Siddhartha (17 page)

^*
Many of these entries have their source in one or both of the following two works:
Luis O. Gómez,
The Land of Bliss: The Paradise of the Buddha of Measureless Light
(Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 1996).
John Grimes,
A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy
, 2nd ed. (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1996).

1. In his Introduction, Tom Robbins says that
   Siddhartha
   demonstrates “a hunger for spiritual illumination.” What are some examples of other pieces of literature, both classic and contemporary, that share this purpose? In which ways are they similar to
   Siddhartha
   ? How are they different?
   

2. Why does Siddhartha sometimes refer to himself in the third person and sometimes in the first person? What does this say about how he views himself? Consider in particular his conversation with his father on page 9.
   

3. The spiritual leader who came to be known as Buddha was born with the name of Siddhartha Gautama. Why does Hesse choose to give his character the same name, especially given that Hesse’s Siddhartha does not decide to become one of Gautama’s disciples? Similarly, why does Hesse refer to the Buddha only as Gautama, and not as Siddhartha Gautama?
   

4. What is the significance of Siddhartha’s dream in which Govinda becomes a woman? What does it suggest about their relationship? Does it foreshadow Siddhartha’s relationship with Kamala? How are Siddhartha’s relationships with Govinda and Kamala different?
   

5. Siddhartha tells Kamala that “Perhaps people of our sort are incapable of love. The child people can love; that is their secret” (p. 63). What does he mean by “people of our sort”? Is love why Siddhartha both loathes and envies the child people? Over the course of the novel, Siddhartha explores many kinds of love—platonic, romantic, and parental. How does each affect him differently?
   

6. In his memoir,
   Memories, Dreams, Reflections
   , C. G. Jung writes that “A career, producing of children, are all maya (illusion) compared to that one thing, that your life is meaningful.” For much of the novel, Siddhartha seems to embody this philosophy, sacrificing various occupations and relationships in order to seek his own spiritual purpose. But his behavior seems to change profoundly when he discovers that he has a son. Do you think that producing a child is, as Jung claims, an illusion in the face of Siddhartha’s greater conquest?
   

7. Siddhartha looks to many people for guidance along his journey—the Brahmins, the Samanas, Gautama, Kamala, and Vasudeva. But in the end, the source that becomes most fruitful is the river. What do you think the river represents? What does Siddhartha mean when he says that his life was a river? What does Vasudeva mean when he tells Siddhartha that there are two kinds of people, one who sees the river as an obstacle and one who does not?
   

8. Though it is Siddhartha who sets out initially on a quest for spiritual enlightenment, several other characters—Govinda, Kamala, and Vasudeva—find their own respective fulfillment as a result of his journey. How, if at all, does this affect Siddhartha’s own quest?
   

9. Examine the role that Govinda plays in the novel. Why is it important that he periodically revisits Siddhartha’s life?
   

10. Siddhartha oscillates throughout the novel about his feelings toward his teachers and guides. At the end, he tells Govinda, “One can pass on knowledge but not wisdom. One can find wisdom, one can live it, one can be supported by it, one can work wonders with it, but one cannot speak it or teach it” (p. 119). Do you agree with Siddhartha? What is the difference between wisdom and knowledge?
    

T
HE
M
ODERN
L
IBRARY
E
DITORIAL
B
OARD

Maya Angelou
·
A. S. Byatt
·
Caleb Carr
·
Christopher Cerf
·
Harold Evans
·
Charles Frazier
·
Vartan Gregorian
·
Jessica Hagedorn
·
Richard Howard
·
Charles Johnson
·
Jon Krakauer
·
Edmund Morris
·
Azar Nafisi
·
Joyce Carol Oates
·
Elaine Pagels
·
John Richardson
·
Salman Rushdie
·
Oliver Sacks
·
Carolyn See
·
Gore Vidal

Introduction copyright © 2006 by Tom Robbins
Translation, translator’s preface, glossary, and
biographical note copyright © 2006 by Random House, Inc.
Reading group guide copyright © 2008 by Random House, Inc.

All rights reserved.

Published in the United States by Modern Library, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Hesse, Hermann, 1877-1962.
[Siddhartha, English]
Siddhartha: an Indian poem/Hermann Hesse; a new translation by
Susan Bernofsky; introduction by Tom Robbins.
p. cm.
eISBN: 978-0-307-42369-6
I. Bernofsky, Susan. II. Title

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