Siddhartha (1922) by Hermann Hesse
I read Siddhartha a couple weeks ago as the first book in this reading journey. I started with this novel for a couple of reasons:
- It’s a relatively quick read. The small Bantam Classics paperback copy that I have is only 152 pages.
- I have heard great things about it.
- I have been really interested in Buddhism the past year or so–e.g. visiting a temple, watching documentaries, listening to talks by Ajahn Brahm on youtube (he’s a relatively famous monk who heads a monastery in Western Australia).
- I was sucked in by the story after only a couple of pages.
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One aspect of the novel that particularly caught my attention was the juxtaposition of the title character’s search for enlightenment with the path taken by the Buddha, Gotama. (NOTE: Gotama appears to be a representation of the historical Gautama Buddha, also known by the name Siddhartha Gautama.) In particular, I was struck by a conversation Siddhartha has with Gotama after the two meet. Siddhartha recognizes that Gotama has achieved the enlightenment that he himself is trying to achieve, but objects to the idea that following Gotama’s teachings would be the correct path for him. As he explains to Gotama:
“‘I have not spoken to you thus to quarrel with you about words. You are right when you say that opinions mean little, but may I say one thing more. I did not doubt you for one moment. Not for one moment did I doubt that you were the Buddha, that you have reached the highest goal which so many thousands of Brahmins and Brahmins’ sons are striving to reach. You have done so by your own seeking, in your own way, through thought, through meditation, through knowledge, through enlightenment. You have learned nothing through teachings, and so I think, O Illustrious One, that nobody finds salvation through teachings. To nobody, O Illustrious One, can you communicate in words and teachings what happened to you in the hour of your enlightenment. The teachings of the enlightened Buddha embrace much, they teach much–how to live righteously, how to avoid evil. But there is one thing that this clear, worthy instruction does not contain; it does not contain the secret of what the Illustrious One himself experienced–he alone among hundreds of thousands. That is what I thought and realized when I heard your teachings. That is why I am going on my own way–not to seek another and better doctrine, for I know there is none, but to leave all doctrines and all teachers and to reach my goal alone–or die.'” (pages 33-34)
How I understood this passage is that Siddhartha is positing an answer to a simple, but important question: can wisdom gained through personal experience be taught and perfectly transmitted to others?
Say there was a famously successful businessman (or businesswoman) that achieved enlightenment. Just to make things more tangible, let’s say that this modern Buddha was Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg. Could this Illustrious One condense her experiences into a book (with a promotional tour that includes a 60 Minutes piece) to teach others how to achieve enlightenment? And, more importantly, would solely and completely following such a venerable tome be the correct path to enlightenment for any reader? (To be fair, Sandberg is only writing to offer some advice, not indoctrinate a new generation of superwomen. Secondly, most reasonable persons would not follow a book’s advice to a T and disregard their own experiences and other sources–though some people treat holy books this way.)
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Say in the future there is a computer scientist Buddha: one who has achieved enlightenment, yet is a superstar programmer and designer. Can this Illustrious One make a program that condenses his realizations into a set of instructions that a common person can download into their brain (because in the future people would be able to directly download instructions, data, and routines into their brains) and would allow the common person to achieve enlightenment as well? I think, if you extend Siddhartha’s argument to this scenario, the answer would be no.
Now say that in the future there is a chemist Buddha who works for Big Pharma. Not relying on his actual experiences that allowed him to reach enlightenment, but rather by using his exemplary chemistry skills, would he be able to create a cocktail of drugs that allows others to achieve the enlightened state that he experiences (i.e. the user’s brain perfectly matches the electrical and biochemical properties of the chemist Buddha’s brain)? Between Comp Sci Buddha and Chem Buddha, which hypothetical invention made for others to achieve enlightenment seems more plausible or sound? If pressed, I think Siddhartha would ultimately side with Chem Buddha’s method since it does not rely on a “path” that is only meaningful to the individual who discovered and experienced it.
My Bookshelf – July 10, 2013
The Straining Reader 