what will become all the holy practices and rituals. "...what would remain of all that appeared holy to us? What does remain? What is proving to have lasting value?" (18). Although Siddhartha's rituals and traditions were once important to him, he now starts to wonder if it was just the appearance of them that seemed important. He is starting to grasp that nothing is lasting and will remain. Siddhartha also starts to grasp the oneness of all beings. 

Humans can understand Sansara through understanding unity. Siddhartha meets the Gautama Buddha and listens to his teachings. Although Siddhartha doesn't align with everything the Buddha says, he picks up a key fact. "But the oneness of the world, the continuum of all occurrences  the enfolding of all things great and small within a single stream, a single law of causes, of becoming and of death, this shines brightly forth from your sublime doctrine, O Perfect One" (29). Siddhartha starts to realize that all the events that happen, are connected. This is a key element in his understanding of Sansara because he is realizing that instead of a random stream of events, life is formed by a loss and a win, by a life-and eventually- a death. Siddhartha goes to visit the merchant Kawaswami to apply for an internship with him. Kawaswami asks Siddhartha what his has to give in return and Siddhartha answers that he owns nothing. When Kawaswami asks if Siddhartha lives off others, he replies, "Each person gives, each person takes; such is life" (56). Siddhartha is realizing that humans give and take and that that is something that not only do they have in common, but it's also something that is not escapable. The fact that Siddhartha comes to the acceptance of the process of giving and taking shows that he is starts to understand Sansara more. Through the river, Siddhartha sees how life is on a constant flow, how it continues and changes at the same time.  Once understanding of oneness and the understanding of how transitory the world is, understanding of Sansara can occur.

Once the awareness of the impermanence of life and the acknowledgment of the oneness of all beings helps to understand Sansara. Once Siddhartha realizes these two things, he easily starts to understand Sansara. As Siddhartha starts to suffer from the lose of his son, he also connects the dots. Siddhartha's father lost his son and now Siddhartha is losing his son and he realizes that this is where unity and
suffering meet. "Yes, it was true, everything returned again that had not been fully suffered and resolved; it was always the same sorrows being suffered over and over" (110). Siddhartha realizes that Sansara is the cycle of life and death and this means that humans are all connected through their common struggle. Just as Siddhartha's dad had suffered, he now suffers. This cycle will continue and continue because of the connectivity of all beings. Instead of being upset and disheartened by the inevitable cycle, he realizes that in this cycle of Sansara, there is a win attached to every loss. "No, it is perfect in every moment; every sin already carries forgiveness within it, all little children carry their aged forms within them, all infants death, all dying men eternal life" (120). He realizes that although a new born baby carries am umbrella of old age, this means that every failure also carries a success. It was important for Siddhartha to understand how humans connect and how it's impermanent in order for him to understand Sansara and to understand it in a positive

The understanding of the oneness of all beings and the understanding that all things eventually break or die is important in order to understand Sansara. The things in life are transitory, and realizing his helps to understand Sansara because it helps to soften the blow of lose. Losing things won't seem so appalling and surprising if one can understand that it is all a process of life. Siddhartha realized this and it helped him when loss happened in his own life.  Understanding how being are connected in the human experience is important to the realization of Sansara because then the individual can relate to the suffering of the community. Siddhartha realized that his suffering was his father's suffering and that it was a process that existed beyond himself. Buddha said that Sansara is a bittersweet realization because although it's hard to cope with inevitable disappointment, it also makes the good times in life, seem even better. The hope is that the realization comes in a time of peace, but inevitably it comes in times of suffering and the individual is reminded once again how life is transitory and how there is a give and take; thus is life.