Buddhism by way of a German novel

I've not been to church lately. It isn't that I haven't wanted to go. It's just that, for the most part, I've overslept or been hungover or whatever, and 10:30 comes awfully soon after 3am.

What an awful way to start a spirituality blog post.

The paradox, though, is that I have been thinking a lot about the metaphysical. Recently I read Herman Hesse's book, Siddhartha, and it was eye-opening in ways I didn't expect. What I found perhaps most interesting was that Siddhartha, the protagonist of the novel, goes on a journey similar to one I find myself on. He grows up under a certain structure, leaves it for a more intense religious way of life, then leaves that, too, for yet another piece of the world puzzle. And (and we're not here yet), he leaves that one, too. Siddhartha meets the Buddha, listens to his teachings, and then goes his own way without joining up.

What I find interesting about this whole system, as laid out in Hesse's work, is the idea that true knowledge is not gotten through teachers and teachings. It is gotten by experience, by knowing the world through knowing the self, and by (for lack of a better word) meditation upon what is beyond the self. Hesse has been criticized for extremely oversimplifying the world in his writing. I can agree, this pre-modern India is not like a technologically-infused USA. There is a lot of noise here, and a lot of possibility here. But it is also arguable that there is noise in every place, possibility in every place. The specifics change.

Ultimately, Siddhartha finds enlightenment not by an eightfold path or ten commandments, but by listening to a river. He calms himself and eliminates noise and excess and communes with the world around him. When I finished the book, I texted a friend and informed him that I would be henceforth living in a van down by the river until enlightenment strikes. He shot me down and reminded me that Hesse is, indeed a good writer, but his view is simplistic. Not to mention that he was a German explicating the underlying currents of Buddhism.

If there is an ultimate take-away from Siddhartha, though, it is to calm the noise, to calm the soul, to be still. God may be speaking through the river's babble. Or God may not be. God may be in the sound of thunder or the still small voice. In any event, one cannot hear very well with gadgets buzzing and blinking at every moment.

As a side note, Siddhartha is considered one of the great writings about Buddhism, kind of, I would say, like CS Lewis's writings for Christianity. And while I'm not planning to become a Buddhist (I'm not even an Episcopalian, as it were), but I am more than happy to learn from these that have learned before me. And I'll remember, as per Hesse, that it is not to hear teachings, but to listen to the quiet and to practice for myself that I might become.

T