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.

Journal and reflection

"You do not need to leave your room. Remain sitting at you table and listen. Do not even listen, simply wait, be quiet, still, and solitary. The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked, it has no choice, it will roll in ecstasy at your feet."

In chapter 4 of Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha wants to sit like the Buddha did and just wait and let the world teach him. In Buddhism, it is taught that the world is your Dharma, meaning that you must allow the world to teach you. Later in the book, Siddhartha lets the river teach him about Samsara
and life and this is what Hesse is trying to say in the quote. A tree is Dharma because it teaches about how things are impermanent. Hesse is trying to say that you will ultimately learn the most if you just sit and wait because all the lessons that are to be learned can be learned from listening and waiting.




In chapter 10 of Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse Siddhartha realizes why he is suffering from the love of his son and  realizes it. Siddhartha has such strong emotions towards his son and he wants his son to love him back. He is trying so hard to hold on to him and make him realize how much Siddhartha loves him, that he is hurting himself. "But now, ever since his son had come, he, Siddhartha, had become a child person in his own right, suffering because of another person, loving another person, lost, a fool, because of love" (Hesse 102). Siddhartha is suffering because he loves his son so much. He has become a child in the since that he is being foolish and loving someone who doesn't love him the same way. Siddhartha tries to cling to his son and realizes that it is not getting him anywhere. After Siddhartha's son leaves, he tries to go and find him, still hoping to receive the love from him that he had given. He tries to go and find his son after he ran away and has a realization that it may not be worth it. "He could not help his son and he should not cling to him" (106). Siddhartha reflects and realizes that the reason for his suffering was the fact that he was clinging to his son and the love that he wanted him to return. The suffering that Siddhartha felt was brought on by himself and by the fact that he was clinging to something that he expected to be there but wasn't and that's why he felt disappointment.

Siddhartha

"And, he decided, It was the Self whose meaning and nature I wished to learn. It was the Self I wished to escape from, wished to overcome" (Hesse 34).














"That I know nothing of myself, that Siddhartha has remained such a stranger to me, such an unknown, comes from one cause, one single cause: I was afraid of myself, I was running away from myself" (Hesse 34).

"Now he was no longer anything but Siddhartha; he was the one who had awoken and nothing more" (Hesse 36).

I felt awakening when I moved from Missouri to Colorado in September. For so long, I mourned my past life and the way things used to be. I wished that my parents wouldn't have fought, that things could be the same as they were when I was young. Eventually, I realized that things were never going to go back, no matter how hard I wished. I also realized that this is how things were and I should just learn to love what I did have. Once I realized that, I actually learned to love Colorado more than I ever had loved Missouri. Things with my parents and family are still really shaky and I do wish things were all good and smooth, but that's not how it is and so I have to just learn to smile through it all because in the end, if I get upset about it, that's only hurting me.

When I was about 7, I did my first musical. It was in that moment that I realized that I feel the most me when I'm on stage. When the cast and I have worked so hard for many weeks-staying up until late at night, running the show, dealing with disasters, hating each other and then apologizing later- and finally it's time for the public to see our show, there is something so real about that. The audience will never know what went on for us to get to that point. When I take that final bow, I bow to the ending of a great few weeks with people I have learned to love and know so well, I bow to that character and all it taught me and I bow to myself and all that I have overcome and what I feel of my performances, whether it be good or bad. I have learned to accept that no matter how great of a show it was (or how bad), or how hard I've worked, eventually the final curtain will close and that's it, it's done.

My grandpa died when I was 10. It was hard for me because he was the one who had inspired me to sing and act in the first place. Although it still is sad, I know realize that the reason I suffer so greatly is because I am clinging. I am clinging to life, to someone who I felt as though I needed in order for me to be successful. The cause of my suffering all along was entitlement and the feeling that I needed longer with him. Everyone dies, and I'm not really sure why it surprised me. I think the reason I was surprised was because he was so young and it felt like I had been robbed of something, when in reality  I never owned his life or his presence. Buddha says that instead of getting mad when things break or die, we should be happy that we had them in the first place because they were already broken and dead and were alive and fixed for a split second in time. I realize now that I should have been aware that death was always there and I was lucky to get 10 years of his life with him.

Kafka Reflection

In part one of  Kafka's The Metamorphosis the manager isn't sympathetic to Gregor and makes him feel like the situation is his fault. Gregor's mom is pleading with the manager to that he is sick and doesn't feel well but the manager isn't listening. He trys to explain to the mother that this is business and sometimes you have to get over your sickness in order to be successful. "On the other hand, I must also say that we business people, luckily or unluckily, however one looks at it, very often simply have to overcome a slight indisposition for business reason" (Kafka 4). Gregor works hard and hardly ever misses work but the manager does not seem to realize that he is really sick. The mom is trying to get the manager to realize that just because Gregor is sick, doesn't mean he is a lazy employee. The manager's plea with the mother isn't getting him anywhere so he decides to lay all the guilt on Gregor. "You are barricading yourself there in your room, answering with only a yes and a no, are making serious and unnecessary trouble for your parents, and neglecting-I mention this only incidentally-your commercial duties in a truly unheard of manner" (Kafka 5). Gregor is very proud of himself and his work and so the manager tries to target this by saying that he is purposely neglecting work by barricading himself in his room, when in reality, Gregor wants to get out of his room and go back to work. The manager doesn't see that Gregor is truly upset about missing work but he doesn't even stop to consider that he might be.

In part two of Kafka's The Metamorphosis the mother contradicts the manager by being overly sympathetic. The mom is worried about Gregor and truly misses him so she tries to visit him, but Grete and the father won't let her so she starts to get upset. "Later, however, they had to hold her back forcefully  and when she then cries, "Let me go to Gregor. He's my unfortunate son! Don't you understand that I have to go to him?" (Kafka 14). The mom sees Gregor as being "unfortunate" and wants to help him. She is trying to make sure he gets better because she realizes that he isn't well. She fights against the father and sister just to be able to comfort Gregor and even though she is scared of him, she wants to comfort him. Later, Grete and Gregor's mother are rearranging the funature in Gregor's room and his mom brings up the fact that he might not want this. "I think it would be best if we tried to keep the room exactly in the condition it was in before, so that, when Gregor returns to us, he finds everything unchanged and can forget the intervening time all the more easily" (Kafka 15). She is showing compassion to Gregor by thinking about how he would want things. She wants him to be able to forget quickly and knows that it would be easier if things were the same. The mother contridicts the manager's point of view because she goes out of her way to think what Gregor would want instead of not thinking about it at all.

Dante Reflection 3/8

The canto I found the most interesting was Cantos 34 and 35. Canto 34 is in the ninth circle of the inferno. I thought it was interesting this is the lowest circle of the inferno and in most modern day westerners mindsets, we would picture this being hot and fiery yet, it is just the opposite. This circle is covered in ice and contains the traitors to their benefactors. I was shocked that Lucifer's arm was bigger than all the giants from circle 8 put together. I also thought it was interesting that in canto 35 Dante places Brutus and Cassius in the bottom level of the inferno due to their betrayal of Julius Caesar. Dante also places Judas  the betrayer of Jesus in this circle which shows how Dante felt just as strongly about politics as he did about the church and religion.

Dante Reflection

I found Canto 17 interesting. This canto takes place in the 7th circle of the inferno. The sin in this canto is usery. I didn't understand how the punishment of having purses of the sinners' families around their necks relates to the sin of usery, which is making immoral and unethical loans or loaning money unlawfully. I also don't understand how being pelted with fire rain relates to the sin of usery either. I don't see how family relates to the sin of usery in any way. In the other canto's Dante is really clear in created punishments that match the sins, but in this canto they don't seem to relate as well. For usery, I  would make the punishment be something having to do with trying to get money and not being able to because in life, these people always got what they wanted when it came to money so they would be forced to have the opposite in the inferno.




I really liked the 20th Canto. Canto 20 is in the 4th pouch of the 8th circle of the inferno. This pouch is for fortune tellers. I thought the punishment of the sinners' heads being on backwards is really clever and representative of their sin. Because of the fact that the sinners weren't in the present moment and they always tried to look ahead and now they are forced to be stuck in their bodies and see what has come before instead of looking at what is to come. I also thought Dante's reaction to this was interesting. He is so taken aback by what is going on and starts to weep. That reaction really shows how Dante is compassionate and cares about the people in the inferno. I also didn't understand why this sin was so far down in the inferno, to me, fortune telling isn't that big of a sin.

Journal 2/9

In my hell I would include all of the sinners who weren't repentant, the ones that never showed any sort of remorse. The sights would be of constant fear and death There would be suffering all around, in every direction and extremity. There would be unending suffering and discomfort. It would feel like rejection and helplessness. There would not be an option to get out because the people that are in there didn't realize their sins during their time on Earth so they should not be allowed to go back now. Also, people who were passive and didn't stand up in the midst of tragedy. The sounds would be shrieking, like nails on a chalk board and high pitched, continua shrieking, The smell would be must and burning flesh and trash.