Siddhartha
Quote - A true seeker cannot accept any teachings, not if he wished [wishes] to find something.
Paraphrase – A person who truly seeks something cannot accept any teachings unless he wished to find something.
Universal interpretation – To accept teachings is a desire to achieve something. A true seeker seeks no desires and has to reject teachings.
In Hesse’s novel Siddhartha, Siddhartha seeks no desires. His goal in life is to become empty of everything, including his Self, his soul. He has no regard for any teachings because he believes that teachings did not explain much. His sole question remained unanswered “Where was the Self to be found?” Siddhartha is bewildered that nobody had experienced the bliss of knowing the Self. When he meets Buddha, he finds an answer to a part of his question because here was a man who had attained nirvana. However, Siddhartha feels that teachings can only tell the way to attain nirvana, they cannot explain in words, the bliss The Buddha experienced under the banyan tree. Siddhartha believes that this knowledge that was being imparted by his father, the Brahmins and the Buddha could be learnt anywhere. Siddhartha’s goal is to let his Self and everything die, to be empty, to have no desires. Teachings of the Buddha explained how to attain nirvana. By following his teachings, Siddhartha believes that his Self will be transformed into those teachings and his love for the Buddha and he will have an insatiable desire to attain salvation. This is not something Siddhartha wanted, he wanted no desire. Since he believes that all teachings aim for the seeker to reach a goal, all teachings created desires. We learn because we have a desire to achieve something by following those teachings. Because of this, Siddhartha comes to the conclusion that all teachings created desires and a person who is a true seeker cannot accept them.
