Siddhartha

Von Hermann Hesse

Eine indische Dichtung ist eine Erzählung von Hermann Hesse, die im S. Fischer Verlag in Berlin im Jahr 1922 zum ersten Mal veröffentlicht wurde.

Siddhartha, der Brahmane
Das Buch handelt von einem jungen Brahmanen namens Siddhartha und seinem Freund Govinda. Der von allen verehrte und bewunderte Siddhartha widmet sein Leben der Suche nach dem Atman, dem All-Einen, das in jedem Menschen ist.

Siddhartha, der Samana
Seine Suche macht aus dem Brahmanen einen Samana, einen Asketen und Bettler. Govinda folgt ihm auf diesem Weg. Siddhartha spürt jedoch nach einiger Zeit, dass ihn das Leben als Samana nicht an sein Ziel bringen wird. Zusammen mit Govinda pilgert er zu Gautama, dem Buddha. Doch dessen Lehre kann er nicht annehmen. Siddhartha erkennt zwar, dass Gotama Erleuchtung erlangt hat und zweifelt die Richtigkeit seiner Lehre nicht an, jedoch glaubt er, diese sei allein für Gotama selbst gültig. Man kann nicht durch Lehre Buddha werden, sondern muss dieses Ziel mittels eigener Erfahrungen erreichen. Aus dieser Erkenntnis heraus begibt er sich erneut auf die Reise und beginnt einen neuen Lebensabschnitt, während sich sein Freund Govinda Gotama anschließt.

Siddhartha bei den „Kindermenschen“
Intensiv erfährt er nun seine Umgebung und die Schönheit der Natur, welche er zuvor als Samana zu verachten lernte. Er überquert einen Fluss, wobei ihm der Fährmann prophezeit, er werde einst zu diesem zurückkehren, und erreicht eine große Stadt. Hier begegnet er der Kurtisane Kamala, die er bittet, seine Lehrerin in der Kunst der Liebe zu werden. Um sich ihre Dienste leisten zu können, wird er Kaufmann. Anfangs sieht er das Streben nach Erfolg und Geld nur als eine wunderliche Eigenart der „Kindermenschen“, wie er die dem Weltlichen ergebenen Menschen nennt. Bald wandelt sich jedoch sein Übermut in Hochmut und er wird selbst den Kindermenschen immer ähnlicher. Erst ein Traum führt ihm dies vor Augen und erinnert ihn wieder an seine

• Sprache: Deutsch
• Herausgeber: Jane Jane
• Erscheinungsdatum: 1. Okt. 2020
• ISBN: 9789635237715

Hermann Hesse

Hermann Hesse was a highly acclaimed German author. He was known most famously for his novels Steppenwolfand Siddhartha and his novel The Glass Bead Game earned Hesse a Nobel prize in Literature in 1946. Many of his works explore topics pertaining to self-prescribed societal ostracization. Hesse was fascinated with ways in which one could break the molds of traditional society in an effort to dig deeper into the conventions of selfhood. His fascination with personal awareness earned himself something of a following in the later part of his career. Perceived thus as a sort of “cult-figure” for many young English readers, Hesse’s works were a gateway into their expanding understanding of eastern mysticism and spirituality. Despite Hesse’s personal fame, Siddhartha, was not an immediate success. It was only later that his works received noticeable recognition, largely with audiences internationally. The Glass Bead Game was Hermann Hesse’s final novel, though he continued to express his beliefs through varying forms of art including essays, poems, and even watercolor paintings.

Rezensionen für Siddhartha

[montzaleew · Bewertung: 4 von 5 Sternen]

SiddharthaBy: Hermann HesseNarrated by: Christopher PreeceThis is an audible book I requested and the review is voluntary. This is the first time I actually understand this book. I have read this book before a few times but it is a difficult book to read. For me, it is hard to stay focused and follow what is going on at times. With this audible book, with this narrator, I finally got the flow of the book! That's a big plus. Once I understood the basics of what was going on, I understood more. Do I understand all? No, but I get it a lot more. The narrator was wonderful with a clear, soothing voice that was perfect!

[phoenixterran · Bewertung: 4 von 5 Sternen]

This is the second time I have read this book, and it is quite fascinating. An allegorical novel, Siddhartha follows the life of Siddhartha, a son of a Brahmin, and his religious and spiritual search for the Ultimate. We follow Siddhartha as he leaves his father's religion and house to become an ascetic. After many years of studying with the Samanas, he abandons the community to become a man of the world. He becomes rich and powerful, but even then he is not satisfied, and contemplates taking his own life to end his suffering. But, just as he is about to throw himself into the river, he hears a sound that will change him forever...Experiments in Reading

[stevenjohntait · Bewertung: 5 von 5 Sternen]

Very good book. Gives everything apart from actual enlightenment.

[auntmarge64 · Bewertung: 5 von 5 Sternen]

A well-to-do Brahman by birth, as a young man Siddhartha leaves home to pursue a spiritual satisfaction he hasn’t found in his father’s traditional teachings and practices. Throughout his life he follows his inner voice, learning from forest-dwelling ascetics, a brief stay with Gautama Buddha, friendships he forms with a courtesan and a wealthy businessman, and, finally, from an old ferryman, with whom he lives his own elder years. Slowly Siddhartha finds his own path to holiness, which he reaches only when he finally leaves teachings behind and simply recognizes the unity of all existence. What a beautiful tale this is, and one I’ll be revisiting again and again.

[trotsky731 · Bewertung: 5 von 5 Sternen]

A great, spiritual read. Tells the tale of Siddhartha, a young man with an unquenchable thirst for knowledge, till he finally hears the answer from a river.

[nikg83 · Bewertung: 5 von 5 Sternen]

A classic covering a man's journey in his discovery of the purpose of life. Easy to read and a most agreeable conclusion.

[berthirsch · Bewertung: 5 von 5 Sternen]

An all-time classic. A moving fictionalized account of the Buddha's awakening. A quick yet moving and unforgettable tale.

[mighteq · Bewertung: 4 von 5 Sternen]

A book everyone should read about a man's spiritual journey.

[raphaelmatto · Bewertung: 4 von 5 Sternen]

Read it when you're a teenager or if you're searching.

[woolgathering · Bewertung: 4 von 5 Sternen]

Beautiful story about one man's spiritual journey. I think everyone should have a copy.

[amerynth · Bewertung: 4 von 5 Sternen]

Having only read one novel by Hesse before ("The Glass Bead Game,") this slim little volume wasn't what I expected when I requested "Siddhartha" from the library. Although this is a rather simple story, I found it to be a pretty enjoyable read.Siddhartha is a young Brahmin who goes through a number of phases in his lifetime, which contribute to his ultimate understanding of the universe. Hesse's simple style in this novel works well for the story, which was a fun read.

[stbalbach_1 · Bewertung: 5 von 5 Sternen]

Much has been written from a spiritual and literary view about this famous 1922 book by Nobel Prize winner Hermann Hesse. I will look at it from a historical context perspective. Hesse was born in 1877 into the generation immediately after the German victory of the Franco-Prussian War. Think of the generation in America born after WWII, or in England after the Napoleonic Wars. It was a generation full of bright futures and expectations, Germany would at long last fulfill its destiny on a global stage. As it turned out it was this same generation that lead Germany into the misery and defeat of WWI (1914-17) and the dream and future died in the slaughter of the trenches. So it was in the aftermath in 1922 Hesse the philosopher became popular with Germans with his introspection and inward looking examination of what life really meant, what is really important. The outer world had defeated Germany and it would find strength and solace by looking inward. Perhaps it is not surprising that another generation resonated with this same message of rejecting the outer world and embracing inner vision, the counter-culture of America in the 1960s, when Hesse's book first became widely read and known in English speaking countries.

[datrappert · Bewertung: 4 von 5 Sternen]

This review is specifically for the audio version read by Geoffrey Giuliano. This is a pretty suitable book for audio. It is only about five hours long and the story is straightforward. The narrator does a good job, but whoever records the intro and outro sections sounds like a maniac. I almost stopped listening after a few seconds.As for the book, it is one I've had on my shelf for decades but never read. I read Hesse's Steppenwolf, when I was a teen or maybe in my early twenties; I remember liking it but don't remember anything else about it. I thought Siddhartha was about the Buddha, but in fact, it is about someone who meets the Buddha but, while appreciating his teachings, realizes that you cannot achieve nirvana through teachings. One line I particularly remember is that knowledge can be taught, but wisdom cannot. During the course of the story, Siddhartha tries out many lifestyles and can be said to succeed in all of them, but he is still finding. Which relates to another great quote, which is that those who seek cannot find, because they are too focused on what they are seeking. Meaning they miss out on all the other things around them. By the end of the book, Siddhartha seems to have found what he needs to find. Whether or not you as a reader can embrace his ultimate philosophy is up to you. The contradictory nature of the book is that Siddhartha would probably tell you not to--you have to find your own.

[jimocracy · Bewertung: 4 von 5 Sternen]

Nonsensical ideologies and philosophies aside, I really enjoyed this book. From a literary perspective, the author (and translator) did a masterful job of sucking me into the life and mind of Siddhartha. I felt like I was on a roller coaster of emotions and story lines and the protagonist journeyed through a life of seeking.

[nataliec7 · Bewertung: 3 von 5 Sternen]

This is quite low down on my TBR's but I wanted a quick read as I'm going on holiday soon and have a whole set of books to take with me but wanted to start them whilst I was away!I liked this book. It was very easy to get into, and I lost myself within it. I enjoyed the rather simple language, what it was about, the characters and the feel of the book in general.

[brakketh-1 · Bewertung: 4 von 5 Sternen]

The journey to enlightenment travelled by Siddhartha as demonstrated through living his life rather than learning about enlightenment.

[reluctanttechie · Bewertung: 3 von 5 Sternen]

Considered a classic, but very repetitive in English. Perhaps it is better in the original German. It touches on the paradoxes of life and is difficult to truly understand, which I guess is the point.

[razinha-1 · Bewertung: 2 von 5 Sternen]

I seem to remember writing a book report for this in junior high or high school, but I don't recall that I ever actually read it. I wonder what the then me, being naive and impressionable, would have thought if I had read it. I know that I couldn't then, as now, read into a book and pull out what the author was thinking - or at least make up some nonsense about what I think the author was thinking. Regardless, the current me found this to be rather simple and preachy...with yet another, "oh, please" ending.

[dreesie-1 · Bewertung: 4 von 5 Sternen]

I liked this much more than I expected to. As a young man the Brahmin Siddhartha leaves his father to be a samana, a monk of sorts, searching for truth and enlightenment. He then begins to follow one man known as a Buddha. After much time with him, he decides he is ready for something else, knowing nothing of women or the ways of the world. He becomes a successful businessman and a lover--and years later realizes how much of his wisdom and skill has been lost (how to wait, how to fast...). He leaves his lover and business and becomes a ferryman, with the man who ferried him years before. There he gains happiness and wisdom, and knowledge of the cycle and sameness of all life and time.

[killerx-2 · Bewertung: 2 von 5 Sternen]

Such a slog.

[arwid-2 · Bewertung: 4 von 5 Sternen]

Fantastic book.

[bookomaniac-1 · Bewertung: 4 von 5 Sternen]

Prachtige parabel, zij het soms iets te pathetisch. Ook Bildungsroman: alle stadia en ervaringen van het menselijke leven komen aan bod. Centrale boodschap aan ons westerlingen: "Zoeken is niet vinden".

[rsplenda477 · Bewertung: 5 von 5 Sternen]

This is quite possibly the most beautiful book I have ever read. It touched me emotionally, philosophically, spiritually, etc. Hesse really knocked this one out of the park about a man in search of truth and self-identity.

[miguelnunonave · Bewertung: 5 von 5 Sternen]

A spiritual journey, told with immense poetry. A guide to buddhism. Hesse is a marvelous writer.

[auntieclio · Bewertung: 5 von 5 Sternen]

This one goes on the pile of to be again and again books. What a marvelous book about finding the meaning of life. I immediately thought of at least two friends who need to have this in their libraries.

[drfp_1 · Bewertung: 3 von 5 Sternen]

Siddhartha is a deliberately simply written novella that were it not written by an author of such stature as Hesse would probably have been dismissed as an example of empty Eastern mumbo jumbo and Orientalism.I found the book's prose quite delightful in its simplicity and its message is quite uplifting too. I don't think there's any particularly deep mystery or insight provided in this book but that doesn't mean it's not a good read. It's a sort of old fashioned fable / parable and if you start the book expecting something like that I doubt you'll be disappointed. It's only if you go into the book expecting to find the meaning of life or an intricately plotted epic that you'll come out at the end disappointed.

[jdhomrighausen · Bewertung: 4 von 5 Sternen]

The most important prolegomena to reading this story of a soul searching is that it's not intended to be historical. When the protagonist, Siddhartha, meets Gotama Buddha at the start of the book, I was pretty damn confused. Once I got past that this was a great book.Siddhartha is a young man on a quest. His expected caste life as a priest offering sacrifices does not satisfy him. He leaves his family to become a wandering ascetic, making his life revolve around the skills of fasting, waiting, and thinking. He wanders through many walks of life, always needing to find his own truth rather than learn from another. Through all these different walks of life, he finds the Self, the Siddhartha behind the holy man, behind the businessman, behind the lover. The extended climax of this non-plot-oriented novel is Siddhartha's realization that he has found what he was searching for.This book, like the last one I read by Paulo Coelho, has very little plot or action, and is told more like a fable or even a parable. Its specific teaching is an indeterminate or vaguely hatched discovery of the character's own arrogance, the dead end of purely cognitive understanding, and the acceptance of his inability to grasp onto current realities and break outside th larger saga of human life. The overtones even feel more Hindu than Buddhist. But the journey of discovery is more important to this reader than the results. Recommended for people who like this sort of story, but also not as good as the other Hesse I read, [Narcissus and Goldmund].Quotes:"Siddhartha now also realized why he had struggled in vain with this Self when he was a Brahmin and an ascetic. Too much knowledge has hindered him; too many holy verses, too many sacrificial rites, too much mortificiation of the flesh, too much doing and striving." (77)"He felt that he had now completely learned the art of listening. He had often heard all this before, all these numerous voices in the river, but today they sounded different. He could no longer distinguish the different voices - the merry voice from the weeping voice, the childish voice from the manly voice. They all belonged to each other: the lament of those who yearn, the laughter of the wise, the cry of indignation and groan of the dying. They were all interwoven and interlocked, entwined in a thousand ways." (105)

[neverstopreading-1 · Bewertung: 5 von 5 Sternen]

My first experience with Hermann Hesse came in the fall of 2005 when I took Anthropology of Religion in my senior year at Texas A&M. We read an excerpt from The Glass Bead Game and I was deeply moved by the beauty of Hesse's writing, as were many people, thus earning him the Nobel Prize in 1946.I don't remember when or where I purchased Siddhartha, but the appeal of the story of a spiritual journey and my desire to read more of Hesse's works were too tempting to deny. That being said, I don't know why I've held onto the book for so long without reading it, especially since it is not a very long novel.Siddhartha is beautifully written and mirrors my own spiritual journey. I am of a different faith than the characters in the book, but that is irrelevant to my appreciation of the story. There is much wisdom in the story, and "Wisdom," Siddhartha says, "is not communicable." A wise statement, yes, which then makes it foolish.Wisdom is communicable, but not always through pedagogical language. It is communicated through the sound of a river, a life lived, or a story. This book is a book of wisdom and it must be read carefully and reflectively to be received.

[bysunil · Bewertung: 1 von 5 Sternen]

I started this book with a conception that it's about lord Buddha. but as it has nothing to do with lord Buddha, this book was a big disappointment.

[amydross · Bewertung: 3 von 5 Sternen]

I wonder if this book felt like more of a revelation when most readers didn't know much about the Buddha. It was charming and engaging in places, but I found it a little slight.