Siddhartha and Buddhism

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Siddhartha and Buddhism
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Hermann Hesse

• B. 1877 d. 1962
• German novelist, poet, and winner of the Nobel
  Prize for Literature in 1946, whose main theme is
  of breaking out of established civilization to
  find ones own essential spirit. With his appeal
  for self-realization and his exploration into
  Eastern mysticism, Hesse became a cult figure in
  the troubled century in which he wrote.
• Other novels include Demian, Steppenwolf, and
  Narcissus and Goldmund.

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Siddhartha

• The novel, Siddhartha, was written in 1922, in
  the desolate times after the Great War. Few
  people could make sense of the devastation
  inflicted upon the world from so called
  civilized countries, and many people were
  searching for a guiding force out of the moral
  degradation left in the wake of World War I.
• Hesse, writing during this time, left his mark in
  exploring Buddhist philosophy as a path towards
  salvation.

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Siddhartha

• This was also the time of Freud and Jung, and the
  idea of exploring the human psyche and inner
  consciousness was in vogue. Hesse himself was a
  disciple of Carl Jung.
• The novel Siddhartha is a fairly transparent
  allegory of the life of the real Buddha, whose
  real name was Siddhartha Gautama.
• The novels intent is didactic, in delivering the
  following Buddhist sutta, or teaching

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Siddhartha

• A man who has left home and gone forth should
  not follow two extremes, namely self-indulgence
  (hedonism) and self-mortification (asceticism).
  Avoiding these two extremes, Buddha has
  discovered the middle path leading to vision, to
  knowledge, to calmness, to awakening, to nirvana.

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The Life of Siddhartha Gautama

• Gautama, the Buddha. 566-486 BCE
• Siddhartha Gautama was born in the kingdom of the
  Sakyas, on the border of what is now Nepal and
  India. He was born into a life of luxury as a
  Khattiya, the warrior or ruling caste of Hindu.
  The name Siddhartha means, One whose aim is
  accomplished. (Hinduism dates back 4,000 years.)
• The word Buddha means awakened one. This is
  similar to the word Christ, meaning messiah.
  As Christianity stems from Judaism, Buddhism
  stems from Hinduism. Like Jesus of Nazareth,
  Gautama was born into one faith, and built
  another from that foundation.

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The Life of Siddhartha Gautama

• The historic life of Siddhartha Gautama is cast
  in a series of significant events. The first of
  these is his mothers dream of a white elephant
  entering her womb prior to his birth, signifying
  that he would be either a universal monarch or a
  Buddha. As a child, he was a sage, or yogi, who
  was capable of deep meditation.
• The next is his early encounter with four signs
  that led him to question his life of ease. He saw
  an aged cripple, a sick and suffering man, a
  corpse and a wandering monk. His father tried to
  keep him home, away from the traumas of the
  world, and although he had married and had had a
  son, he decided to go off on a journey of
  self-discovery.

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The Life of Siddhartha Gautama

• The next stage of his journey is called the Great
  Renunciation. At age 29, he gave up his princely
  life and became a wandering Hindu ascetic. In a
  state of extreme self-mortification, and
  emaciation, he lost faith in this path. His
  companions left him, and he embarked on his own
  journey.

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The Life of Siddhartha Gautama

• The Great Enlightenment. Under a bodhi or bo
  tree he meditates. Hes tempted by Mara, the evil
  one, lord of the world of passion, but he
  resists, similar to the story of Christ in the
  wilderness, tempted by Satan. He is 35 years old
  when he forms the doctrine of Buddhism, after
  which, he gathers disciples who go forth,
  teaching.
• He dies when he well past 80 years old.

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Buddhism Basics

• The Four Noble Truths
• All life is full of suffering
• Suffering is caused by desires, or samsara
• There is freedom from samsara, or nirvana
• Nirvana can be attained by following the Middle,
  or Noble Eightfold Path.

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Buddhism Basics

• All Life is Full of Suffering
• Everything changes A river continues to be a
  river, although it is changing every second. The
  change is so complete that the water that flows
  between the banks of the river today is not the
  same water that flowed in the river yesterday,
  but it is the same river. So in life we are
  constantly changing, although we seem to be the
  same person.

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Buddhism Basics

• Suffering is Caused by Desires
• Desires are the evils of samsara, and include
  grasping, lust, hunger and thirst, craving,
  sloth, fear, doubt, hypocrisy, false glory,
  anger, delusion, ignorance, selfishness, greed,
  narcissism.
• Samsara Continuous rebirth due to desire, which
  includes even clinging to life itself, since life
  itself is ephemeral. Buddhists believe that all
  grasping is folly. The goal is to be in the
  moment and aware of each moment you have. Think
  What if you wanted nothing? Were waiting for
  nothing? Would your life be more serene?

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Buddhism Basics

• There is Freedom, or Nirvana
• Attainable during a human life. Nirvana means
  freedom from the cycle of rebirth (reincarnation)
  from the wheel of samsara.
• Buddhists belief that there is NO unchanging
  soul, no self or ego, which is different from
  Hinduism.
• Humans are composed of five aggregates body,
  feelings, perception, predispositions, and
  consciousness, all of which are constantly
  changing, and constantly linked together with
  each other through karma, or thoughts or actions
  that have consequences.

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Buddhism Basics

• There is Freedom, or Nirvana
• Nirvana is a living group of aggregates,
  where one becomes free from karma and samsara.
  It is described as a cool cave, the place of
  bliss, the father shore. It is where there is
  an extinction of the fire of illusion, passion
  and cravings. Not annihilation or nonexistence,
  but a place unborn.

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Buddhism Basics

• The Middle, or Noble Eightfold Path
• By avoiding extremes of asceticism or hedonism,
  one can find nirvana by pursuing the middle, or
  noble eightfold path, consisting of
• Right view, right thought, right speech, right
  action, right mode of living, right endeavor,
  right mindfulness, and right concentration.
• To fend off the evils of desire, Buddhists also
  practice the 10 Great Virtues Charity, morality,
  renunciation, wisdom, effort, patience, truth,
  determination, universal love, and equanimity.

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Buddhism Basics

• Siddhartha Gautama was against the Hindu caste
  system, and taught that virtues could help fight
  the evils of the world. He wanted to help those
  in poverty, and believed that men and women were
  equals, and all were capable of achieving
  nirvana. He taught that each individual must find
  his own journey towards it.
• Buddhist are completely nonviolent, vegetarians,
  and revere all life forms. (Even the insect
  world!) There are no deities, only teachers or
  lamas, who help individuals find their own
  journey to eternal bliss.

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Buddhist Quotes

• The religion of the future will be a cosmic
  religion. It should transcend personal God and
  avoid dogma and theology. Buddhism answers this
  description. If there is any religion that
  could cope with modern scientific needs, it would
  be Buddhism.
• -Albert Einstein

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Buddhist Quotes

• I dreamt that I was a butterfly, flitting
  around in the sky then I awoke. Now I wonder Am
  I a man who dreamt of being a butterfly, or am I
  a butterfly dreaming that I am a man?
• -Chuang Tsu

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Buddhist Quotes

• There is no fire like greed,
• No crime like hatred,
• No sorrow like separation,
• No sickness like hunger of heart,
• And no joy like to joy of freedom.
• Health, contentment and trust
• Are your greatest possessions,
• And freedom your greatest joy.
• Look within.
• Be still.
• Free from fear and attachment,
• Know the sweet joy of living in the way.

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Allegory

• Allegory refers to a genre of literature where
  the entire story actually represents another tale
  or lesson.
• Examples of simple allegory are parables and
  fables, where all of the characters and events in
  the story symbolize characters and events in the
  lesson to be learned.
• A modern example of allegory is Animal Farm, by
  George Orwell, which is not only the story of
  animals on a farm staging a revolution against
  their human owners, but a thinly veiled satire of
  the Russian Revolution and Communist ideology.

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Allegory
Allegory

• Allegory is frequently didactic, or meant to
  teach a lesson.
• It functions on symbolism The characters and
  events in the allegorical story are directly
  connected to the didactic story through symbolic
  connections.
• In its purest form, these connections are more
  direct than symbolic, as the genre shifts through
  parable to fable, the connections become more and
  more figurative.

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Allegory
Allegory

• In a pure allegory, such as the medieval
  morality play, Everyman, the connections are
  direct The character, Everyman, is well, all of
  us. Death, who comes to visit him one day, is,
  well, death. The character known as Fellowship,
  is his not so loyal friend, and Good Deeds,
  iswell, you get the idea.

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Allegory

• In an almost pure allegory, such as Animal Farm,
  there are pretty direct symbolic connections
  between the main characters and the story of the
  the failure of communism. Farmer Jones represents
  Czar Nicholas II, Napoleon the pig is Stalin, Old
  Major the horse is Karl Marx, and Snowball is
  Trotsky.

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Allegory

• In parables and fables, the connections are more
  symbolic, and broader, and therefore perhaps more
  universal to human experiences.
• In the Aesop fable of the ant and the
  grasshopper, for example, who is the ant and who
  is the grasshopper? Is there room for a broader
  interpretation than simply storing food away for
  winter?

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Allegory

• In the famous New Testament passage, the Parable
  of the Sower (Mt. 133-23) Jesus explains that he
  uses parables because they are easily understood,
  and more universal. Without religious
  interpretation, however, the Parable of the
  Sower, can represent many examples of something
  missing its mark, not only the word of God.

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Allegory

• So. Looking at the sutta that Siddhartha
  is meant to teach, can you drawn connections
  between the characters and events in the book?
  What might be the symbol for
• the ascetic life?
• the hedonistic life?
• the middle path?
• Do you see evidence of pride or grasping
  that is pulling the main character into samsara?
  Where does he find salvation, and acceptance of
  the truth that everything changes? (Hint There
  is your list of three for the essay!)