Chapter 1What easily interested me the most in this chapter was Siddhartha’s

Chapter 1:What easily interested me the most in this chapter was Siddhartha’s view on himself when compared to how everyone else views him. The wise men of Brahmans expected him to surpass them in their wiseness, the girls of the kingdom thought he was the most handsome and smartest, and Siddhartha thought of none of these for himself. He instead started to “nurse discontent in his heart”(page 9) and wanted to understand true joy. He was not content with what his father and Govinda had told him similar to how Socrates wanted to understand true knowledge by asking those around him that believed they had understood what true knowledge was. Socrates’s realization when he was not fulfilled was the understanding that he was the wisest man in Athens, while Siddhartha’s realization caused him to want to become a priest to continue trying to find wisdom. My absolute favorite quote would definitely be “The Brahman saw that Siddhartha was trembling softly in his knees. In Siddhartha’s face, he saw no trembling.” (page 15) This line alone had convinced me about what kind of character Siddhartha is. He is extremely mentally strong with the will and determination that even scares destiny into the palm of his hands. Although the mention of wanting to become one of the Samana had caused indignation in his father, he stayed still foot in his heart but did not disobey his father. This made me understand everyone’s single story about Siddhartha and it had me convinced to see what was laid ahead of him. Connection: I believe that the book, The Giver, would be an excellent connection as both main characters seek knowledge even that which was beyond them. In The Giver, memories and wisdom can be transported from people to people but being the holder of these memories is a very special role that is only held by 1 person. These memories contain wisdom which in the story was being passed down to Jonas, the next memory holder similar to how the wise men of Braham passed down their knowledge to Siddhartha. However, both characters feel that they are not satisfied with this erudition and decide to live a life that is separate from their community. “My desire is to become a Samana”(page 14) is a quote similar to “He felt, surprisingly, no fear, nor any regret at leaving” as they both chose this path where they were steadfast in defying the norm and finding true enlightenment. This can also relate to Socrates’s devoted belief that “the unexamined life is not worth living” when faced with the choice of stopping his research into philosophy or death. Chapter 2: I was interested in today’s chapter by the fact that Govinda seems to start talking back to Siddhartha. In the previous chapter, it felt like he was just blindly following Siddhartha but we can see that although he respects him very much, he is willing to fight and argue over his own beliefs. “We have learned a lot, Siddhartha, there is still much to learn. ‘We are not going around in circles, we are moving up.’ and “Siddhartha! How could it be that among so many learned men, among so many Brahmans, among so many austere and venerable Samanas, among so many who are searching, so many who are eagerly trying, so many holy men, no one will find the path of paths?” really proved to me that Govinda was no longer just a follower but also a leader. He displays his own vision, although it is proven wrong by Siddhartha, which reveals his leadership like qualities. My favorite quote would be “It took me a long time and am not finished learning this yet, oh Govinda: that there is nothing to be learned! There is indeed no such thing, so I believe, as what we refer to as ‘learning’. There is, oh my friend, just one knowledge, this is everywhere” (page 23) as it reminds me of innatism. Innatism assumes we are born with all our knowledge instead of being born knowledge-less. The biggest and most well-known supporter of this philosophy would be Plato as he argued that we are born with innate knowledge and that we did not learn it from our senses/experience. Personally, I don’t believe in this theory but I do understand why Plato believes in this. In one of Plato’s dialogues, he mentions a story in which Socrates, his teacher, questioned a slave about a mathematical problem. Although the slave had no experience with math beforehand, he was able to guess the correct answer as said by Plato. This, although it is not concrete evidence, does prove to Plato that we have some sort of natural understanding.Connection: when “Siddhartha gave his garments to a poor Brahman in the street. He wore nothing more than the loincloth and the earth-colored, unsown cloak,” (page 17) it reminded me of a video that mentioned Diogenes living a similar life. He had lived a cynic lifestyle that rejected conventional desires. Diogenes had lived in the marketplace of Sinope within a barrel in which he begged for money. Diogenes lived similar to the Samanna’s as he had no material possessions other than a wooden bowl in which he soon gave away to a poor child. Cynic philosophy seems to be the negative side of life and even more so in the very different versions of it in modern-day work while Buddhism is the middle way of not being negative but not being overly positive. Chapter 3: a surprising turn of events happened in this chapter. The most interesting would be Govinda leaving Siddhartha’s side as it shows that he believes he can learn more from “the exalted one.” The entire time leading up to this chapter, Govinda was a rather loyal follower although we could see his descent into believing in Gotama over Siddhartha. “Often I have thought: Won’t Govinda for once also take a step by himself, without me, out of his own soul? Behold, now you’ve turned into a man and are choosing your path for yourself,” and in this chapter, he has finally taken a worthy step forward. I personally wonder what is going to happen to Govinda, will he reach nirvana with Gotama? Will he come back to Siddhartha? Siddhartha’s path to reaching nirvana and finally enlightenment seems to include a lot of solitude. At first, Siddhartha leaves his father and mother. He leaves his town and all who knew him, which I think is because of connection to humans as it leads to desire and temptation. “His glance turned to icy when he encountered women; his mouth twitched with contempt, when hewalked through a city of nicely dressed people.” (page 17) as seen by this quote from Siddhartha himself when he views people and their own desires. I enjoyed this quote from Siddhartha as it really shows that the Buddha is the same as everyone else.“The Buddha himself, the enlightened one, was also in the habit of taking this walk to beg in the morning.” (page 30) He is almost indistinguishable from an outside viewpoint and blends in with the crowd that follows in his teachings. He has achieved nirvana and lives what is considered by many of his followers, a perfect life. This fascinates me because it’s also a life I want to live similar to. I love this idea of being normal and/or average, it just attracts me and seeing it with the Budda is particularly interesting.Connection: my text to text connection would be that of the followers of Buddha being like followers of philosophers. People regardless of time and place seem to love to flock towards 1 godly or all (seemingly) knowing source of information. “for rather many pilgrims and monks as well from Gotama’s community were on their way to the Jetavana.” (page 30) I think this is because they believe that they can become just as good as their teachers if not better but for Siddartha, he believes that he can only learn from experiences. This also connects to Plato’s belief that to learn, everything must first be learnt through the senses. Chapter 4: What I enjoyed the most about this chapter is the fact that he feels like he has overgrown the need for teachers. Looking at the previous chapter, Siddhartha spews this interesting piece of information “for then I had replaced myself with the teachings” (page 38). He starts to believe that if he follows one singular teacher, he will no longer be Siddhartha but instead, the combined ideals and imagination of another person. “I want to learn from myself, want to be my student, want to get to know myself, the secret of Siddhartha.” (page 43), Siddhartha believes that to reach “nirvana” or any other state of perfection, he will first need to understand himself. To do this, Siddhartha ditches all teachers and all humans who wish to follow him. By doing so, Siddhartha will learn about himself and experience life anew. The quote I personally enjoyed the most would be “But what is this, what you have sought to learn from teachings and from teachers, and what they, who have taught you much, were still unable to teach you?” (page 41-42) as it further proves my former beliefs. Siddhartha once again truly defies the reader’s expectations and goes on a companionless adventure with no helping force. Siddhartha wants to attain a higher understanding of “self.” “It was the self, the purpose and essence of which I sought to learn. It was the self, I wanted to free myself from, which I sought to overcome.” (page 42) and by doing so, he has to forget everything about his past as and just determine what he truly and currently is. As his past was used to deceive himself and to run from the truth of “Siddhartha.”Connection: I find myself connecting very strongly to Siddhartha in this chapter. When he begins to understand that he does not truly know himself but instead is filled with the ideals of others, that resonated with me.“It was the self, the purpose and essence of which I sought to learn.” (page 42) was a connection that I made during my tenth grade year. Transferring from middle school to highschool was like Siddhartha leaving the grove where he had also left his best friend. During a class of mine, I had understood out of nowhere that for the most part, most of my ideals,beliefs, and principles came from other people. Whether it be youtubers, friends, or teachers. What I had done to achieve some level of self-satisfaction afterwards was also determining which parts I truly believed in and understood vs what I held because people I had trusted told me. I had isolated and controlled my thoughts to verify what “Reneh” has believed in and finally after a couple days, I have understood who I was.Chapter 6: an interesting turn of events has happened in this chapter and the chapter before, as Siddhartha suddenly has been smittened by the beautiful and lustful Kamala. What I enjoyed would definitely be the fact that I honestly can not tell what is going to happen in the following chapters. I am also surprised that the author decided that Siddhartha should find what he believes to be an equal of himself as said by Siddhartha, “You are like me, you are different from most people.” (page 75). For now, I am wondering about what is going to happen to Kamala. Is she going to follow Siddhartha? Will Siddhartha once again leave Kamala and Kamaswami like he did to Govinda and the buddha?? My honest prediction would be that after learning everything he can from the Wise Kamala and intelligent Kamaswami, he will once again embark on a lonely, friendless trip to learn more about himself or to meet another teacher. Perhaps re-meeting with the exalted one or Govinda, and to share his own experiences with them. As I find it very unlikely that he will ever return to his father and mother because of his brand new experiences that reject his old self. Now I have a simple quote for liking for simple reasons and that is this quote, “Stop scolding, dear friend! Nothing was ever achieved by scolding.” (Page 72) I feel like many people do not understand that scolding and looking at the past for events that you failed in does not benefit you as much as living in the current. Looking at the book, the Tao Of Pooh, we see that living in the current and not focusing on neither past or future helps you live more fulfilling lives that do not have as many hardships. I am not stating that we should not look at the past to re-evaluate ourselves or to try to predict the future but instead I am saying that we should be satisfied and let us instead be swept up by the Taoism idea of “the way.”