LaurenScrapbook2

Lauren's Scrapbook

With the Samanas: The assignment: To get a feeling for how the Samanas, Indian ascetics that are found in the novel //Siddhartha//, try to reach enlightenment, we gave up something we enjoy for a week. I chose to give up sweets, because I realized how bad they were for me. It seemed like a great idea to give up sweets. The first day was a little hard, because of the emptieness of sugar in my diet, but after the first day, I felt although I was much healthier. The first day was a success, but after that first day my deprivation of sweets became much harder.to cope with. I stayed strong, and tried to become "empty of wishes" (Hesse 7). These first two days felt weird without this food in my diet, but by the time the second day passed, I felt as though they weren't a present issue anymore, These first two days felt strange, but they became the best, and two most successful days in the entire time that I deprived myself of sweets. The third day of my expirience was much more difficult than the first two. There were so many temptations wherever I went. At home, at school, in public. I felt like I was missing out on something, and "it all gave the illusion of meaning and hapiness and beauty, and it was all unacknowledged decay"(7). Why was it harder the third day, when I should have been forgetting about it? By the forth day I caved, and had cereal for breakfast. This sweet wasn't considered "bad" by most people, but for me, it seemed like I was failing my challenge. I felt hopeless, but I knew that by that time I hadn't completely blown it yet. I had only caved once. I had this sense of hope until day number 5 and 6. By the end of the middle of my deprivation, I felt good, but I still had two long days to go

. Day five and six were no doubt the hardest of my deprivation. I had so many temptations, and got tired of cooking healthier foods. I caved again with cereal each of these days, and I also had some chocolate. My will power was very low, and I therefore caved. Even though I had healthy food still, I still had low willpower, and ate a couple of sweets too. My diet was much healthier, but I still felt bad because I caved. I didn't totally blow it with a lot of sweets, but I didn't fulfill my goal of deprivation, and I knew that "the breif escape from the tourment of being I"(9), was very difficult to attain. My cravings were hard to overcome, but I think with a little more will power, I could completely destroy these cravings

My Picture of Awakening.



When Siddhartha left the Buddha, he finally reached awakening. He said that the "World was beautiful, the world was full of variety, the world was strange and puzzling." (22) He mentioned he many colors such as green, blue, and yellow, so I decided to encorporate these colors into my picture. It also said there were forests and rivers. I drew a river flowing through the forest to show these sights, and I also used yellow to show sunlight, possibly the yellow that Siddhartha was seeing. All of the scenes that he was seeing involved these colors and objects, so I decided that the should be in my picture.

Kamala


**About Me: I am a beutiful young woman. I am regularly courted my many rich, young, Brahman men. Each time I reject them. They are too forceful, and I won't be forced into giving my love to them, because "try to kiss (my lips) against (my) will, and not drop of sweetness will you have from them"(31). I know that I am too wise and pretty for these men, and I am still waiting for the right person.**
 * Name ** : Kamala
 * Location ** : Outside town in Grove
 * Eyes ** : Dark
 * Hair ** : Black

**Hobbies / Profession: Being courted. "Many young men visit me, and there are Brahmans son's among them too, but they come in fine clothes, elegant shoes, they have perfumed hair and money in thier purses"(30). These Young wealthy men come to me, and I reject them. They are too forceful.** I want to be courted and not have to deal with greedy men. They disgust me and I won't have it. I also like to lye and wait for men to come to me, rather than go to them.

**Looking For: I want someone who is rich. "He must have clothes, handsome clothes, and shoes, good looking shoes and a lot of money in his purse, and gifts for Kamala"(30). want someone with clothes, shoes, and money. I want someone who is a Brahman. Someone who actually cares for me rather than themself. Lastly I want someone who will not take advantage of my beauty and richness.**

media type="custom" key="21310426" .I have a daily routine that I usually follow every day. I wake up at 6:30 every morning and shower/ get ready. After I am ready, I take care of my dog and eat breakfast, right before I head off for school. I am in a carpool, since I live in the Western district. I ride with three other ninth grade boys who are all in Mesa like me. After one of our moms drop us al off, we all go to school and learn until 3:45. During lunch I eat with all my oter friends, similar to when Siddhartha would "eat his meal in the circle of his disciples".(16) As I get home, I usually eat a small snack to tie me over until dinner. I then go upstairs and start my homework. I start my homework with the most important assignment to the least important, and finally I get it done. After I finish, I go downstairs and eat dinner with my family, also much like Siddartha and his disciples. After I finish dinner I usually play on the computer or go on a social network, and after I do that, I read the Bible and then wash my face, brush my teeth, and turn off my lights and go to bed. Similar to Siddhartha, I have a normal schedule that I follow, and even though I have a busy life, I think that my life is not as structured or as disciplined. A lot of the time I will waste being on a social network too long, or procrastinating too long. Even though Siddhartha doesn't have as many distractions,he still denies himself way more often than I do, and I think that even in my structured routine, I could be more disciplined than I already am now.

media type="youtube" key="xCov0TYXBp8" height="315" width="420"In Joni Mitchell's "River", she wants to "skate away on a river". Siddhartha asked the ferryman to "take me across".(55), wanting the rivers service of taking him away. Both Sisshartha and the singer want to "free" themselves witht the river. It is a symbol of escape and travel. The river leads them to a new place, with possibly new hopes and dreams. It is also a symbol of faith and hope in the newly traveled route that they journey.

In Lykke Li's "I follow rivers", she explains how she would follow rivers, which Parallels when Siddhartha wants to "learn the secret from the river"(57). He also loves the river as the ferryman does, and the singer of "I follow Rivers" also loves the river they sing about. The river here is a sign of learning. Both of these people want to learn from the river or body of water they are talking/ singing about. As they try to come closer to the river, they learn more.

media type="youtube" key="l_HnkwzbAIk" height="315" width="560"

media type="youtube" key="6ar2VHW1i2w" height="315" width="560" In Talking Head's "Take me to the river", the singer says " Take my money, my cigarettes". He wants the river to take away his belongings that he is troubled by. Siddartha similarly asks this of the Ferryman. He asks the Ferryman "will you accept as a gift from me these clothes, which are a burden to me?(55)" They both want something taken away from then by the river, or someone who lives on the river. In both ways, the river is seen as relieving. The river can take away their problems and their troubles.

"Om"~

Siddhartha, a young Brahman, had many riches and a very wealthy and highly respected family. One day, he was introduced to the concept of death, sickness and suffering by the Samanas, a group of nomadic people on the quest to seek enlightenment from worldly desires and themselves. As they traveled by, Siddhartha needed to know what these people were in search for, and why. He had a desire to be like them and join their group. His father was displeased and hurt that he wanted to leave, but his calling to become a Samana overpowered his will to stay with his family, shielded by their lavish lifestyle. Siddhartha soon stayed with the Samanas. As he was trying to actively reach enlightenment by keeping himself of worldly desires such as food, drink, and nice clothing, he was able to see the Buddha, or the enlightened one. He was able to speak to the Buddha, saying that "Everything in your teachings is perfectly clear and fully proven, you show the world to be a perfect chain, never and nowhere interrupted, and eternal chain fashioned out of cause and effects" (18). When he spoke to the Buddha, he was awakened and realized that he was "determined to dismember (him)self and tear away its layers of husk in order to find its unknown innermost recess the kernel at the heart of all those layers, the Atman life, the divine principal, the Ultimate. But in doing so (he) was losing (himself)" (21). After his awakening, the first part of the book was finished. I believe that this part was concluded due to the fact that Siddhartha was able to wake up and see what he was doing wrong in the first place. He just realizes that he is on the wrong path, and this is where his character starts to develop more, and where he finds a path to enlightenment. As he finds this path, he becomes more a of teacher figure, rather than a student figure. The second part of the book, Siddhartha starts out by finding Kamala, a rich young courted woman. He wants to find out her ways and she helps him learn. Also he is able to see his son, whom later shows up and is also Kamala's son as well. She has already died, and it shows the rebirth from mother to child, from father to son. The son is a good representation of rebirth and the circle of life going on and on. As he was a Kamaswami, he "sat beneath a mango tree, recalling his father, recalling Govinda, recalling Gotama. (Wondering if) it had been necessary to abandon them in order to become a Kamaswami" (45). He left without a trace, and soon ended up by the river. The river was a symbol of rebirth, and it showed that the endless flow was similar to the endless flow of life and death. This is where Siddhartha's true enlightenment happened, with the Ferryman and the quiet river. His awakening led him to find the "true" meaning of life, and his awakening was in the second half of the book. The chapters of the book were important because they were split up into sections based on where he was and what he was doing to reach awakening. Not only the chapters were important though. The two sections showed his spiritual enlightenment, and showed what he was like before and after his enlightenment. His spiritual awakening was brought by a simple river, a river that ceaselessly flowed, and he was now not a student, but a teacher. His wisdom that he wanted to attain was finally achieved since he begun after seeing the Buddha, and he now fulfilled his life journey, the one he had been looking for since childhood.