Asceticism and Enlightenment in Hesse's Siddhartha

Introduction: Asceticism as a Spiritual Catalyst

Asceticism played a major role in the psychological, social, and spiritual evolution of Siddhartha, the titular protagonist in Hermann Hesse's novel. Modeled partly after the historical Gautama Buddha, Siddhartha begins his quest for enlightenment by following in the Brahmin footsteps of his fathers and forefathers. Finding little satisfaction in the rites and traditions of Brahmanism, Siddhartha turns to study the ways of the Samanas. The Samanas are forest-dwelling ascetics who reject all types of material comfort, including sex, material goods, and any food beyond what is required for the body's survival. They beg for food and demand a rigorously disciplined lifestyle that Siddhartha finds relatively easy to follow. His experience with the Samanas does not yield lasting spiritual fruits, however, and Siddhartha becomes involved in the emerging Buddhist movement.

The Gotama Buddha teaches a middle path between embracing all of life and rejecting material desires, but Siddhartha still fails to find the enlightenment he seeks. Finally, Siddhartha rejects asceticism itself to embark on a self-made, independent journey of the soul. Instead of asceticism, he embraces unabashed materialism and sensuality. Siddhartha ultimately achieves his goal of enlightenment after spending many years with Vasudeva the ferryman and learning how to find peace by observing the river. His wisdom becomes his own middle path between the unnecessary stringency of asceticism and the meaninglessness of a materialistic existence.

Brahmin Roots and the Limits of Ritual

Asceticism is a universal component of religious quests. Few religions are entirely devoid of at least some ascetic tradition, whether posed as a way of life or as a temporary means to achieve liberation. The religions of India, like those of the Fertile Crescent, boast rich traditions of self-abnegation. Miles points out the role of asceticism in benefiting the "whole person." Siddhartha, before he joined the group of Samanas in the forest, already knew that asceticism was one of the universal features of religious practice. Although not as strident as the Samanas in their integration of asceticism into daily life, the Brahmins nevertheless advocated a lifestyle free from excess material attachments.

The Brahmin lifestyle incorporated a rigorous set of ablutions and meditation practices: "He already knew how to speak the Om silently, the word of words, to speak it silently into himself while inhaling, to speak it silently out of himself while exhaling, with all the concentration of his soul, the forehead surrounded by the glow of the clear-thinking spirit" (Chapter One). However, the Brahmin lifestyle and its attendant practices ultimately failed to offer Siddhartha lasting spiritual satisfaction.

The Samanas and the Trap of Extreme Self-Denial

The Samanas would not seem to offer a young man much to satisfy his soul, either. Described as "ascetics on a pilgrimage, three skinny, withered men, neither old nor young, with dusty and bloody shoulders, almost naked, scorched by the sun, surrounded by loneliness, strangers and enemies to the world, strangers and lank jackals in the realm of humans," the Samanas nonetheless presented Siddhartha with a new and novel spiritual practice (Chapter One). Interestingly, Siddhartha already seemed to possess the self-discipline that becoming an ascetic would require. For instance, he convinced his father to grant approval for his departure by standing still for hours through the night. He was not put off by the emaciated appearance of the Samanas. Siddhartha had already employed informal means of self-abnegation and self-discipline in his life as the son of a Brahmin. Asceticism was, in this sense, a natural part of his character.

As a result, Siddhartha's asceticism came relatively easily when he finally joined the Samanas. His dissatisfaction with the Samana lifestyle stems, at least in part, from not having to work hard enough to gain what asceticism can offer: it is possible that asceticism is meaningful only insofar as it is coupled with emotional fervor and genuine effort (Cort 2002). Asceticism is significant for training the seeker's mind away from material attachments; a seeker already disillusioned with the world gains little from it, because the act of giving up or letting go loses its meaning.

What Siddhartha gained from his encounter with the ascetics was, ironically, a lesson about how asceticism is insufficient on its own to aid the quest for enlightenment. Asceticism was for Siddhartha like a drug: a means to escape the world, or a promise of inner peace. Hesse describes Siddhartha's asceticism as an addiction in Chapter Two, portraying the intense lifestyle as a predictable, perpetual cycle that leads the practitioner nowhere. Siddhartha then describes asceticism explicitly in drug-like terms, comparing meditation and fasting to drinking and gambling. Asceticism is "a short escape of the agony of being a self, it is a short numbing of the senses against the pain and the pointlessness of life" (Chapter Two). Siddhartha observes that the "same escape, the same short numbing is what the driver of an ox-cart finds in the inn, drinking a few bowls of rice-wine or fermented coconut-milk" (Chapter Two). In this way, asceticism resembles a form of self-imposed starvation — a means to escape from the world — or, as Miles puts it, "When we try to understand asceticism we have to overcome a stereotype of the emaciated ascetic with the tortured face of a determined but inexperienced jogger."

Conclusion: A Balanced Asceticism

Asceticism, as Miles points out, "does not necessarily imply a pejorative view of the human body." A reasonable, sensible, and meaningful asceticism is one that celebrates the material world and the body without dulling the mind or senses through them. Siddhartha continues to practice his own brand of asceticism, similar to what Cort refers to as the Jain fusion of asceticism and bhakti (devotion). When asceticism is practiced with "enthusiasm and devotion," notes Cort, the seeker can "accomplish the spiritual goal of an improved karmic balance." Siddhartha found that balance readily with the ferryman.

Works Cited

Cort, J. E. "Singing the Glory of Asceticism: Devotion of Asceticism in Jainism." Journal of the American Academy of Religion 70.4 (2002): 719–742.

Hesse, Hermann. Siddhartha. Online edition.

Miles, M. "Toward a New Asceticism." The Christian Century Foundation.