“You are wise, oh Samana.”, the venerable one spoke.

“You know how to talk wisely, my friend.  Be aware of too much wisdom!”

The Buddha turned away, and his glance and half of a smile remained forever etched in Siddhartha’s memory.

I have never before seen a person glance and smile, sit and walk this way, he thought; truly, I wish to be able to glance and smile, sit and walk this way, too, thus free, thus venerable, thus concealed, thus open, thus child-like and mysterious.  Truly, only a person who has succeeded in reaching the innermost part of his self would glance and walk this way.  Well so, I also will seek to reach the innermost part of my self.

I saw a man, Siddhartha thought, a single man, before whom I would have to lower my glance.  I do not want to lower my glance before any other, not before any other.  No teachings will entice me any more, since this man’s teachings have not enticed me.

I am deprived by the Buddha, thought Siddhartha, I am deprived, and even more he has given to me.  He has deprived me of my friend, the one who had believed in me and now believes in him, who had been my shadow and is now Gotama’s shadow.  But he has given me Siddhartha, myself.

AWAKENING

When Siddhartha left the grove, where the Buddha, the perfected one, stayed behind, where Govinda stayed behind, then he felt that in this grove his past life also stayed behind and parted from him.  He pondered about this sensation, which filled him completely, as he was slowly walking along.  He pondered deeply, like diving into a deep water he let himself sink down to the ground of the sensation, down to the place where the causes lie, because to identify the causes, so it seemed to him, is the very essence of thinking, and by this alone sensations turn into realizations and are not lost, but become entities and start to emit like rays of light what is inside of them.

Slowly walking along, Siddhartha pondered.  He realized that he was no youth any more, but had turned into a man.  He realized that one thing had left him, as a snake is left by its old skin, that one thing no longer existed in him, which had accompanied him throughout his youth and used to be a part of him:  the wish to have teachers and to listen to teachings.  He had also left the last teacher who had appeared on his path, even him, the highest and wisest teacher, the most holy one, Buddha, he had left him, had to part with him, was not able to accept his teachings.

Slower, he walked along in his thoughts and asked himself:  “But what is this, what you have sought to learn from teachings and from teachers, and what they, who have taught you much, were still unable to teach you?” And he found:  “It was the self, the purpose and essence of which I sought to learn.  It was the self, I wanted to free myself from, which I sought to overcome.  But I was not able to overcome it, could only deceive it, could only flee from it, only hide from it.  Truly, no thing in this world has kept my thoughts thus busy, as this my very own self, this mystery of me being alive, of me being one and being separated and isolated from all others, of me being Siddhartha!  And there is no thing in this world I know less about than about me, about Siddhartha!”