The Quest for Nirvana in Siddhartha Essay -- Hesse Siddhartha Essays

The Quest for Nirvana in Siddhartha In Siddhartha, by Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha and his friend, Govinda, get around their sheltered lives as Brahmins, Hindu priests, to be Samanas, ascetics who deny themselves all pleasure. more or less years after, they meet the Buddha, whom Govinda stays with to be a monk fleck Siddhartha leaves to continue on his feature adventures. Toward the end of their lives, they meet again at a river bank and discover if they have truly achieved inner peace. Hesse uses Govinda as a contrast to Siddhartha. As displayed in excursions with the Samanas, with the Buddha, and on other adventures, Siddhartha is a character who is more in strung-out and must learn on his own while Govinda is more dependent and feels he must be taught. Microsoft Encarta cyclopedia According to Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia, Hesse was born in Germany in 1877. After rebelling from traditional education and being expelled from the seminary in which he was enrolle d, he educated himself mostly with books. In his earlier years, he became a bookseller and journalist, which may have excite his first book, Peter Carmenzind. Being a pacifist, Hesse moved to Switzerland during World contend I. He came in contact there with renowned psychologist Carl Jung who inspired close to of his better-known works. Frank McLynn Edwin F. Casebeer Joseph Mileck New Standard Encyclopedia Ernst Pawel Felix Anselm Frank McLynn, a biographer of Carl Jung, states that Hermann Hesse, following a breakdown, began psychoanalysis with one of Jungs pupils. It was through this pupil that Hesse at long last came in contact with Jung in 1916. According to noted Hesse... ...dhartha and learn from what he sees without being taught. Theodore Ziolkowski notes that characters of Hesse have transformed from difficult to escape their problems more toward trying to resolve their inner vision. Siddhartha and Govinda are both. The two characters try to escape thei r miserable by trying to learn how to deal with pain by exposing themselves to immense amounts of it while they are with the Samanas. However, they realize that this approach go forth not sustain the problem human suffering exists as emotional as head as physical pain. They must learn how to separate themselves from this suffering, not plow from it that is Nirvana. Their paths separate because Siddharthas adventures are based on those of an independent man who will try to teach himself, whereas Govindas are based on those of a dependent man who prefers to learn by example.