Nobel Prize winner Hermann Hesse’s most lauded book: The enchanting story of one man’s journey in search of enlightenment Born into the privileged life of a Brahmin, young Siddhartha came of age surrounded by the teachings of the Buddha. But despite his earnest pursuit of enlightenment, Siddhartha is left unfulfilled. Determined to find his own path to the nirvana, Siddhartha leaves home to … Siddhartha leaves home to embark on a spiritual voyage, spurning the comforts of his caste and leaving behind all loved ones save for his best friend, Govinda. Homeless, without food, and dedicated to their austere lifestyle, the friends diverge along two separate paths. Govinda grows ever more dedicated to Buddhist teachings while Siddhartha travels a more meandering road–through asceticism, into an embrace of the joys of the flesh, and finally to an understanding of the nature of time, truth, and the ultimate path to self-realization.
First published in Germany in 1922, Siddhartha grew in popularity through the 1960s, when it became a touchstone of the American counterculture movement. The book endures today as a stirring and lyrical exploration of self-discovery.
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Every week the NYT Book Review’s By the Book column asks somebody what book they would suggest to the president. Siddhartha is the book I’d suggest to anybody frustrated with the president.
Siddhartha is a short masterpiece that makes the ultimate case for finding happiness and balance in the world as it is. As the protagonist Siddhartha says near the end of the book, “the world, my friend Govinda, is not imperfect, or on a slow path towards perfection: no, it is perfect in every moment…”
For me today, it’s way, way too easy to slip into miasma of anger, nostalgia, and envy on Facebook — or even the NYT. So I’m finding the lessons of Siddhartha —
step back, enjoy the beauty and love around you — keys to survival.
After Bruce McDonough recommended this, I picked it up at a used book sale and read it in a few days (on the train, on my couch, while laying outside). The book may be short, the language may be simple, but it’s more than what it seems — the story helped me think about the ways that I move through the world, and among other things, it encouraged me to interrogate my feelings about wisdom and contentment. Definitely recommend.
My goodness. Talk about a spiritual awakening come to life. I pick this book up again about once every few months and am constantly finding new soul opening passages within. I have more than one copy and always notate what I think about something in the book, so that when I go back around to read it again I get to think about why I did that and what it made me feel. You don’t have to be religious (I am not) or necessarily spiritual for this book. I promise it will speak to you no matter what. Very well written and very thoughtful.
Hesse’s story showed me that Enlightenment is not necessarily a direct or linear process. His protagonist moved through many phases and pursuits within a single lifetime to arrive at a place of peace. I remind myself of this constantly in my own search and pursuit of peace.
The first spiritual book I read. Completely changed my perspective on everything forever.
I first read Siddhartha when I was sixteen years old. It made an indelible impression on me. I read all the works of Herman Hesse. I can honestly say, Siddhartha changed my life and I became immersed in Taoism and Buddhism. I am to this day. I hadn’t read Siddhartha in a long time. I don’t believe in coincidences, but I do believe in messages from the universe. I have been stuck writing the ending to my second novel and I asked a friend who wasn’t busy since she was furloughed from her job during this Summer of COVID. The response she gave me was very unexpected. She said it reminded her of Siddhartha and I should take that as a tremendous compliment since it was a favorite book of hers, and one that had great influence on her and caused her to major in Religion and Philosophy. I told her, that I was stunned and honored because the book had turned me to the study of Buddhism and influenced my life at a young and impressionable age. I don’t normally write such personal reviews. Siddhartha is an important book and it certainly has withstood the test of time. A classic that I recommend reading while young, and rereading throughout one’s life.
Quotes:
“…for you know that soft is stronger than hard, water stronger than rock, love stronger than force.”
“When someone seeks,” said Siddhartha, “then it easily happens that his eyes see only the thing that he seeks, and he is able to find nothing, to take in nothing because he always thinks only about the thing he is seeking, because he has one goal, because he is obsessed with his goal. Seeking means: having a goal. But finding means being free, being open, having no goal.”
“Most people…are like a falling leaf that drifts and turns in the air, flutters, and falls to the ground. But a few others are like stars which travel one defined path: no wind reaches them; they have within themselves their guide and path.”
― Hermann Hesse
The attempt to achieve understanding of life and the cosmo can start with the book. It leads to mindfulness and meditation and insight into one’s inner workings. Wonderful story. One of his best.
This book was life changing. I’ve learned so much and I know what we’re looking for in life comes within us.. no teacher or religion can give us what we’re truly looking for!
When I was a young man I read bunch of “who am I” books – things like “Siddhartha”, “The True Believer”, “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance”, “The Starship and the Canoe”, “Manchild in the Promised Land”, “The Great Agnostic”, “Atlas Shrugged”, “Thus Spoke Zarathustra”, “The Magic Mountain”, etc., etc., etc. Some of those books, like “True Believer”, “Manchild in the Promised Land” and the “Great Agnostic” made a huge impression on me. Others, like Siddhartha, I can hardly remember reading.
Hesse won a Nobel prize for literature and Siddhartha was probably his most successful and most influential book. Siddhartha was one of those books that all the cool, smart, hip people read (as did the people who wanted to be cool, smart and hip). It was made into a moderately popular, Art Film. Yet, all I could remember about Siddhartha was a vague sense of the outline of the story.
Anyway, when I came across a copy of Siddhartha in my favorite used book store I, on a whim, decided to give it another try – to see if it would make a bigger impression this time around.
The short answer is: nope.
This is one of those novels that simply did not resonate with me. It is well-written and I sort of understand what is going on and I sort of see why some people would like it. But to me, the story was not very interesting. The main character is supremely gifted, intellectually and physically. Despite being able to almost effortlessly succeed at anything or everything he attempts – he only finds true happiness as an impoverished ferryman and single parent. He finally achieves wisdom after years of listening to the river.
I do not completely reject the apparent philosophy of the book. I agree that sometimes, the harder you strive, the more out of reach you goal becomes. And true happiness does not necessarily come from the accumulation of wealth. On the other hand, some things can only be achieved by working your ass off. The character Siddhartha had the ability to do anything but he was only able to achieve inner peace by living the most mundane life possible… That might be a great truth but it made for a boring novel. Or at least the way Hesse told this particular story was boring.
(Siddhartha reminded me a bit of Coelho’s The Alchemist. I seem to remember The Alchemist is another story of a “personal quest” and I remember thinking it was boring…)
The thing is, I expected to like Siddhartha. I like Hesse. I really enjoyed “The Glass Bead Game” and “Demien”. I think there are clear similarities between Siddhartha and The Glass Bead Game. Both stories begin with a brilliant young man who eventually learns “wisdom” and the value of simple pleasures by the end of his own life. Maybe I was more comfortable with or interested in a character immersed in the mastery of Go (Go is the inspiration for the Game Bead Game) as opposed to Buddhism.
A book to read, again and again. This is such a wonderful classic. It never fails to inspire. I read it about once every five years. I t should be on your bookshelf for its enduring insiration.
They say when you read The Alchemist you would forget about the storyline after a while, but once you read Siddartha it will stay with you for the rest of your life.
This classic tale is essential for those who are truly searching for inner happiness.
This is a classic that served as an inspiration to me as a young reader and it sent me on my own journey of discovery in life. Siddhartha is especially relevant for those who seek to understand the many paths that Buddha followed. Many of us live many different lives within this lifetime and this book is a masterpiece in more ways than one.
It’s masterpiece by Hermann Hesse. You will get some of your answers regarding the life meaning, purpose and sufferings and pain one has to face.
Writing a well-paced deep page-turner about one man’s search for the meaning of life is not an easy task, that’s exactly what Hesse did in this novel. His book is completely devoid of shallow pseudophilosphival pitfalls that plague many meaning-of-life books and reflect the author’s own journey. Wisdom cannot me taught, as Sidhartha so eloquently concludes, but one man’s search for it can be very inspirational.