Siddartha Blog Entry #4

Siddartha Chapter 3 Response Chapter 11-12

Chapter 11 Still learning from the ferryman one day, Siddhartha intends to go into the town to look for his son. Then Siddhartha remembers that he himself wasn’t exactly a model son. He had left his own father the way his son left him. He realizes the pattern of life the river showed, repetition and circularity. Siddhartha returns  and tells the ferryman of his experience in the town where the ferryman had found him. Siddhartha acknowledges the ferryman as a superior being. The ferryman brings Siddhartha out to the river and tells him there is something he has still not heard. {At this point, I predicted this would lead Siddartha into a path to enlightment or possibly enlightment}. Siddhartha listens carefully. For the first time he hears all the voices of the river as one single continuum of all life. He feels his soul merge into himself. The ferryman leaves he river as he pases to a further life, entering the unity of everything. The ferryman parts, and leaves Siddartha enlightened and as the ferryman.




Predictions and Questions After Chapter 11
 - Now that Siddartha has taken the ferryman's place, does he have to pass enlighment unto someone else till he can finally leave?
- Will Siddartha seek Govinda?
-Why would anyone take the position of a ferryman?
-Is Siddartha traped yet again?
-What does having enlightment directly imply?

Chapter 12

After chapter 11 we find Govinda  traveling with the men in yellow robes. They look up to him now because he’s wise and old, but Govinda is still unsatisfied and seeks enlightenment {Reminded me of Siddartha througout the book}. Govinda hears about this wise ferryman, and decides to go talk to him. Siddhartha (the wise ferryman) tells Govinda that because he is orienting himself towards a single goal. Siddhartha is arguing that because Govinda is focused so much on the search, he cannot find what he is searching for. Siddartha tells Govinda he is Siddartha. The next day Govinda asks Siddartha if he follows a doctrine {I though this was really blind of Govinda because Siddartha fights throughout the book against doctrines}. Siddartha tells him he has no doctrines even though he has many teachers. Siddhartha explains his evident belief that although knowledge can be communicated, wisdom can not. {Siddartha knew this throughout the story, he simply did not know how to achieve enlightment then. Siddhartha does not dwell on ideas, and does not fight to understand reality. Govinda doesn't really get it. Before leaving, he asks Siddhartha for any final words of wisdom. Siddhartha tells Govinda to kiss him on the forehead. Govinda kisses him and suddenly sees all things with emotions envolved changing into one another. After kissing Siddhartha, he is has lost track of time and he is unsure if a single second or eternity has passed. Govinda sees Siddartha smiling and he realizes he is the Buddha.

Some Questions Answered:

- Siddartha doesn't seek Govinda, Govinda finds him.
- Siddartha doesn't seem trapped, he doesn't act like it at all

Siddartha Blog Entry #3

Siddartha Chapter 3 Response Chapter 9-10

After leaving Kamala in the second section Siddartha seeks out for a new life.  He seeks to learn from the ferryman how to learn from the river, and eventually learning from the river. It feels like Siddartha is one of the most constantly changing characters in all of the stories as when he finds no more satisfaction in something he seeks the opposite. Siddartha constantly kills his existence and he is born again with little to no nostalgia of what happened before. I think one has to also understand the moment in which he looks to end his life as he was living a life which was no longer pleasurable. 

This left me with many questions like:

Will he ever see Kamala again?

Will Siddartha ever find permanent hapiness?

To become finally restful does one have to be restless first?

My predictions for the questions are: 

1. He just might see Kamala again, but I think if he does it will only be after he achieves what he has been looking for, she will understand this and respect him.
2. Maybe not permanent happiness but definately a cease into his restlessness for knowledge.
3. I think so, but I’d honestly like to debate this with the class and hopefully reach consensus. 

Siddartha Reading Blogs

Section 1 Chapters 1-4

Summary 

In this section we find out who Siddartha is, where he lives and his life with the Brahmin. Soon we realize that he does not find fulfilment in his way of life and he goes live with the Samanas, people with no possessions that meditate and fast to achieve clearness in the mind. His friend Govinda follows him and after being Samanas for a while, Siddartha convinces Govinda that he is not satisfied and that he seeks knowledge. The Buddha gives his teachings and Govinda signs an oath to learn with the Buddha. Siddartha however is more skeptical and he says that what the Buddha nows he learned through a momment of enlightment, and that no matter what the Buddha experienced, he can't teach to others because one can only learn it through experience. He departs with Govinda and seeks his own moment of enlightenment.

I connected this story to any person with seek for self growth as to me; what Siddartha is going through seems perfectly normal. Siddartha is more analytical than others and here is where he finds himself achieving what he seeks. Govinda is very intelligent but he takes an impulsive launch into taking an oath for the Buddha. The story also reminded me of a friend I used to have,  because of a different interest we never talked to each other again. (What happens with Govinda). 

Section 2 Chapters 5-8

Summary 

Siddartha seeks knowledge and comes to a river where he becomes friends with the ferryman. Siddartha tells the ferryman he has no money but the ferryman tells him it'll come back and that it was one thing he had learned from the river. He gets to a village where people avoid him. He meets a woman named Kamala and she invited him to have intercourse by stepping on his foot. He then learns she is a famous prostitute and he asks her to be his teacher in sexual healing. He first must get money and find proper clothes and when he does she hooks him up with a famous merchant and he proves a point that only knowing how to fast and meditate he could achieve what she thought was impossible with those abilities. When the merchant knows that Siddartha can read and write he offers him a job and shelter. Siddhartha visits Kamala daily and she instructs him in the physical act of love. Kamala tells him she wants a child. As the years go by and Siddhartha accrues more and more wealth, his Samana-like qualities begin to fade.They become replaced by more Material Girl-like qualities. He grows increasingly greedy, troubled by everyday problems, and unhappy. He feels trapped by pleasure, pain, and a sense of self-hatred. He falls drunk to sleep and has a dream in which he realizes that he is not happy with this new life and that all of his pleasures have worn off. He rage-quits on his curent life and abandons all possessions. We also find out that Kamala is pregnant with his child.Siddhartha heads for the forest, determined never to go back to his life of wealth.Siddhartha approaches the same river where he met the ferryman years before. He dreams about dropping and submerging himself into the water. He sees the water as mirroring the emptiness within him. About to slip into the water, the word "Om" emanates from his soul.Siddhartha realizes that destroying his body will not end his suffering, and he sits down. Thoroughly exhausted, he falls asleep. When he wakes up he notices someone behind him. He sees Govinda and tells him what has happened.  Govinda leaves to get back to being a monk. He realizes that life as a Samana fueled his intellectual growth and arrogance, allowing him to thrive rather than to perish.


 I conected the story to the song "Changed my mind" by e-dubble. In this song the author raps about how he woke up dead and he changed his mind and he wants to live. For Siddartha, he is tired and he is looking for knowledge, for a new life. In this Chapter Siddartha goes through many different positions; being a Brahmin, then a Samana with no possesions, a wealthy merchant and married man back to not knowing what he is. He goes through all of this just to know that he is still not happy with his life and that he has to take action, Siddartha has to find the knowledge that he is seeking, its not what the Samana teach, not what the Brahmin teach, not the art of love professed by Kamala, not what the Buddha preaches, its something else. He looks to change his life, its just he doesn't know how. 

Uncensored Version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QBneZS1tS4