Siddhartha Flashcards
What suggests that [material possessions] are not “enough,” that a sense of ennui is slowly coursing over Siddhartha’s inchoate sense of life?
Perhaps the list of competencies on page 1 suggests that he has already exceeded the knowledge accessible around him and suspects that there is more to life
He is questioning the customs and beliefs of his people
What are the stages he has to go through to “get it?”
- Among the ascetics: withdrawal from the world, seeking for Brahman
- Awakening after meeting the Buddha: seeking for himself, his very identity; descent into the world
- Fatigued unto death by the endless cycle of ordinary life, his ego dies at last, and he is free to seek wisdom, unburdened by his ego
- Living with his son: mini-Samsara, sort of a reliving of the last stage
- Final enlightenment: perception of the unity of all things which come together to make the One
Why does Hesse use the image of “a plague?”
It is like a sickness of the spirit, this dukkha, this suffering of life.
It spreads like a contagion and creates desolation
When Siddhartha seeks the blessing of his teacher before leaving, how does his teacher respond? What does Siddhartha do?
He is angry that they wish to leave; Siddhartha uses what he has learned to hypnotize the old man and compel him to permit them to leave
How is the Buddha’s countenance described? What qualities are recognized?
In the description, “peace” is mentioned 6 times
“Neither happy nor sad”
With a secret smile, like a child
What reason does Siddhartha give for turning away from the Buddha?
He chooses not to join because he has become convinced that enlightenment cannot be taught; that to find it he must forsake all teachings and find his own way
How do we know that the ferryman is important?
Wisdom is implied in his discourse on the river
He foretells that they will meet again
Siddhartha compares him to Govinda
Description of Kamala: why the image of a fig?
Perhaps because it is a luscious fruit (pleasure)
Is it any coincidence that the book opens with a fig tree? Perhaps something about seeming homely? Paradise?
What does Kamal lack that Siddhartha can provide?
He knows how to read and write
How does Siddhartha treat his earning in the business world? Relations with Kamala? With the ordinary folk?
Towards Kamaswami he is almost flippant. He treats the business affairs, and indeed the affairs of the ordinary people more generally, like a game, never taking it seriously.
He is curiously and even envious of the cares of the ordinary people.
Kamala is his one reality: she is the purpose of it all, and he is closer to her than to anyone.
Siddhartha’s dream: of what does it consist? What does it tell us of Siddhartha’s state?
Kamala’s bird-in-a-cage dies, and Siddhartha realizes that it represents the state of his spirit, “all that was good and of value in himself”
How did Siddhartha come to such a pass? What other images of this condition are in the chapter?
Gradually, he was lured down the path by close association with the troubles of the world, and indeed by his contempt for it (gambling in contempt for riches)
There is much vocabulary related to death and dying
What saves Siddhartha from suicide?
As if a memory, the word “Om” rises from his subconscious, and awakens his spirit.
The following sleep is almost like a meditation upon that very word
What is “heart” knowledge? How has “too much knowledge” hindered Siddhartha?
Something like a gut-reaction, or pure instinct - that which you know before you know why you know it
The soliloquy implies that he had become arrogant, secure in the kind of knowledge that his people prized, and that arrogance fed his ego, so that as long as that existed—that sense of superiority that was so prominent in the last section—he could not move on, come closer to enlightenment
When Kamala comes, who is with her? How does she die? What does Siddhartha experience when gazing upon her dead face?
Her and Siddhartha’s son is with her
She is bitten by a poisonous snake and dies in Vasudeva’s hut.
Siddhartha experiences the Present, the impermanence of time of which he had remarked earlier to Vasudeva, every moment at once, so to speak
