1. Better Wise Up… Feraco Search for Human Potential 19 October 2010

2. Characters  Siddhartha  The main character in the story  What’s his name? How does he grow? Where does he go? Who does he meet?  Govinda  Siddhartha’s childhood companion  The shadow of greater men  What goes around…  Gotama  An individual who has achieved nirvana  Starts as a prince, escapes the shelter, sees suffering, hits the ascetic/excess/bodhisattva phases, and reaches nirvana  Vasudeva  The ferryman who plays a bigger role near the end  Another bodhisattva  All walks of life…

3. Characters  Kamaswami  A merchant who teaches Siddhartha the principles of business  Uses intellect and desire as both weapon and fuel  Trapped by his fears  Kamala  The courtesan Siddhartha meets after leaving the Samanas  Has the power to grow  Nobler than her first impression indicates  The Brahmin  Siddhartha’s father  Never defied…well, just once  Siddhartha’s Son  The boy Siddhartha conceives with Kamala and attempts to raise  Carries a piece of his father  Spin the cycle

4. Concepts  The Three Universal Truths  Anicca (everything changes), anatta (non-self, impermanence), and dukkha (suffering).  The Four Noble Truths  Suffering exists in the world  Suffering is caused by human desire  Suffering can be eliminated by eliminating desire  Eliminate desire by following the Eightfold Path  The Eightfold Path  Right View: Understand the Four Noble Truths  Right Aspiration: Care about all living things  Right Speech: Speak truthfully, kindly, respectfully, and properly  Right Bodily Action: Follow the Moral Precepts  Right Livelihood: Your work shouldn’t harm anything that lives  Right Endeavor/Effort: Concentrate on meditation; control unnecessary negative thoughts  Right Mindfulness: Give full attention to whatever you are doing as you are doing it, and give your best effort at all times  Right Concentration: The mental discipline necessary for reaching enlightenment.  The Samsara Cycle  Birth, Life/Suffering, Death, Rebirth  (On each cycle after this one, the steps would be Rebirth, Life, Suffering, Death)

5. Concepts  Karma  Actions have consequences  Your life’s course is determined by the positive/negative choices you make  Your karma is cumulative, and keeps accumulating until you reach nirvana  Maya / Satyam  Maya represents our sensory interpretation of reality  Satyam represents true reality – a truth our senses aren’t capable of fully processing  Think of the veil and what lies behind it  Om  The unity of all things  Nirvana  The highest state of human existence  A condition consisting of ultimate wisdom and peace that one reaches after defeating desire  Bodhisattva  An individual who attains enlightenment, thereby freeing him/herself from karma and desire, but who chooses to stay in order to help others who search for peace

6. Symbols  Water / The River  The river symbolizes the unity of all things – life, connection, etc.  As Vasudeva says in “Kamala,” the river taught him that “everything comes back”  Siddhartha’s lens, Vasudeva’s teacher  The Oar  See last week…  Snakeskin  Siddhartha thinks of one in “Awakening,” recalling his own recent “shedding” of the Samana “shell”  Birds (especially the songbird)  The songbird represents Siddhartha’s soul – more specifically, the best part of it, the qualities that set him apart from all the others and earned him respect and love in his hometown (his focus and drive to become something better)  Songbird dead in a cage = Heart dead in a ribcage  Golden = Special  Gold = Currency/Desire  Gold Cage = World of Desire  Birds in General = Possibility of Enlightenment/Elevation

7. Concepts  Forests / Trees / Town / Hut  Each geographical location has its own significance  The town represents human desire and transitory, everyday concerns  The forest represents untouched nature and our own spiritual purity  The hut lies on the edge between both, close to the river (Siddhartha’s “rehab house”)  The Gaze  Judging potential  Judging equals  Judging wisdom  Bright eyes indicate knowledge; dim ones or gazes that fall before him indicate inferiority.  The Kiss  Kamala’s imperfect gift  Desire and pleasure without love  Siddhartha, Govinda, and Om

8. Themes  Love  Romantic (Kamala)  Familial (Brahmin/Son)  Respect (Vasudeva)  Platonic (Govinda)  Unity  Everything is united (Om)  Karma reinforces these bonds  Reality exists at a single unified point in time  Generational Division  The old cannot grow; the young remain dynamic  Peace  Free from desire and need  The bulls-eye of the Nirvana target  Suffering  Maya  Human Weakness  Siddhartha’s Damage (Kamala, Govinda, Kamaswami, the Brahmin, and the Son)

9. Themes  Searching  Different targets (Brahmin, Siddhartha, Govinda, Kamala, Kamaswami), no target (Gotama, Vasudeva, Son)  Enlightenment / Knowledge  Possibly our greatest aim – definitely Siddhartha’s  Possible to attain  Cycles  Siddhartha’s life moves in cycles  People move in and out of it  Cause and consequence  Samsara cycle  Paying off old debts (Kamala, Vasudeva, Govinda, Brahmin)  Identity  The “self” torments Siddhartha  Samanas kill it  Clothing vs. Qualities…Substance vs. Superficial  Many mistakes stem from a lack of self-knowledge  Enlightenment = stable, flawless persona

10. Themes  Poverty / Wealth  Spiritual and monetary destitution/excess  Poor as a ferryman; different kind of poverty as a Samana  Earning money kills spiritual exploration  Spiritual wealth exists in inverse proportions to monetary wealth  (Notice that Siddhartha reaches enlightenment after his son steals his money!)  Ferrymen have nothing, while the Son has everything  Transformation / Transience  Different Shells  Vasudeva’s literal “enlightenment”  The lines in Kamala’s face  Death, age, loss, youth, triumph, etc.  Teaching  Siddhartha disdains them, but there’s no nirvana without them!  Knowledge, not wisdom  Excess  See the “Samsara” chapter  Samanas suffer from excess in the other direction (deprivation)  Don’t binge and purge on anything  Kamaswami = Pursuit of excess  See the Son and the ferrymen

11. Themes  Control  Siddhartha’s the control freak  Thinking, waiting, fasting  Losing all control  Compromise  Uncompromising personalities  Slavish devotion to teachings  Compromise indicates connection  Compassion  Gotama and Vasudeva: Listen!  Siddhartha sets himself apart  Cruelty  Siddhartha was cruel…was he malicious?  The Son vs. the Father (x 2)  Dying alone

12. Themes  Consequences  Consequence = karma  Parental legacies  Bad choices  Social Status  Flipping the coin  Shifting with shells  Different characters value it differently  Relationships  Vasudeva  Kamala  Govinda  Kamaswami  The Brahmin  Gotama  The Son

13. Themes  Independence  No teachers, no doctrine  Shells and departures  Setting himself apart  Independence vs. unity  Sleeping / Awakening (Rebirth)  Sleeping through shells  Defiance  Generational division  Defying natural order/universal truths  Superficiality  Maya and desire  The courtesan and the merchant  Depthless desires  Superficiality and samsara