Home
Creators
Search Recent Random
Posts
Search DMs Popular Hash Lookup Tags Random
Importer
Import FAQ
Register Favorites Keys Review DMs Logout
Community
Telegram ThePornDude
Home Creators Posts Import Register Favorites Logout

Deep Analysis of Siddharta: Awakening (Pt. I Ch. III-IV) (Patreon)

Published:
2021-07-29 15:51:25
Imported:
2026-06
haven't archived this post yet. have a subscription? use the importer!

Content

Siddharta and Govinda meet with Gotama.

The Illustrious One may mark the end of the journey for one friend, but for the other he is only the threshold guardian.

We need only make our way out from Plato's cave and the Jetavana Grove, and perhaps our reward will be awakening.

Video Timestamps: 

  • 0:00 preparing to meet Gotama the threshold guardian
  • 0:30 when you and your friend must part ways
  • 1:00 the Jetavana Grove and Anathapindika
  • 3:50 how Proust and Hesse deal with time
  • 4:10 years over the course of pages
  • 5:00 when is our journey over?
  • 5:50 Robert Frost's poem
  • 7:20 Mark Twain on when to pause and reflect
  • 10:00 hearing the teachings of Gotama 
  • 15:00 reading from the Buddhist texts
  • 17:30 the usual methods of wisdom teachers
  • 18:00 how to give a sermon
  • 20:00 books as spiritual guides
  • 21:00 all things are made up by the mind
  • 22:00 a parable from the Buddhist texts
  • 24:00 Gotama explains his "goal" to Siddharta
  • 26:00 we are living in Plato's cave
  • 31:00 the ego death and our collective mythological memory
  • 31:30 Arthur Rimbaud on becoming a poet
  • 33:00 defamiliarisation and estrangement
  • 35:00 Siddharta's first awakening

Questions to Consider

1) Have you ever encountered a threshold guardian? What did they look like? Did it mean a separation like that of Siddharta and Govinda?

2) How far do you read into the idea of Plato's cave? How illusory is this world? And is it possible to ever break free? To awaken?

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

Happy reading!


Files

Previews only

Deep Analysis of Siddharta: Awakening (Pt. I Ch. III-IV)

0:00 preparing to meet Gotama the threshold guardian 0:30 when you and your friend must part ways 1:00 the Jetavana Grove and Anathapindika 3:50 how Proust and Hesse deal with time 4:10 years over the course of pages 5:00 when is our journey over? 5:50 Robert Frost's poem 7:20 Mark Twain on when to pause and reflect 10:00 hearing the teachings of Gotama 15:00 reading from the Buddhist texts 17:30 the usual methods of wisdom teachers 18:00 how to give a sermon 20:00 books as spiritual guides 21:00 all things are made up by the mind 22:00 a parable from the Buddhist texts 24:00 Gotama explains his "goal" to Siddharta 26:00 we are living in Plato's cave 31:00 the ego death and our collective mythological memory 31:30 Arthur Rimbaud on becoming a poet 33:00 defamiliarisation and estrangement 35:00 Siddharta's first awakening

Comments

Ellen MacNary

A couple years ago, I graduated from college, and felt a similar disillusionment as Siddhartha concerning learning and teaching. While it was not nearly as intense a time as Siddhartha's experience with the Samanas, I've begun to see similarities, particularly in the self-denial, thinking I was working on some great project (a couple of bachelor's degrees- pieces of paper, nothing more) and when I finally attained them, I realized I had spent all that time being afraid of living my life, becoming my Self. I started this new chapter of my life taking on more and more hobbies, thinking somehow that would make me into something. Of course, I realized after awhile that hobbies and jobs could not make me, that I was something else-- which was a bit discouraging, but I still love my hobbies even so. I had majored in neuroscience and I could have continued in that vein, becoming a research assistant and maybe in a few years beginning the process of getting a PhD but I hardly considered it. I knew I needed to become an EMT, though my family could not understand why it was such a strong need. To them, I was now college-educated and had difficulty speaking to others, and they could not understand (somewhat snobbishly) why I would want to take on a blue collar, somewhat dangerous, poorly-paid job. In the two years since, I have brought back with me many stories-- some heartbreaking, others absurd, others of quiet suffering, and still others of not-so-quiet rage, and I think they have begun to understand my decision. I, too, have started to understand my decision, which began as a need for adventure and stories, and has morphed into a far greater understand of and compassion for people from all walks of life. After all this, I have come full circle-- partly-- on the subject of teaching and learning. I have had patients that have stayed with me, as I'm sure all healthcare workers have experienced. One was a 15 year old girl who had been very close to throwing herself off a bridge before police had been able to grab her. She told me, in the back of the ambulance, that nothing had worked: no psychologist, no doctor or nurse, no known drug, and no amount of love from her parents had been able to keep her from time and again wanting and trying to kill herself. She felt great guilt for this, but could not stop. I had grown in the past couple of years from a depressed and apathetic student into someone who found great joy in most of the things she did, in the world she saw, and here I was, unable to convey that. I have always considered myself first and foremost a writer, and so I figured if I ever set for myself the task of 'making a case for life', I thought I'd have an entire lifetime and at least 400 pages to do it in. I found myself with 5 to 10 minutes instead, and not a single word to say. I have thought often about this, and still despite the time, I have come up with no 'elevator pitch for living' that would work, considering I myself have felt something of that deep gnawing apathy many times before and know that nothing beyond myself has ever been able to pull me out of it. Anyways, long post over.

Anonymous

Yesterday, I took a break from Macbeth, Moby Dick, Middlemarch, etc., and on a whim, read through Siddhartha, after which I watched these first three lectures. It was quite enjoyable! It must be 30 years since I last read the novel, and all I can say is, "my, how I've changed." In his description of the philosophy, Hesse confuses some Vedic and Buddhist concepts about "Self," but it doesn't seem to have mattered much. It's still a beautiful, insightful work; really more a poem than a novel (I guess "An Indic Poem" was the original subtitle). Anyway, I look forward to watching the final lectures. It looks like I'd enjoy rereading Joseph Campbell and working my way through your companion lecture series. It's nice to find this treasure trove. Thanks, Ben!