is an excellent book by Herman Hesse.
As usual I'm going to
quote from a few pages.
He learned more from the river than Vasudeva could teach him.
He learned from it continually. Above all, he learned from it
how to listen,
to listen with a still heart, with a waiting,
open soul, without passion, without desire, without judgement,
without opinions.
It also happened that curious people came along, who had been told
that two wise men, magicians or holy men lived at the ferry.
The curious ones asked many questions but they received no replies,
and they found neither magicians nor wise men. They only found two
friendly old men, who appeared to be mute, rather odd and stupid.
And the curious ones laughed and said how foolish and credible
people were to spread such wild rumours.
Is it not perhaps a mistake on your part not to be strict with
him, not to punish him? Do you not chain him with your love?
Do you not shame him daily with your goodness and patience
and make it still more difficult for him?
Within Siddhartha there slowly grew and ripened the knowledge
of what wisdom really was and the goal of his long seeking.
It was nothing but a preparation of the soul, a secret art
of thinking, feeling and breathing thoughts of unity at every
moment of life.
From that hour Siddhartha ceased to fight against his destiny.
There shone in his face the serenity of knowledge, of one who
is no longer confronted with conflict of desires, who has found
salvation, who is in harmony with the streams of events, with
the stream of life, full of sympathy and compassion, surrendering
himself to the stream, belonging to the unity of all things.
In every truth the opposite is equally true. For example, a
truth can only be expressed and enveloped in words if it is
one-sided. Everything that is thought and expressed in words
is one-sided, only half the truth; it lacks totality,
completeness, unity.
The sinner is not on the way to a Buddha-like state; he is
not evolving, although our thinking cannot conceive things
otherwise. No, the potential Buddha already exists in the sinner;
his future is already there. The potential Buddha must be
recognized in him, in you, in everybody. The world, Govinda,
is not imperfect or slowly evolving along a path to perfection.
No, it is perfect at every moment; every sin already carries
grace within it, all small children are potential old men,
all sucklings have death within them, all dying people - eternal life.
In order to learn
to love the world, and no longer compare it with
some kind of desired imaginary world, some imaginary vision of
perfection, but to leave it as it is, to love it and be glad
to belong to it.
It may be a thought, but I confess, my friend, that I do not
differentiate very much between thoughts and words. Quite
frankly, I do no attach great importance to thoughts either.
I attach more importance to things.
I think it is only important to love the world, not to despise
it, not for us to hate others, but to be able to regard the
world and ourselves and all beings with love, admiration
and respect.
The thing to me is of greater importance than the words;
his deeds and life and more important to me than his
opinions. Not in speech or thought do I regard him as a great
man, but in his deeds and life.
Uncontrollable tears trickled down his old face. He was
overwhelmed by a feeling of great love, of the most
humble veneration.
