This year I'm reading the Dover Thrift Editions translated by Stanley Appelbaum, but most of my quotes are copied and pasted from the Standard Ebook, click here to read it free online.
Artha can translates as meaning, sense, goal, purpose or essence. Artha has broader concepts in the scriptures of Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. It has multiple meanings, all of which imply "means of life", activities and resources that enable one to be in a state one wants to be in. In Hindu traditions, artha is one of the four goals or objectives of human life. Artha is connected to the three other aspects and goals of human life: Dharma (virtuous, proper, moral life), Kama (pleasure, sensuality, emotional fulfillment) and Moksha (liberation, release, self-actualization). Together, these four mutually non-exclusive aims of life are called Puruṣārtha.
Seeking
"They knew everything… they knew infinitely much—but was it valuable to know all of this, not knowing that one and only thing, the most important thing, the solely important thing?"Leaving Home
"It had to be found, the pristine source in one’s own self, it had to be possessed! Everything else was searching, was a detour, was getting lost. Thus were Siddhartha’s thoughts, this was his thirst, this was his suffering."
I wonder how much of me leaving home was my parents, family, and friends not filling my "vessel" (as my translation puts it). As an adult, I barely spent any time where I grew up. I was always visiting and filling time between a transition in life.
Never Enough
"Siddhartha was thus loved by everyone. He was a source of joy for everybody, he was a delight for them all.How universal is this feeling of having a lot but it not being enough? Do most people with a lot, at least at some point in their life, feel like Siddhartha?
But he, Siddhartha, was not a source of joy for himself, he found no delight in himself"
I didn't have it all, like Siddhartha, growing up. I wasn’t as smart as him, as good looking as him, and people didn’t think as highly of me as they did Siddhartha. As an adult, my family and friends were very proud of me. I served four years in the military and graduated college. Further as an adult, I've always had everything one could need. I’ve had the freedom, luck, and privilege to travel to over 30 countries and see a lot of the US. But there's always something more. And much of my adulthood, i could relate with Siddhartha’s thirsting and seeking. Like Siddhartha, it wasn’t enough for me.
Defiance
Siddhartha has a rugged individualism in him. The way he defies his father seems arrogant.
The stand off between father and son. The father says don't ask again; Siddhartha doesn't. Siddhartha says he'll do what his father says, but the father doesn't tell Siddhartha what to do. Siddhartha wins when father tells him he can go. They both seem stubborn.
Did Siddhartha's father ever get to travel? How dangerous is traveling as a samana? How dangerous was leaving home for Hesse? Siddhartha has an arrogance about him too. The defiance of his father and his father's permission connects very much with the author Hesse's biography.
Self Realization
Siddhartha decided to take action over his life because his dad and the wise men won't be able to save him. Only Siddhartha can save himself.
Part I
Day 1, 20 Dec- Chapter 1: "The Son of the Brahmin"
Day 2, 21 Dec- Chapter 2: "With the Samanas"
Day 3, 22 Dec- Chapter 3: "Gotama"
Day 4, 23 Dec- Chapter 4: "Awakening"
Part II
Day 5, 24 Dec- Chapter 5: "Kamala"
Day 6, 25 Dec- Chapter 6: "With the Childlike People"
Day 7, 26 Dec- Chapter 7: "Sansara"
Day 8, 27 Dec- Chapter 8: "By the River"
Day 9, 28 Dec- Chapter 9: "The Ferryman"
Day 10, 29 Dec- Chapter 10: "The Son"
Day 11, 30 Dec- Chapter 11: "Om"
Day 12, 31 Dec- Chapter 12: "Govinda"
Hey. I'll just ramble here in response, barfing thoughts as I sit here and read.
ReplyDelete1. Reading the introduction to the 1920s Stanley Appelbaum translation and found a note that says Hesse "was able to publish a famous reading list of 'best books' for people to aspiring to culture." Found a Reddit question asking where to find it, and there was a reference to a book of Hesse's, A Library of World Literature (https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11059-017-0406-9). Interesting, huh? On the hunt for an online copy OR just the list of his recommendations.
And I've emailed a Hesse amateur scholar about it to see if I can get to the bottom of it.
DeleteWould this Hesse scholar wanna chat about Siddhartha?
Delete2. It's interesting, and confusing, and from what I've read, unexplained, why Hesse took parts but not all of the Buddha's story ... and gave him, confusingly, one of Buddha's names.
ReplyDeleteI like a very simple explanation, first hit on google, "The name Siddhartha is primarily a male name of Indian origin that means One Who Has Accomplished A Goal. From the Sanskrit words Siddha "accomplished" and Artha, "goal.""
Delete3. This chapter explains Siddhartha's good qualities, the traits that make him beloved of others and lead them to imagine futures and hopes for him, the steadfastness and deep love of his friend, and Siddhartha's rattling, internal dissatisfaction about needing happiness from outside. As you write, in "Seeking" above, he was dissatisfied with the fact that the world and the wise men couldn't give him what he wanted. He also wonders about these great written works from the Brahmans, respecting them, but wondering, "But where were those Brahmans, where were those priests, where were those sages or penitents, who had succeeded not merely in knowing this most profound knowledge, but in living it? Where was the expert who could magically transfer his sojourn in the Atman from the sleeping to the waking state, to real life, to every step he took, to words and deeds?"
ReplyDeleteWill we learn Siddhartha has to seek this knowledge alone, the way Buddha did and encouraged others to do? Great men and women can point their finger at the moon, but they cannot get you to realize the answer is the moon?