Siddhartha by Herman Hesse

Ordination in the Buddhist context means initiation into the Buddhist Order, or Sangha, which occurs in the presence of witnesses, or members of the Sangha. There are two kinds of Buddhist Order. The first is the lower, or pabbajj, by which a man becomes a smanera or novice; the second is the higher, or upasampad, by which a novice becomes a monk, or bhikku. The ceremony by which the novice becomes a monk varies from country to country and may vary according to whether the novice had the intention of remaining in Order for several months or years or for a few days only, as for the three to seven day period on the occasion of a relative's cremation. The ceremony for the admission of a novice who intends to become a monk is formal. The candidate is brought before a chapter of at least ten monks, headed by an abbot of senior monk of at least ten years stan

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he river also dissolves time. It does this by always flowing and yet always remaining the same. It takes the time from Siddhartha as he sleeps: When he awakened after many hours, it seemed to him as if ten years had passed (Hesse 91). The river has the same effect that spiritual enlightenment has--it takes the individual out of this time and place and frees him from the bonds of time, as Siddhartha is here freed so that he wants to remain for a long time: The past now seemed to him to be covered by a veil, extremely remote, very unimportant. He only knew that his previous life . . . was finished, that he was so full of nausea and wretchedness that he had wanted to destroy it, but that he had come to himself by a river, under a cocoanut tree, with the holy word Om on his lips (Hesse 91-92). More than this, the holy word is in his heart. It has come from within rather than from his lips in the first instance. Just as one might be immersed in the river, so is Siddhartha now immersed in the Divine. He is cleansed by the river and comes to a new awareness as the river takes time from him and leaves him with a new insight into himself and his place in the scheme of things: Perhaps he had really died, perhaps he had been
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Approximate Word count = 2686
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page)

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