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Theme: Time is an illusion in which adhering to leads to a continuous cycle of suffering; true peace can come only after understanding that life is ubiquitous and not a series of events.

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Entry One: “And where was Atman to be found, where did He abide, where did His eternal heartbeat, where else but within one’s own I, deep inside, in what is indestructible, borne within every individual? But where, where was this innermost and ultimate I? The great sages taught that it was not flesh and bone, it was neither thought nor consciousness. Where, where then was it to be found?” (7).

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Entry One: “And where was Atman to be found, where did He abide, where did His eternal heartbeat, where else but within one’s own I, deep inside, in what is indestructible, borne within every individual? But where, where was this innermost and ultimate I? The great sages taught that it was not flesh and bone, it was neither thought nor consciousness. Where, where then was it to be found?” (7).

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In the beginning of the novel, young Siddhartha struggles finding significance in his life as a Brahmin’s son. Though many wise teachers preach that nirvana and union with Atman can be achieved by fasting and sacrificing to the gods, Siddhartha questions the validity of this doctrine. Siddhartha notes that many avid Brahmins adhere to the instructions of the Vedas yet cannot achieve enlightenment. There is a hint of desperation in Siddhartha’s mediation, for he longs for an answer to his burning questions. Here, Siddhartha’s rejection to these Hindu practices begins his exploration for an end to the cycle of suffering.

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Entry Two: “Siddhartha had a single goal before him, one and one only: to become empty, empty of thirst, empty of desire, empty of dreams, empty of joy and pain. To die away from himself, no longer to be I, to find the peace of the emptied heart, by thinking away from the self to stand open to the miraculous: this was his goal” (13). 

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Entry Two: “Siddhartha had a single goal before him, one and one only: to become empty, empty of thirst, empty of desire, empty of dreams, empty of joy and pain. To die away from himself, no longer to be I, to find the peace of the emptied heart, by thinking away from the self to stand open to the miraculous: this was his goal” (13). 

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Soon, Siddhartha leaves his privileged life to join the shramanas. He is so determined to achieve enlightenment that he spends hours in meditation, hoping to flee from his physical being. Siddhartha reasons that detaching himself from both extremes of emotion, joy and pain, will place him in a middle ground where he can be content with his life. As an ascetic, Siddhartha is accustomed to long periods of fasting and contemplation, searching for relief from worldly troubles. At this point in the novel, Siddhartha believes that simply isolating himself from the world and becoming numb to suffering, through fasting, will help him reach nirvana.

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Entry Three: “If Siddhartha fled the I a thousand times—remaining in nothingness, in animals, in stones—his return was unavoidable, inescapable, the hour when again he found himself in sunlight or moonlight, in shadow or in rain, and again was I, again Siddhartha, and again experience the torment of the obligatory cycle” (15). 

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Entry Three: “If Siddhartha fled the I a thousand times—remaining in nothingness, in animals, in stones—his return was unavoidable, inescapable, the hour when again he found himself in sunlight or moonlight, in shadow or in rain, and again was I, again Siddhartha, and again experience the torment of the obligatory cycle” (15). 

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As Siddhartha continues his search for enlightenment, he soon reaches an impasse in which his separation from the "I” is transitory. Though Siddhartha has mastered the art of detachment and can elevate beyond himself, he ultimately returns back to Siddhartha. Siddhartha’s enlightenment is short-lived because there is a block between him and true peace; he cannot find a permanent exit from the cycle of suffering. Siddhartha’s persistent searching for peace inhibits him from that which he is seeking. This failed mediation description introduces the idea that seeking blinds those to what they are searching for. Siddhartha struggles to fully reach enlightenment because he cannot see beyond past, present, and future.

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Entry Four: “But now, according to your same teachings, this unity and logical consistency of all things nonetheless is interrupted at one place, and through one small breach in this world of unity something strange, something new, something that did not previously exist and that can neither be shown nor proven in: this is your teaching of the overcoming of the world, of deliverance. With this small gap, with this small breach the entire eternal and universal law is again broken and annulled” (28). 

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Entry Four: “But now, according to your same teachings, this unity and logical consistency of all things nonetheless is interrupted at one place, and through one small breach in this world of unity something strange, something new, something that did not previously exist and that can neither be shown nor proven in: this is your teaching of the overcoming of the world, of deliverance. With this small gap, with this small breach the entire eternal and universal law is again broken and annulled” (28). 

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Here, Siddhartha explains his experiences about peace to the Buddha. Though Siddhartha agrees with all the Buddha’s teachings, he refuses to become the Buddha’s follower because he reasons that teachers cannot teach what he is seeking. After listening to the Buddha, Siddhartha begins to see the world as a whole, consisting of everything that previously existed, everything in the present, and everything that will come to exist. Siddhartha reasons that because all creation exists in union, all theories about the universe in respect to time are invalid. Because life and existence is eternal, time is merely an illusion, for one can never exceed its length.

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Entry Five: “When someone reads a text whose meaning he wants to comprehend, he does not despise the signs and letters, calling them deceptive, contingent, and worthless husks, but rather he reads them, he studies and loves them, letter by letter. But I, the I who wished to read the book of the world and the book of my own essential being, I have, for the sake of a previously imagined meaning, held these sign and letters in contempt, calling the world of appearances deception, calling my eye and my tongue themselves contingent and worthless appearances” (35). 

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Entry Five: “When someone reads a text whose meaning he wants to comprehend, he does not despise the signs and letters, calling them deceptive, contingent, and worthless husks, but rather he reads them, he studies and loves them, letter by letter. But I, the I who wished to read the book of the world and the book of my own essential being, I have, for the sake of a previously imagined meaning, held these sign and letters in contempt, calling the world of appearances deception, calling my eye and my tongue themselves contingent and worthless appearances” (35). 

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Throughout his life as an shramana, Siddhartha viewed nature and his surroundings as a mockery of his suffering. Siddhartha believed that his environment was deceiving because there was no purpose to the world’s existence, as taught by the Vedas. However, Siddhartha realizes that his surroundings do not that have meaning behind them, but purely their essence creates meaning. In this moment, Siddhartha forms a new understanding about creation, seeing beyond everything as it exists in the present. Siddhartha recognizes that viewing life simply as it appears to him creates a sense of hopelessness. For instance, if one looks at a rock and views it only as a rock, he or she disregards the rock’s previous and future forms; the rock limited to being only a rock because that is how it exists in the present.

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Entry Six: “As a new dress grows old with time, losing its lovely color, acquiring stains, acquiring folds, coming apart at the seams and starting to show awkward threadbare patches here and there, this is how Siddhartha’s new life, which he had begun after separating from Govinda, had aged; this is how it lost its color and sheen with the years that were running out, this is how folds and stains gathered upon it, and basically hidden, here and there already hideously peering forth, disappointment and revulsion waited” (63). 

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Entry Six: “As a new dress grows old with time, losing its lovely color, acquiring stains, acquiring folds, coming apart at the seams and starting to show awkward threadbare patches here and there, this is how Siddhartha’s new life, which he had begun after separating from Govinda, had aged; this is how it lost its color and sheen with the years that were running out, this is how folds and stains gathered upon it, and basically hidden, here and there already hideously peering forth, disappointment and revulsion waited” (63). 

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After years of sinning as a merchant, Siddhartha grows tired of the meaningless lifestyle. Due to countless failed attempts at reaching enlightenment, Siddhartha decides to renounce the ascetic life and indulge in the riches of the world. However, his years of sinning strays him further from his ultimate goal. Siddhartha reaches his lowest point where he feels the suffering of every human. Trapped in the continuous cycle, Siddhartha reaches an ultimate low as he feels his time was wasted away in sin. Siddhartha feels his life serves no purpose, coming close to committing suicide. Unlike his friend Govinda, Siddhartha devoted most of his adulthood to possessions and desire.

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Entry Seven: “O, was not all suffering time, all self-torment and self-fear—time? All the world’s difficulty, all the world’s animosity, would they not be gone and conquered, once time was conquered, once it could be thought away?” (85). 

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Entry Seven: “O, was not all suffering time, all self-torment and self-fear—time? All the world’s difficulty, all the world’s animosity, would they not be gone and conquered, once time was conquered, once it could be thought away?” (85). 

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As he reaches his final enlightenment, Siddhartha concludes that time is the root to all suffering. People suffer due to problems in the past or forthcoming problems. However, Siddhartha learns that there is no past or future; time is an illusion. Everything in the world simply exists in totality. There is no difference in the Siddhartha who was a son of a Brahmin, a shramana, a merchant, or even a ferryman. Siddhartha realizes that he cannot escape himself and find peace because he exists eternally. Once people separate themselves from the illusion of time, they can see their life purely for what it presently is, not was or will be.

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Entry Eight: “The sinner that I am and that you are, he is a sinner but he will again be Brahma, one day he will attain nirvana, will be Buddha—and now look: this ‘one day’ is an illusion, it is only a metaphor! The sinner is not on the path to Buddhahood, he is not in a process of development, although our thoughts have no other way to imagine these things. No, in the sinner, now and today the future Buddha already exists, his future is already entirely there, you must revere the becoming, the potential, the hidden Buddha in him, in yourself, in everyone” (112). 

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Entry Eight: “The sinner that I am and that you are, he is a sinner but he will again be Brahma, one day he will attain nirvana, will be Buddha—and now look: this ‘one day’ is an illusion, it is only a metaphor! The sinner is not on the path to Buddhahood, he is not in a process of development, although our thoughts have no other way to imagine these things. No, in the sinner, now and today the future Buddha already exists, his future is already entirely there, you must revere the becoming, the potential, the hidden Buddha in him, in yourself, in everyone” (112). 

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Seeing his friend, Govinda, after many years, Siddhartha reveals how he has managed to find peace in the life of a ferryman. Govinda begs Siddhartha to reveal how he achieved nirvana and peace, for Govinda has devoted his life to the Buddha and remains discontent. Siddhartha establishes that all forms of himself—sinner, Brahma, Buddha—already exists. Though it took him years to have this epiphany, Siddhartha acknowledges that he will always be every form of himself. All people have the potential to escape the cycle of suffering if they recognize that they are currently every form of themselves. Acceptance of the ubiquity of life destroys the limitations of time and suffering.