AWAKENING
He looked around, as if he was seeing the world for the first time. Beautiful was the world, colourful was the world, strange and mysterious was the world! Here was blue, here was yellow, here was green, the sky and the river flowed, the forest and the mountains were rigid, all of it was beautiful, all of it was mysterious and magical, and in its midst was he, Siddhartha, the awakening one, on the path to himself. All of this, all this yellow and blue, river and forest, entered Siddhartha for the first time through the eyes, was no longer a spell of Mara, was no longer the veil of Maya, was no longer a pointless and coincidental diversity of mere appearances, despicable to the deeply thinking Brahman, who scorns diversity, who seeks unity. Blue was blue, river was river, and if also in the blue and the river, in Siddhartha, the singular and divine lived hidden, so it was still that very divinity's way and purpose, to be here yellow, here blue, there sky, there forest, and here Siddhartha. The purpose and the essential properties were not somewhere behind the things, they were in them, in everything.
This passage shows the growth of Siddhartha how he took a little bit of teaching from everywhere he went and incorporated this into his lifestyle. Siddhartha was now coming to the realization of what the world was really like also that he was looking at the world from his perspective as opposed to letting someone analyze it for him. He realizes how beautiful the world is hence the use of colors to give a vivid description of what he was seeing. He also realizes that relying on only his teachers and ignoring the world will not let him reach enlightenment, he realizes that the world will help him in achieving his goal and provide necessary teachings.
I choose this passage because in my opinion it reflects on everyday life many times individuals live their lives through the teachings of others other than creating a path of their own. Often times individuals portray others because they have yet to find their own identity and figure that using the life experience and teachings of another individual will help in their day to day life. Individuals sometimes fail to appreciate natures beauty and how it contributes to our everyday living.
Hi,
ReplyDeleteMy name is Nicole Oruche a junior at Lehman and an ABC major. Your passage is very interesting but I do not doubt your opinion and neither do you have to approve of mine. We can both learn from each other. I think the passage relates more to siddhartha experiencing the world for himself and while expressing this knowledge from his view point and not through the aid of bias teachers. Remember, siddhartha has always disapprove of having to learn anything from teachers, therefore, he will never put together the ideas of his teachers together. He has reach enlightenment because he has tasted both the bitter and sweetest things life has to offer and through such experience he has released all these things are one in the same and most have been created from one supreme being:GOD.
Correction:released= realized
ReplyDeleteThat was great. I liked when you made a the point on why you chose the passage and it is because individuals tend to imitate others behaviors. we become entangled in a world of imitation through the T.V. societies or our cultures.
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