Hello everyone
just a question.
According what I Know of the Buddhism Gotama and Siddhartha are supposed to be the same persons. Can anyone tell me why they are different in the Hesse's Novel?
Thank you very much.

Fred--

I just read Siddhartha and I'm not sure about the answer to your question, but I am positive that Siddhartha Gotama was the Buddha's real name.

The way I see it, is that it just so happens that Hesse's character in the novel is named Siddartha, and that he meets the Buddha, who is also named Siddartha, but is addresed by the last name of Gotama. They are not the same person, that is true, they just have the same name in the novel.

According to Thomas Mann, (aproximatively!), Hesse created a character (Siddhartha) more authentical than Buddha himself - which, I suppose, means that Hesse oriented his work to a character as close as possible to the esencial nature of Buddha, without trying to make some kind of biography for a certain religious / hystorical person (Buddha = Siddhartha Gautama from Sakya family). That's why it is less important the precise usage of the names .

in the book gotoma and sidhartha both have the same knowledge but have learned it in a different way and sidhartha does not preach his. about him bien the same person as gotoma i don't know my knowledge of budhism is not that extended.

yeah, i thought hesse was trying to make the point that there is potentially more than the one 'archetypal' siddartha

It is the best in the novel.

What Hesse did was to use a few elements of the historical real Buddha as well as his own additional touches as the basis for creating his fictional character Siddhartha. The novel's Gotama is closer to the nature of the real Buddha. Basically, he took the role of Buddha as the world knows and kind of split it in two to create his Siddhartha and his Gotama. Hope this helps.

Actually, I think you are just confusing names, as Buddha's full name was Siddharta Gautama Buddha, but Hesse's fictional character is simply named Siddharta. I believe the distinction between them is rather clear; in fact they actually meet and have a conversation in the book, during which it becomes very clear that Siddharta respects Buddha and considers him a holy man, yet does not accept his teachings. Of course, it is very interesting how their lives seem to be very similar, especially their choice to lead a moderate life, after searching happiness in extreme forms of hedonism or ascese.

Yes, Gautama Buddha's original name was indeed Siddhartha. But, in the book, Hesse's attempt may have been to show us that Siddhartha, the character, who goes in search of truth and the Gotama he meets are the two sides of the same coin. (alter ego)...