Suffering In Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha

I enjoy the history and the adventures from Siddhartha. Throughout the book, Hermann Hesse compares Siddharta with the stages of the Four Noble Truths through the characters in Siddhartha’s adventure. The first part of the Four Noble Truths is the truth of the suffering (Bodhi). In Buddhism, human’s possessions and desires only provide temporary happiness which leads to a lack of interest (Bodhi). Similarly, Hesse describes Siddhartha as “the beloved” and “the magnificent”, but he also shows that the people around him “would not always make [Siddhartha] happy” (Hesse 4 and 5). Despite having the perfect life around him, Siddhartha still felt discontent about his life, and wanted to change his lifestyle to achieve happiness. In order …show more content…
According to Buddhism, suffering derives from greed and ignorance, and eliminating possessions will result in happiness (Bodhi). The Samaras show how a person could achieve happiness by getting rid of his or her state of being or “losing the Self” by surviving with bare necessities for survival (Hesse 15). Hesse displays the Samaras as people who have no sufferings and responsibilities to ponder over. As a society, we could learn how to be happy by getting rid of our greed for money and the idea that money buys happiness. The Samaras achieve happiness despite not reaching true enlightenment.
The third part of the Four Noble Truths is the end of the suffering (Bodhi). After eliminating all desires and achieving happiness, the person reaches Nirvana, the extinction of suffering (Bodhi). Hesse characterizes Gotama as a man who used the Four Noble Truths “to release suffering”, thus achieving Nirvana (Hesse 29). Gotama exemplifies a person who achieved enlightenment from the practice of the Samaras and found the solution to achieve happiness, but he is not able to teach others how to enter Nirvana. In other words, a person can only achieve Nirvana through his or her