Hermann Hesse: Siddhartha (2020, Independent Publishing Aggregators)
130 pages
English language
Published April 11, 2020 by Independent Publishing Aggregators.
Hermann Hesse wrote Siddhartha after he traveled to India in the 1910s. It tells the story of a young boy who travels the country in a quest for spiritual enlightenment in the time of Guatama Buddha. It is a compact, lyrical work, which reads like an allegory about the finding of wisdom.
The revelation of a lifetime, without religion and Gods. Short, yet beautifully answers existence and the purpose of life.
I read this simple and little book many years. When I first knew it, I thougt it was a Siddharta Gautama's (the original Buda's name) mini biography. When I opened the book I saw the book was a work of fiction. In reality, Siddharta is not the Buda, but in the story, the authentic Buda appears as a character.
Anyway, the main character of the story, which himself is called Siddharta, tells Buda it won't need their teachings in order to achieve a better life, but is the life itself it provide's the means for learning. In this way, this could be seen as Buddhism critic . I enjoyed the book, and to know that Siddharta, after all the things he goes through, he's a happy man.
Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse (1997)
