Gautama Character Analysis in Siddhartha

is the venerable Buddha, who has achieved enlightenment. While Siddhartha is a samana, Gautama arrives in the forest and is followed by many pilgrims seeking teaching. His voice and calm, smiling manner deeply affect Siddhartha and Govinda. But while Govinda decides to seek refuge in the Buddha's teaching, Siddhartha tells Gautama that he seeks something that can’t be taught. Gautama is gracious to Siddhartha but warns him of the dangers of knowledge-seeking. We see by the end that Gautama also followed his own path, that is how he achieved the height of wisdom.

Gautama Quotes in Siddhartha

The Siddhartha quotes below are all either spoken by Gautama or refer to Gautama. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

The Path to Spiritual Enlightenment Theme Icon

On all paths of the glorious grove, monks in yellow cloaks were walking; they sat here and there under the trees, absorbed in contemplation or in spiritual conversation; the shady gardens looked like a city, filled with people swarming like bees.

Related Characters: Gautama

Page Number and Citation: 26

Explanation and Analysis:

I have never seen anyone gaze and smile like that, sit and stride like that, he thought. Truly, I wish I could gaze and smile, sit and stride like that, so free, so venerable, so concealed, so open, so childlike and mysterious.

Related Characters: Siddhartha (speaker), Gautama

Related Symbols: The Smile

Page Number and Citation: 34

Explanation and Analysis:

Gautama Character Timeline in Siddhartha

The timeline below shows where the character Gautama appears in Siddhartha. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

...leading the samana life, a rumor reaches Siddhartha and Govinda of a Sublime teacher, called Gautama, the Buddha, who had also wandered through the land as an ascetic, and whose legend... (full context)

...is mocking, but he agrees to hear the teaching. Though he does not believe that Gautama will reveal anything new to them, he tries to go ahead with an open mind. (full context)

In a town called Savathi, Gautama and his disciples are worshipped. He is given a grove called Jetavana. When Siddhartha and... (full context)

Like the Buddha, these monks go into the town to beg. This is where Siddhartha first sees the... (full context)

Siddhartha and Govinda plan not to eat anything that day. They observe the Buddha taking a tiny morsel of a meal and withdraw to the mango trees. That evening... (full context)

After the teaching, like many others, Govinda asks to be accepted into the Buddha’s fellowship. He is accepted and goes to Siddhartha to ask why he hasn’t also committed... (full context)

Satisfaction and Dissatisfaction Theme Icon

...to get his robes and begin his new life. Siddhartha, walking through the grove, sees Gautama walking too and takes the opportunity to ask permission to speak to him. He tells... (full context)

The Buddha accepts this, but Siddhartha wishes to say something else. He expresses his extreme admiration for... (full context)

The Buddha wishes the best for Siddhartha but he questions his plan. He asks Siddhartha to contemplate... (full context)

The Buddha’s peaceful smile is unwavering. He warns Siddhartha to be careful of his own cleverness. Then... (full context)

As he leaves the Buddha and Govinda, Siddhartha feels that he is leaving his old life. He muses deeply in... (full context)

...Siddhartha remembers everything about his journey so far, and every word he spoke to the Buddha about his dissatisfaction, about the unteachable thing. The unteachable is now his aim. He now... (full context)

...are like falling leaves and some are like stars with fixed paths, like the great Gautama. Kamala senses that Siddhartha is thinking of the samana life again. (full context)

Some things that he learned from the Brahmins and Gautama and the samanas have stayed with Siddhartha but others have as good as disappeared. His... (full context)

One night, Siddhartha spends the evening with Kamala and she asks all about the Buddha and wishes one day to take refuge in his teaching. Then Siddhartha and Kamala make... (full context)

...path. When he was a boy listening to the Brahma teaching, and going from the Buddha into the unknown. But he hasn’t heard that voice for some time. He had been... (full context)

...him. He sits contemplating in the grove, and considers how he has left Govinda and Gautama in order to own things like this grove and sees that it was wrong to... (full context)

...Siddhartha awake, but he does not recognize him. Govinda introduces himself as a disciple of Gautama and explains that when he saw a man sleeping, where snakes and other dangerous creatures... (full context)

...start arriving at the river, and tell the ferrymen that they are going to see Gautama, the Buddha, who is mortally ill and will soon die his final human death and... (full context)

Amongst the hoards is Kamala, who is also on a pilgrimage to visit the dying Buddha. Since knowing Siddhartha, Kamala has given up the life of a courtesan to be a... (full context)

...that he has attained peace. She tells him of her hope to travel to the Buddha and look into his eye, but, as Siddhartha tells her that she will find peace... (full context)

...come to see love as the most important thing now. Govinda reminds him that the Buddha taught benevolence and tolerance instead of love. Siddhartha sees this as a fight of words.... (full context)

...but wishes him well. To himself, Govinda reflects that Siddhartha’s style is so different from Gautama’s. His thoughts sound strange. But his whole presence radiates peace and saintliness, just as Gautama’s... (full context)

...the smile that Siddhartha wears now. It is the exact smile of oneness that the Buddha used to wear. Time and existence seem to disappear at this moment and Govinda stands... (full context)

Gautama Character Analysis

Gautama Quotes in Siddhartha

Part 1, Chapter 3 Quotes

Gautama Character Timeline in Siddhartha