Book Review : Siddhartha

The main focus of Siddhartha was his search for Nirvana. In the beginning when he w as younger he learned knowledge from everyone possible and still did not have the wisdom he desired. He learned there was a difference between knowledge and wisdom at a young age. Knowledge is something empirical about a subject matter and can be defined and a measured level of competence can be obtained. Wisdom is the reasoning behind behavior and knowledge. Wisdom is very hard to define and can mean multiple things to many people and therefore is hard to communicate. Siddhartha explains the difference of knowledge and wisdom with his actions throughout the story. He had understood the knowledge from everyone around him who included his father and other holy learned men, but still had some very wise unanswered questions such as where is god and the meaning of life and things of this nature. He desired to move forward in his life to find this wisdom and since no one else around him seemed to be able to give him the wisdom he desired he decided to leave home. He wanted to join a local group of monks who lived homeless, nomadic, and begged for food. His father did not approve, but Siddhartha held fast to his convictions even at that young age and stood in the same spot all night without moving until his father came to him at daybreak. His father understood his son’s passion and reluctantly asked that he come back and tell him how things are going in his life from time to time. He gained much knowledge through his time as monk, but finally after three years he could not learn any more knowledge that he could value from the monks. Soon after this realization his friend Govinda heard word of a wise or holy man who was called Buddha and it took no convincing for Siddhartha to go see him. Siddhartha finally came to the realization that he could not get the wisdom from the Buddha and went on giving up his search for wisdom and focusing on ordinary knowledge. He obtained worldly knowledge for a long while gaining many possessions but eventually came to the realization that he still desired the wisdom which was completely different from all the knowledge that he had obtained over the years. He decides to goto the river, fights suicidal thoughts, gets rescued by his old friend, and then becomes a ferryman apprentice. The master ferryman understands that he also cannot communicate the wisdom he has to Siddhartha, but does his best to lead Siddhartha to places and moments that he can come to his own epiphany or enlightenment. Siddhartha finally realizes and reaches Nirvana. You do not have to have knowledge to have wisdom. Although everyone has some sort of knowledge, not everyone has wisdom.