Siddhartha Chapters 5-12 Notes

Chapter 5:

1. The world becomes very simple and beautiful as if seen by a child, and Siddhartha
begins to find beauty in the natural world.

2. He sleeps in a ferrymans hut and has a strange dream about Govinda and when
Siddhartha touches him, he turns into a woman and Siddhartha lies on the womans
breast and drinks her milk which puts Siddhartha into a daze.

3. He goes to the village after going along the river with the ferryman and sees a very
nice looking woman with the name of Kamala and they both seem to lust for each other.

4. Kamala kissed him deeply...he stood still breathing deeply...he was like a child
astonished at the fullness of knowledge and learning which unfolded itself before his
eyes (57).

5. Kamala recommends Siddhartha to Kamaswami, a wealthy businessman, but insists
that Siddhartha becomes his equal, not his servant

Chapter 6:

1. Siddhartha realizes he is without any possessions and has lived off the possessions
of others(everyone gives what they have)

2. He starts to fall in love with Kamla, but she says he must bring her gifts if he truely
loves her, so he does and says he is never afraid of failure or loss; he soon finds out
that Kamala and he cannot love each other.

3. Siddhartha starts to see thats it is more fun to find joy and happiness in your life
(hinting towards enlightenment) than business or money .

4. He is now tempted to be more than just a spectator and actually starts to live how he
wants to which will end up leading to him acquiring lust, riches, and power.

5. Siddhartha claims that he and Kamala must end their love affair, for they are very
different and want to follow 2 opposite lifestyles. Maybe. said Siddhartha wearily. I am
like you. You cannot love either, otherwise how could you practice love as an art?
Perhaps people like us cannot love. Ordinary people can-- that is their secret (73).

Chapter 7:

1. Siddartha begins to feel attached to his ordinary life. While he excites his senses and
narrows the distance between his self and his daily activities, Siddartha does not
possess the sense of importance with which ordinary people live their lives, and for this
he envies them.

2. The soul sickness of the rich crept over him, and Siddartha gives himself completely
to his acquisitiveness and his insatiable desire to consume. Siddartha indulges in
gambling, and he gambles to show his contempt for riches.

3. Siddartha has a sexual dream which makes him feel sick and desperate. It then
transitions into another dream where Kamalas songbird has died and he throws the
carcass out the window. This symbolizes that his relationship with Kamala is dead, just
like the bird.

4. Siddartha wakes up from his dream and realizes he is tired of his present life and of
his possessions.

5.Siddartha leaves the town, never to return. Kamala closes the doors of the house and
shuts out any visitors. Later, she discovers that she is pregnant with Siddarthas child.

Chapter 8:

1. Siddartha returns to the river where he met the Ferryman and contemplates suicide.
There was no purpose; there was nothing more than a deep, painful longing to shake
off this whole confused dream, to spit out this stale wine, to make an end of this bitter,
painful life.

2. Before Siddartha kills himself, he hears the sound of Om emanating from within
him. This stops Siddartha from killing himself, and he realizes his life is a mess.

3. Siddartha falls asleep and when he wakes up he feels refreshed and happy. He
wonders if he has died and was reborn anew. When he gets up he realizes his old
friend, Govinda, is near him. Govinda does not recognize Siddartha because of his rich
clothing. Govinda tells Siddartha he stopped to watch Siddartha sleep, but did not
recognize who he really was. They briefly talk and Govinda returns to the Buddha.

4. Siddartha admits that his life was good for him to have lived it. I had to experience
despair, I had to sink to the greatest mental depths, to thoughts of suicide in order to
experience grace, to hear Om again, to sleep deeply again and to awaken refreshed
again. He had to let the Brahmin, the Samana, the
pleasure-monger, and the man of property all die in order to find the self that lurked
beneath these identities.

5. Now he feels happy and free, possessed of a great capacity to love. He is now ready
to complete his lifes journey.

Chapter 9:

1. Siddhartha crosses the river where he finds and recognizes Vasudeva, the same
ferryman who took him across years ago, and is allowed to become a ferryman as well.

2. The river is symbolic of the illusion of time and the repetition of life itself: [n]othing
was, nothing will be, everything has reality and presence (107).

3. Siddhartha is intrigued by Vasudevas capacity to listen and wishes to, in time (which
doesnt exist), learn how listen as the old ferryman does.

4. Pilgrims are travelling from all around to witness the death of the Buddha with one of
which being Kamala and her son young Siddhartha. Kamala is fatally bitten by a snake
and coincidentally brought to Siddharthas hut where she dies but also realises that her
meeting of Siddhartha was just as good, if not better than if she saw the Buddha.

5. When asked if he is saddened by the death of Kamala, Siddhartha shows an
optimistic, rational position and says Why should I be sad? I who was rich and
happy have become still richer and happier. My son has been given to me (115).

Chapter 10:

1. Siddharthas son has become spoiled and inflexible from his accustomed rich
lifestyle and starts to become a nuisance to the two old ferrymen through his temper
and unwillingness to work.

2. Siddhartha tries to discipline his son by responding to all of young Siddharthas
naughtiness with an increased love and compassion towards him causing Vasudeva to
commend his companion by saying you [Siddhartha] know that gentleness is
stronger than severity, water is stronger that rock, and love is stronger than force (119).

3. Vasudeva tells Siddhartha that if his son wishes to go, he should be able to and that
Young Siddhartha needs and environment he is used to and children to be around.

4. Young Siddhartha resents his father and runs away after saying I would rather
become a thief and a murderer and go to hell, than to be like you. I hate you (123).
This shows the young boys resentment of being forced upon a path of life and would do
anything to have the freedom to choose his own destiny.

5. When the two ferrymen discover that Young Siddhartha ran away, Siddhartha,
blinded by love, decides to chase after the boy but realises that his son should choose
his own path and make his own mistakes but still feels a pain inside which he tries to
remedy with Om.

Chapter 11:

1. Siddhartha welcomes all of the rivers travellers because he now understands their
intentions, feelings and motives. He now sees people in a different light. For their sake
he saw people live and do great things, travel, conduct wars, suffer and endure
immensely, and he loved them for it (130).

2. Yet he still feels the flame of love and remorse for his son, but he immediately
reflects upon his own life and how he himself wasnt a loyal and responsive son.

3. The river laughs at Siddharthas repetitive life patterns, but Siddhartha continues
along to see Vasudeva, who is an expert of the river.

4. As Vasudeva shares more knowledge, Siddhartha enters a state of pure attention,
absorption and possession; he recognized the ferryman as God himself.
5. Vasudeva advises Siddhartha to listen very deeply to the river, It echoed sorrowfully,
searchingly, but other voices accompanied it, voices of pleasure and sorrow, good and
evil voices, laughing and lamenting voices, hundreds of voices, thousands of voices
(135). At that point, Siddhartha felt complete unity with everything as Om. Siddhartha
has now reached enlightenment. Vasudeva leaves but appoints Siddhartha as the wise
ferryman.

Chapter 12:

1. Govinda, unenlightened and depressed, decides to seek this wise ferryman
everyone has been talking about.

2. Siddhartha finally reveals his identity to Govinda when they meet and advises him to
stop focusing on reaching Nirvana because hes missing out on living in the now, the
present moment.

3. Siddhartha claims that he follows no doctrine, time is an illusion, there is no divide
between perfection and reality, and wisdom cannot be communicated.

4. Govinda is fascinated by Siddharthas words, therefore Siddharta tells Govinda to
kiss his forehead. At that moment, he sees a stream of faces and images of both joy
and suffering, but they finally merge into one entity. It was very mind-boggling that
Govinda was unsure whether a second had passed or an entire eternity.

5. Govina refers Sids face as the Buddha and bows down to him. He was
overwhelmed by a feeling of great love...he bowed low...sitting there motionless, whose
smile reminded him of everything that he had ever loved in his life, of everything that
had ever been of value and holy in his life (151-152).