Siddhartha, the handsome and respected son
of a Brahmin, lives with his father in ancient India. Everyone in
the village expects Siddhartha to be a successful Brahmin like his
father. Siddhartha enjoys a near-idyllic existence with his best friend,
Govinda, but he is secretly dissatisfied. He performs all the rituals
of religion, and he does what religion says should bring him happiness
and peace. Nonetheless, he feels something is missing. His father
and the other elders have still not achieved enlightenment, and
he feels that staying with them will not settle the questions he
has about the nature of his existence. Siddhartha believes his father
has already passed on all the wisdom their community has to offer,
but he longs for something more.
One day, a group of wandering ascetics called Samanas
passes through town. They are starved and almost naked and have
come to beg for food. They believe enlightenment can be reached
through asceticism, a rejection of the body and physical desire.
The path the Samanas preach is quite different from the one Siddhartha
has been taught, and he believes it may provide some of the answers
he is looking for. He decides to follow this new path. Siddhartha’s
father does not want him to join the Samanas, but he cannot dissuade
Siddhartha. Govinda also wants to find a path to enlightenment,
and he joins Siddhartha in this new life.
Siddhartha adjusts quickly to the ways of the Samanas
because of the patience and discipline he learned in the Brahmin
tradition. He learns how to free himself from the traditional trappings
of life, and so loses his desire for property, clothing, sexuality,
and all sustenance except that required to live. His goal is to
find enlightenment by eliminating his Self, and he successfully
renounces the pleasures of the world.
Sunburned and half-starved, Siddhartha soon ceases to
resemble the boy he used to be. Govinda is quick to praise the Samanas
and notes the considerable moral and spiritual improvements they
both have achieved since joining. Siddhartha, however, is still
dissatisfied. The path of self-denial does not provide a permanent
solution for him. He points out that the oldest Samanas have lived
the life for many years but have yet to attain true spiritual enlightenment.
The Samanas have been as unsuccessful as the Brahmins Siddhartha
and Govinda left behind. At this time, Siddhartha and the other Samanas
begin to hear about a new holy man named Gotama the Buddha who has
attained the total spiritual enlightenment called Nirvana. Govinda
convinces Siddhartha they both should leave the Samanas and seek
out Gotama. Siddhartha and Govinda inform the leader of the Samanas
of their decision to leave. The leader is clearly displeased, but
Siddhartha silences him with an almost magical, hypnotizing gaze.
Siddhartha and Govinda find Gotama’s camp of followers
and are taken in. Siddhartha is initially pleased with Gotama, and
he and Govinda are instructed in the Eightfold Path, the four main
points, and other aspects of Buddhism. However, while Govinda is
convinced to join Gotama and his followers, Siddhartha still has doubts.
He has noticed a contradiction in Gotama’s teachings: Siddhartha
questions how one can embrace the unity of all things, as the Buddha
asks, if they are also being told to overcome the physical world.
Siddhartha realizes Buddhism will not give him the answers he needs.
Sadly, he leaves Govinda behind and begins a search for the meaning
of life, the achievement of which he feels will not be dependent
on religious instruction.
Siddhartha decides to embark on a life free from meditation
and the spiritual quests he has been pursuing, and to instead learn
from the pleasures of the body and the material world. In his new
wanderings, Siddhartha meets a friendly ferryman, fully content
with his simple life. Siddhartha crosses the ferryman’s river and
comes to a city. Here, a beautiful courtesan named Kamala entrances
him. He knows she would be the best one to teach him about the world
of love, but Kamala will not have him unless he proves he can fit
into the material world. She convinces him to take up the path of
the merchant. With her help, Siddhartha soon finds employment with
a merchant named Kamaswami and begins to learn the trade. While Siddhartha
learns the wisdom of the business world and begins to master the
skills Kamaswami teaches him, Kamala becomes his lover and teaches
him what she knows about love.
Years pass, and Siddhartha’s business acumen increases.
Soon, he is a rich man and enjoys the benefits of an affluent life.
He gambles, drinks, and dances, and anything that can be bought
in the material world is his for the taking. Siddhartha is detached
from this life, however, and he can never see it as more than a
game. He doesn’t care if he wins or loses this game because it doesn’t
touch his spirit in any lasting way. The more he obtains in the
material world, the less it satisfies him, and he is soon caught
in a cycle of unhappiness that he tries to escape by engaging in
even more gambling, drinking, and sex. When he is at
his most disillusioned, he dreams that Kamala’s rare songbird is
dead in its cage. He understands that the material world is slowly
killing him without providing him with the enlightenment for which
he has been searching. One night, he resolves to leave it all behind
and departs without notifying either Kamala or Kamaswami.
Sick at heart, Siddhartha wanders until he finds a river.
He considers drowning himself, but he instead falls asleep on the
riverbank. While he is sleeping, Govinda, who is now a Buddhist
monk, passes by. Not recognizing Siddhartha, he watches over the
sleeping man to protect him from snakes. Siddhartha immediately
recognizes Govinda when he wakes up, but Govinda notes that Siddhartha
has changed significantly from his days with the Samanas and now appears
to be a rich man. Siddhartha responds that he is currently neither
a Samana nor a rich man. Siddhartha wishes to become someone new.
Govinda soon leaves to continue on his journey, and Siddhartha sits
by the river and considers where his life has taken him.
Siddhartha seeks out the same content ferryman he met
years before. The ferryman, who introduces himself as Vasudeva,
radiates an inner peace that Siddhartha wishes to attain. Vasudeva
says he himself has attained this sense of peace through many years
of studying the river. Siddhartha expresses a desire to likewise
learn from the river, and Vasudeva agrees to let Siddhartha live
and work beside him. Siddhartha studies the river and begins to
take from it a spiritual enlightenment unlike any he has ever known.
While sitting by the river, he contemplates the unity of all life,
and in the river’s voice he hears the wordOm.
One day Kamala the courtesan approaches the ferry along
with her son on a pilgrimage to visit Gotama, who is said to be
dying. Before they can cross, a snake bites Kamala. Siddhartha and Vasudeva
tend to Kamala, but the bite kills her. Before she dies, she tells
Siddhartha that he is the father of her eleven-year-old son. Siddhartha
does his best to console and provide for his son, but the boy is
spoiled and cynical. Siddhartha’s son dislikes life with the two
ferrymen and wishes to return to his familiar city and wealth. Vasudeva
believes Siddhartha’s son should be allowed to leave if he wants
to, but Siddhartha is not ready to let him go. One morning, Siddhartha
awakens to find his son has run away and stolen all of his and Vasudeva’s
money. Siddhartha chases after the boy, but as he reaches the city
he realizes the chase is futile. Vasudeva follows Siddhartha and
brings him back to their home by the river, instructing him to soothe
the pain of losing his son by listening to the river.
Siddhartha studies the river for many years, and Vasudeva teaches
Siddhartha how to learn the many secrets the river has to tell.
In contemplating the river, Siddhartha has a revelation: Just as the
water of the river flows into the ocean and is returned by rain,
all forms of life are interconnected in a cycle without beginning
or end. Birth and death are all part of a timeless unity. Life and
death, joy and sorrow, good and evil are all parts of the whole
and are necessary to understand the meaning of life. By the time
Siddhartha has learned all the river’s lessons, Vasudeva announces
that he is through with his life at the river. He retires into the
forest, leaving Siddhartha to be the ferryman.
The novel ends with Govinda returning to the river to
seek enlightenment by meeting with a wise man who lives there. When Govinda
arrives, he does not recognize that the wise man is Siddhartha himself.
Govinda is still a follower of Gotama but has yet to attain the
kind of enlightenment that Siddhartha now radiates, and he asks
Siddhartha to teach him what he knows. Siddhartha explains that
neither he nor anyone can teach the wisdom to Govinda, because verbal
explanations are limited and can never communicate the entirety
of enlightenment. Instead, he asks Govinda to kiss him
on the forehead, and when Govinda does, the vision of unity that
Siddhartha has experienced is communicated instantly to Govinda.
Govinda and Siddhartha have both finally achieved the enlightenment
they set out to find in the days of their youth.
