Siddhartha

Herman Hesse’s novel, Siddhartha, addresses the many different paths in Buddhism that one can follow to reach spiritual enlightenment. Hesse’s concept of ‘no two paths are the same’ is clearly demonstrated in his depiction of the four main characters: Siddhartha, Gotama, Vasudeva, and Govinda. These four different men represent the variety of ways one can follow the path to enlightenment, but Hesse is careful to insinuate that although on the surface their journey’s may be similar, deep down it is evident that each character followed their own instincts and desires to achieve their personal and ultimate goal.
Gotama is meant to be the first man in Siddhartha’s time who has fully achieved enlightenment, which causes Siddhartha to have a dawning realization that it is possible to break samsara. When Siddhartha has the opportunity to speak to Gotama, he tells him, “You have found liberation from death. This came to you as a result of your own path…it did not come to you through a teaching! And that is my idea, O Exalted One- nobody attains enlightenment through a teaching” (36). This quote immediately sets the stage for the remainder of the novel which is Siddhartha’s journey by himself through life in order to find enlightenment on his own. Gotama achieved enlightenment by his own standards and tries to teach it but Siddhartha recognizes the gap in the teaching which is the actual experience the Buddha went through. The difference between the path Gotama traveled and the path of his followers is that his followers are being taught from Gotama how to achieve something that cannot be taught but must be sought by abandoning all forms of teaching.
The next character in the novel is Vasudeva, the ferryman that leads a simple life. It takes Siddhartha a while before he finally realizes that Vasudeva has achieved enlightenment mainly because Siddhartha immediately assumes that this simple man could never be able to achieve something so great without the assistance, teaching, or example of others. After his first encounter with Vasudeva, Siddhartha says to himself “Everyone I meet on my way is like Govinda. They are all grateful, although they themselves are due the gratitude. All of them treat me with deference; they would all be happy to be my friend, they would be glad to obey me without having to think too much. People are children.”(51) Through this quote, Herman Hesse tries to show the foolish arrogance in Siddhartha’s assumption. This represents Siddhartha’s still prevalent attachment to the world of teaching because he has been “taught” that to achieve enlightenment one must study, learn, and pray, but he still doesn’t understand that Vasudeva has attained nirvana simply because he didn’t follow the set path of the society’s imagination. Vasudeva’s guide along his path was the river in which he worked and lived by everyday. Others like Siddhartha seek all over for something to help them in their goal without looking at the things directly in front of them for guidance.
Siddhartha by the novel’s end achieves enlightenment. He traveled a long way in his life to reach this point, but for his personal journey, all of those encounters and experiences were essential in shaping his outcome. He finally understands the unity of all things, and the sense of no time. At the end of the novel, Siddhartha is yet again visited by his old friend Govinda who has been avidly seeking and listening to teachings all his life in order to attain nirvana. Govinda doesn’t understand when Siddhartha tells him that, “The world itself, existence around us and in us, is never one sided…Thus I see as whatever is as good. I see that life and death, sin and holiness, intelligence and foolishness, must be as they are. It all only requires my consent, my willingness, my loving acceptance and it will be good for me, can never harm me. (140-141). This quote sums up Siddhartha’s journey in a few sentences mainly to show and convey to Govinda just how simple it is to let one’s body take over and follow it’s own will. Siddhartha’s comment is put to the test when he tells Govinda to come and kiss his forehead, Govinda reacts as such, “while his thoughts were still dwelling on Siddhartha’s strange words, while he was still vainly and with some resistance attempting to think away time, mentally to represent nirvana and samsara as one, while indeed a certain disregard for his friend’s words warred in him with inconceivable love and respect…” (147). It is at this moment that Govinda abandons his thoughts and intellect and simply follows his emotions which inevitably lead him to his ultimate goal of nirvana.
Herman Hesse shows through each of these men the different ways each learned how to attain liberation. Gotama originally achieved liberation all on his own which sparked the interest of Siddhartha and Govinda. Siddhartha needed to take the rough path of life in order to learn how to stop resisting the world and life for what it truly is. Like the ferryman, Siddhartha had to come to his own realization that the world is beautiful and is what it is, which the ferryman learned from his beloved river. Govinda followed a life of strict monastic order, which paid off for him in the end because he reached a point when he was simply exhausted by thinking and battling his thoughts or ideas of nirvana in his mind instead of simply acting as he should. On the surface it may seem that all the characters had teachers and guides, but in the end they all achieved enlightenment on their own terms.