Hermann Hesse’s famous short novel Siddhartha, inspired by the life of the Buddha, is an interesting and paradoxical work. It is interesting because it is an excellent, short and clear story of self-discovery and introspection, with lucid prose and a simple style. It is paradoxical because, being about the Buddha, it is not strictly Buddhist.

To begin with, Hesse approaches Buddhism from a Western perspective. In fact, anyone familiar with Edward Said’s Orientalism will be prone to accuse him of approaching Indian society in general from an Orientalist perspective. The East is reified as an exotic of extremes, from the ritualistic piety of the Brahmans, to the stark asceticism of the Buddhist monks, to the sensual indulgence of a life filled with women, wine and song. There is little balance or realism sought.

I think it is unfair to blame Hesse for this aspect of his novel, however. To begin with, the entire story is an allegorical story, an idealized and symbolic journey of the individual in search of self-knowledge, much like Coelho’s The Alchemist. To inject too much realism into the story would defeat the purpose. Playing into Orientalist themes is precisely why the story works. The reader is expected, not to picture an actual world or the actual history of the Buddha (to do so would also lead the reader into factual errors), but rather to capture the sense of stark contrasts that the journey of self-discovery can create within the seeker. Hesse could have placed the novel in a different setting, with different protagonists, and with similar success. Or rather, with almost the same success.

The reason I say almost is that Hesse still, despite his factual errors and doctrinal sins, has captured much of the essence of a Buddhist self-analysis and evaluation, and has pointed out many of the problems that were discussed and are still discussed by Buddhists today. For example, Hesse notes the absurdity of monastic discipline or any attempt at piety in Buddhism. This paradox is often discussed in Buddhist writings – monasticism in Buddhism has many detractors (often from monastic backgrounds) who note that the flight from the world and the worldly merely substitutes a different ego for the ego that was supposedly destroyed though monastic meditation and contemplation. Another example is seen in Siddhartha’s major failing in the book: he cannot let go of his son or understand that his son has to learn his own lessons. This negative behavior has negative consequences, and it reinforces the Buddhist teaching that “grasping” or “clinging” behavior leads to suffering.

Aside from the Buddhist flavor, Hesse touches on the “big questions” of life generally. This is what leads me to compare Siddhartha with The Alchemist. The writing style is similar (though Hesse is richer and deeper in his descriptions and explanation), if for no other reason than to allow the reader to absorb the philosophical exploration more readily. The symbols and imagery are virtually all Jungian archetypes, replete with deep unconscious meaning.

The end result is a book that is well worth reading. Not everyone may agree with the philosophy of the book or with the Buddhist renunciation of attachment, but in any case it will leave the reader with something to think about. It is a short book and so (if you aren’t reading it in German to improve your German-language abilities) it can be read in a couple of hours.