Herman Hesse, the author of "Siddhartha", 1946 Nobel laureate, and most importantly, an orientalist. He is now the candidate for my new 沧海级 idol, so-called "Hesse the Pilgrim", together with "SuShi the Happy Genius, Hugo the Supreme Humanist and the Astounding Russell".

But sometimes I feel that his books are literally, well, symbols, which may be too obvious to impose a long-lasting effect on me as I hate allegories, though it might be precisely the reason people like him. I am not sure about him now and perhaps he should be put aside for some time and we'll see what'll happen.

Anyway, his essays about nature are always worth reading and re-reading at anytime since it is less didactic and more lyrical than his fictions.



树木

by 黑赛

树木对我来说，曾经一直是言词最恳切感人的传教士。当它们结成部落和家庭，形成森林和树丛而生活时，我尊敬它们。当它们只身独立时，我更尊敬它们。它们好
似孤独者，它们不像由于某种弱点而遁世的隐士，而像伟大而落落寡合的人们，如贝多芬和尼采。世界在它们的树梢上喧嚣，它们的根深扎在无垠之中；唯独它们不
会在其中消失，而是以它们全部的生命力去追求成为独一无二：实现它们自己的、寓于它们之中的法则，充实它们自己的形象，并表现自己。再没有比一棵美的、粗
大的树更神圣、更堪称楷模的了。当一棵树被锯倒并把它的赤裸裸的致死的伤口暴露在阳光下时，你就可以在它的墓碑上、在它的树桩的浅色圆截面上读到它的完整
的历史。在年轮和各种畸形上，忠实地纪录了所有的争斗，所有的苦痛，所有的疾病，所有的幸福与繁荣，瘦削的年头，茂盛的岁月，经受过的打击，被挺过去的风
暴。每一个农家少年都知道，最坚硬、最贵重的木材年轮最密，在高山上，在不断遭遇险情的条件下，会生长出最坚不可摧、最粗壮有力、最堪称楷模的树干。



树木是圣物。谁能同它们交谈，谁能倾听它们的语言，谁就获悉真理。它们不宣讲学说，它们不注意细枝末节，只宣讲生命的原始法则。



一棵树说：在我身上隐藏着一个核心，一个火花，一个念头，我是来自永恒生命的生命。永恒的母亲只生我一次，这是一次性的尝试，我的形态和我的肌肤上的脉络
是一次性的，我的树梢上叶子的最微小的动静，我的树干上最微小的疤痕，都是一次性的。我的职责是，赋予永恒以显著的一次性的形态，并从这形态中显示永恒。



一棵树说：我的力量是信任。我对我的父亲们一无所知，我对每年从我身上产生的成千上万的孩子们也一无所知。我一生就为这传种的秘密，我再无别的操心事。我相信上帝在我心中。我相信我的使命是神圣的。出于这种信任我活着。



当我们不幸的时候，不再能好生忍受这生活的时候，一棵树会同我们说：平静！平静！瞧着我！生活不容易，生活是艰苦的。这是孩子的想法。让你心中的上帝说
话，它们就会缄默。你害怕，因为你走的路引你离开了母亲和家乡。但是，每一步、每一日，都引你重新向母亲走去。家乡不是在这里或者那里。家乡在你心中，或
者说，无处是家乡。



当我倾听在晚风中沙沙作响的树木时，对流浪的眷念撕着我的心。你如果静静地、久久地倾听，对流浪的眷念也会显示出它的核心和含义，它不是从表面上看去那
样，是一种要逃离痛苦的愿望。它是对家乡的思念，对母亲、对新的生活的譬喻的思念。它领你回家。每条道路都是回家的路，每一步都是诞生，每一步都是死亡，
每一座坟墓都是母亲。



当我们对自己具有这种孩子的想法感到恐惧时，晚间的树就这样沙沙作响。树木有长久的想法，呼吸深长的、宁静的想法，正如它们有着比我们更长的生命。只要我
们不去听它们的说话，它们就比我们更有智慧。但是，如果我们一旦学会倾听树木讲话，那么，恰恰是我们的想法的短促、敏捷和孩子似的匆忙，赢得了无可比拟的
欢欣。谁学会了倾听树木讲话，谁就不再想成为一棵树。除了他自身以外，他别无所求。他自身就是家乡，就是幸福。

http://www.hesse-cn.com/


Famous quotes from Siddhartha, his most popular book in english world

My comment: A promising book whose depth grows with re-reading. However, I don't think that someone can ever gain a correct idea of Hinduism, or eastern religion as whole from this novella.

-Wisdom is not communicable. The wisdom which a wise man tries to communicate
always sounds foolish... Knowledge can be communicated, but not wisdom.

(The deity is within you, not in ideas and books. Truth is lived, not taught. -Glass Bead Game, another book by him)

//Russell once expressed an idea similar with the above

-Everything that is thought and expressed in words is one-sided, only
half the truth; it all lacks totality, completeness, unity. When the
Illustrious Buddha taught about the world, he had to divide it into
Samsara and Nirvana, illusion and truth, into suffering and salvation.
One cannot do otherwise, there is no other method for those who teach.
But the world itself, being in and around us, is never one-sided. Never
is a man or a deed wholly Samsara or wholly Nirvana; never is a man
wholly a saint or a sinner. This only seems so because we suffer the illusion that time is something real.

-I had to strive for property and experience nausea and the depths of
despair in order to learn not to resist them, in order to learn to love
the world, and no longer compare it with some kind of desired imaginary
world, some imaginary vision of perfection, but to leave it as it is,
to love it and be glad to belong to it. These, Govinda, are some of the
thoughts in my mind.

-These people were worthy of love and admiration in their blind loyalty,
in their blind strength and tenacity. With the exception of one small
thing, one tiny little thing, they lacked nothing that the sage and
thinker had, and that was the consciousness of the unity of all life.


Quotes from Glass Bead Game

What you call passion is not spiritual force, but friction between the soul and the outside world.
Where passion dominates, that does not signify the presence of greater
desire and ambition, but rather the misdirection of these qualities
toward an isolated and false goal, with a consequent tension and
sultriness in the atmosphere. Those who direct the maximum force of
their desires toward the center, toward true being, toward perfection,
seem quieter than the passionate souls because the flame of their
fervor cannot always be seen.



//Exactly what I feel, I like this pacifist

“My instinct as an individualist and artist has always warned me most
urgently against this capacity of men for becoming drunk on collective
suffering, collective pride, collective hatred, and collective honor.
When this morbid exaltation becomes perceptible in a room, a hall, a
village, a city, or a country, I grow cold and distrustful; a shudder
comes over me, for already, while most of my fellow men are still
weeping with rapture and enthusiasm, still cheering and venting
protestations of brotherhood, I see blood flowing and cities going up
in flames.”



BTW: Quote from Upanishad

The child ask:"Papa, who will you give me to?"

No answer. then a second time, a third time...

"To DEATH I give you!"

Why there is no clear style function in MSN space? The fonts of the text are all messed up but I don't want to take care of HTML all the time.