Deep Analysis of Siddharta: The Brahmin's Son (Pt. I Ch. I) (Patreon)

Today we're embarking on an exciting adventure towards enlightenment.

We're giving Siddharta (1922) by Hermann Hesse the Hardcore Literature deep reading treatment. 

This lecture covers three main landscapes:

• 1) the life and suffering of Hermann Hesse
• 2) the fundamentals of Buddhist/Eastern wisdom
• 3) the first chapter of this beautiful novella 

We're talking about the traumatic life of the Nobel Prize winning Hermann Hesse and how he gave a middle finger to the Nazis, suffering (dukkah)  and pleasure (sukha), the gods of Hinduism, how all the world religions instruct the same thing, and how to find wisdom beneath the bodhi tree whilst chanting "om". 

Recommended Edition of Siddharta:

• The Hilda Rosner translation, with introduction by Paulo Coelho, in Penguin Modern Classics

Lecture Timestamps:

• 0:00 the necessity of suffering
• 2:00 the suffering of Hermann Hesse
• 3:00 Hesse's life in 1922
• 4:50 the marital trauma of Hesse 
• 5:00 Hesse's failed spiritual trip to the East
• 6:00 the essay that angered the Nazis 
• 7:20 the breakup of Hesse's marriage 
• 8:20 lebenskrankheit (life sickness) and Nobel Prize
• 9:00 the meaning of Buddha 
• 10:00 the meaning of Siddharta (Siddha + artha)
• 11:30 feeling is understanding 
• 12:00 the Buddhist Christianity of Hermann Hesse 
• 12:30 the unity of all world religions (Islam, Taoism, Sikhism)
• 15:20 the four main aims of human life in Hinduism 
• 16:00 the three stages of a Hindu male's life 
• 16:30 twelve chapters, the four noble truths, eightfold path
• 17:20 man's existence is suffering (the dukkah-sukah binary)
• 18:20 ananda - eternal bliss/ecstasy 
• 20:00 Siddharta and the countercultural movement 
• 22:00 deep reading of chapter one begins 
• 22:50 the significance of the fig tree (Krishna, Vishnu, Brahma, Shiva)
• 23:50 Shelley's 'Ode to the West Wind'
• 25:00 the Indian caste system and what does brahmin mean?
• 26:30 the meaning of "om" 
• 30:00 Siddharta, Govinda, Don Quixote, and the beauty of friendship
• 31:00 the seeds of discontent 
• 35:00 do teachers of wisdom really live in accordance with their words?
• 39:00 the call to adventure 
• 42:00 the tragedy of leaving one's father's house
• 45:00 the adventure begins

Questions to Consider:

1) What is your personal history with mindfulness practices? What does your current practice look like now? Do you find meditations such as this one to be beneficial in any way?

2) How does the opening of Siddharta compare with the opening of other books you have read? Does it resonate with you? Do you like it? Do you find it beautiful?

Any thoughts, responses, or meditations - big or small - you might have to share in regards to Siddharta will be deeply appreciated.

Happy reading!