Need help writing a Siddhartha essay!?

Question

so my thesis is about how his journey in life is really about him finding happiness and how the concept of happiness is intertwined with the concept of enlightenment in this book, aaaaaaand i really have no idea how im gonna do this, any thoughts about anything on this book, anyone?

to me: yes i know that enlightenment does not mean finding happiness, im just wondering if siddhartha STARTED OFF his journey in search of happiness? it says in the first few paragraphs or so that he himself is not happy, does not feel joy... im asking does he start out his journey with the intention (buried somewhere deep in there) to find happiness for him?

Answer 1

you missed the concept of the book.

happiness implies sadness
siddhartha learns to overcome duality

enlightenment is realizing there is no happiness or sadness, and realizing everything is everything else.

thats why the river is so important, it portrays all life as connected and constantly flowing.

In the end, he is enlightened. that isnt becoming happy.
sorry you picked a really bad thesis.

Answer 2

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Answer 3

My own view is that the gentleman in question came to understand that all life is filled with a kind of frustration (or "suffering", if you will), and that upon realizing the universality of that truth, there exists a path to enlightenment.

The enlightenment, by the way, does not come in the form of cessation of suffering; rather, it comes in the form of realizing that suffering originates within.

Try that out for starters. You may be surprised where it leads.

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In answer to your further question, I seems to me Siddhartha started out by noting the suffering around him, and wondering whether there is a transcendent source of happiness. For him? Yes, it may have begun that way, but in his journey he came to ask that question for all sentient beings.

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Answer 4

http://buddhism.about.com/library/blbud101basics.htm

great website about siddharta gotama, buddha.

good luck.