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Siddharta

malachitemalachite
edited October 2010 in Buddhism Basics
I read Siddharta by Herman Hesse. I understand it to be a retelling of the Buddha's story. The question I ask, assuming that his retelling has any basis in reality/reflection Buddhist mythology, is this: is it not (considerably) easier to walk the middle way once you have veered off the path and either tasted the pleasures of this world or conversely the joys of asceticism?

Comments

  • Floating_AbuFloating_Abu Veteran
    edited October 2010
    Not necessarily.
  • username_5username_5
    edited October 2010
    Only in the sense that throwing oneself into any extreme will remove all doubt whether those extremes lead to the end of suffering. If one currently believes that the path that leads to the end of suffering is one that involves heavy indulgence in the sense pleasures or an extreme renunciation of everything even remotely pleasurable then perhaps one does have to experience them before being able to see them for what they are and abandon them.

    For everyone else there's Mastercard.
  • Floating_AbuFloating_Abu Veteran
    edited October 2010
    username_5 wrote: »
    Only in the sense that throwing oneself into any extreme will remove all doubt whether those extremes lead to the end of suffering. If one currently believes that the path that leads to the end of suffering is one that involves heavy indulgence in the sense pleasures or an extreme renunciation of everything even remotely pleasurable then perhaps one does have to experience them before being able to see them for what they are and abandon them.

    Yup. But not everyone needs to stick their finger in pie or crap to know what it will be like, some do though maybe - good explanation, ta.
    username_5 wrote: »
    For everyone else there's Mastercard.

    :p
  • thickpaperthickpaper Veteran
    edited October 2010
    malachite wrote: »
    Is it... easier to walk the middle way once you have veered off the path... ?

    That's a very good question to ponder, I reckon:)

    Can you understand emptiness and nothingness more when you have experienced non-dharmic spiritual richness?

    I don't think so, because its all interconnected. Its not like you can have a hedonistic reckless life of sense pleasure until you are 50 and then undo all the negative karma you have created for your next fifty years. Karma doesn't work like that.

    The Buddha had that Princely life, but it never seems to be that relevant in the preparation for his enlightenment, and why should it really? How much more empty is an abundance of emptiness than a lack of empty?

    So my personal answer would be that once dharma is known it would be clear how such a life would be spiritually and mentally and so it would be doubtful that practitioners would continue towards the spiritual nihilism of hedonism.

    The Buddha somewhere uses the idea of the dharmic life being lived as if the house was burning. That was the extent of spiritual and mental urgency and requirement for diligence and courage.

    If the house was on fire the path to the exit is the one path you wouldn't want to veer off.

    There is no guilt in dharma, only karma.

    namaste
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