編按：這篇短文乃重金禮聘國際知名動物大明星所搬演的紙上小影集（誤～XD），文本源自赫曼赫塞的小說《悉達多》（Siddhartha），輕鬆風趣但寓意深遠，歡迎收看。
Govinda
adored Siddhartha, son of a Brahmin/Terrier mix, his childhood buddy. He loved
Siddhartha’s dark fuzzy eyes. They hung out together and were inseparable. They
chanted oooOM whenever a siren went by. Both were into metaphysical readings
and participated in a local philosophy group.
While
immersed in intellectual pursuit, Siddhartha seemed troubled by restless
thoughts...that his unhappy consciousness is a result of his worldly
incarnation?
One
evening, Govinda could not sleep, he looked out the window and saw Siddhartha
was meditating under the pinion trees.
 |
| Hermitage at The Earth-Ship |
What
synchronicity! They both knew it was time to join the Samana pack and wander
into the high desert. They bid farewell to their parents and gave their
possessions to the "Bark'n Boutique", a store ran by the Espanola
Animal shelter. They ate only once a day, all organic, with
occasional treats offered by strangers.
 |
| The bitter practice-only one meal a day |
In
order to practice renunciation, they left behind the city lights, the land
of Enchantment...
and
parted with their favorite playmate, Indra, who loved to party at the Dog Park.
In
winter, as they trotted through the deep snow, the only book they kept was "The Narrow
Road to the Interior", a diary of Basho's spiritual journey.
The
sun and moon had always shone, the rivers had always flowed.
The
world of phenomenon was only a fleeting dream. A life of renunciation was
not too difficult for them. Govinda and
Siddhartha had gotten used to a life of wandering.
But
what was this strange uncertainty he felt inside? Siddhartha pondered. What if his
stoic practice, the control of sensory pleasure was because of his soul was in
love with its own purity, like the life of the medieval monks as Hegel
described?
However,
at times, his alienated soul experienced its own unhappy consciousness, yearned
to be with the remote others.
Until...one
day when he met the beautiful courtesan-Kamala.
Siddhartha
felt his blood kindled. Ah, what strange fervor burned in his heart!
He
visited Kamala regularly, made his offering to her:
"I can think and I can sit. O yes, I can also
compose poetry, in exchange for your kisses."
Kamala
was quite fond of the handsome and intelligent Samana, her heart fluttered. she
smiled and said: "My nose is keen
and my lips are fleshy, and will fit yours even though you came from the
jackals."
Meanwhile,
Govinda had decided to follow Gotama, the
Illustrious One, and he was soon ordained as a monk.
"Meditate, O monk, and be not heedless!
Set not thy heart on the pleasure of senses". The core teaching
recorded in the Dhammapada Sutra, concerns mainly with one's ethical conduct. Govinda
faithfully adhered to such practice because living a virtuous life is highly
regarded by both Socrates and Buddha. For years, he cultivated the Buddhist Dogtrine and the path to Buddyhood.
In
solitude, Govinda often remembered how Siddhartha could sit for hours
watching the storm clouds swirled over the mountains. Could that be a sign of
his intense interest in ontological contemplation?
He
also remembered Siddhartha’s ears would twitch while immersed in the difficult reading
of Hegel’s "Phenomenology of the
Spirit" and his theory of the Picture Gallery.
According
to Siddhartha’s interpretation, the picture gallery alludes to different shapes
of consciousness. As one shape of consciousness dies, it gives birth to a higher
shape, thus leads to a higher knowing.
Like
a beautiful soul, Govinda lived in pure inwardness, a realm beyond time and
history. But he was also interested in political liberation since Hegel did lecture
about the purpose of history was to develop the idea of freedom.
While
Govinda recited the Heart Sutra daily, he continued his enquiry, how does one
find reconciliation if the self is both the world and one's self and yet each seems
alien to the other? And how does the beautiful soul finds its true belonging,
"the I that is We?” ?
Govinda
found himself occupied with the discussions he had with Siddhartha long ago, in
particular, Hegel’s idea of the Geist or the spirit, which permeates in all
stages of consciousness, all the way to the final self realization. Although for
Siddhartha, it was more fun to climb up Hegel's ladder to the Absolute
than just sit.
Govinda
admired Siddhartha's ability to integrate his artistic interest and intellectual
pursuit and yet able to follow the trail of earthly passion in his quest
for self knowledge.
 |
| Siddhartha, an accomplished artist |
Govinda
thus wrote a poem:
You are born with two
souls
Entwined to each other
Within the Promethean
sun
Burns the stoic moon
Savaged for love
Doomed to betray
Although
Siddhartha was sincerely learning from Kamala the art of love, but he had grown
tired and often felt empty after a night of passion. In his mind, Siddhartha
was searching for the meaning of true liberation. He had no
problem of relating to Sartre's existential concept of Nothingness, since it
connects to the notion of the void and impermanence. But Siddhartha also found purpose
in the Buddysattva path by reading professor
Peter Singer's "Animal Liberation",
to bring true justice and equality to all sentient beings.
While
Siddhartha was making his own ontological synthesis, he thought that it was
never made clear to him how ignorance could have originated from one's
Buddha nature? And how could a pure consciousness posited something apart
from itself such as the Ego, the cause of suffering? In other words, why would an
all encompassing and self-realized oneness constitutes a separate reality that
confronts itself?
Nevertheless, the
dogtrine of the Four Noble
Truths regarding the existential conditions of all living beings, for
Siddhartha, was unquestionable.
Years
went by, Siddhartha had lived a life as a painter, a devoted lover and a wealthy
merchant, but in his heart, he had always been a Samana. He missed his long
separated friend, Govinda. In dark nights, Siddhartha called out to his dear
beloved...
Although Govinda
had become a monk, he also yearned for Siddhartha's company as they
were born to be companeda.
Even
they have lost touch for many years, they never stopped thinking of each
other. Govinda poured his feelings for Siddhartha into poetry:
The moon has already
risen
The wind slowly dies
down
A calm river is singing
by my feet
I can almost hear a
canto flowing from his quiet lips
Eventually,
Siddhartha, no longer a youth, found his mentor, a ferryman named Vasudeva, who
taught him to listen to the many voices of the river, the voice of life
and becoming.
Siddhartha
himself had also become a ferryman and grew wiser as months turned into years.
He took people daily across the river, but he himself no longer travelled.
He
had learned that there is a difference between knowledge and wisdom; for
knowledge is one-sided but the multiplicity of wisdom, like the river, is time
itself. It ever changes into thousand folds of meanings; for everything is in a
state of becoming . The river that brought Siddhartha wisdom was the same river
he had once wished to drawn himself.
 |
| Vasudeva, the ferryman and Siddhartha's mentor |
It
was here, by the river, Siddhartha finally reunited with Govinda, though
for a moment, Govinda could not recognize that the old ferryman, who took him
across the river, was Siddhartha. Indeed, they both have aged and their hair already
grew grey.
Govinda
was invited to stay in Vasudea's hut with Siddhartha. As buddies again, their
dreams were as serene as the snowy river.
Sitting
by the swelling river, Siddhartha came to the realization that all sucklings
have death within them, and yet everything was necessary including his life
with the beautiful courtesan and the meeting with Vasudeva. It is perfect in
every moment. The world of Samsara, with desires, sorrow, despair and
abandonment, is the Picture Gallery. It is the bearer of the Absolute. Ah, Hegel
was right! Siddhartha said to himself. He felt a great serenity from
accepting everything as is. What
manifests in the phenomenal world is actually the full expression of the
Geist.
Gazing
into Siddhartha’s calm but still fuzzy eyes, Govinda thought, what saintly and
gentle face! It reminded him the face of Gotama. Govinda's eyes were full of
tears; he felt a great love inside.
At
last, they both came to the same understanding that
pure
reason is pure feelings.
The
transcendent inwardness and the socially engaged Buddyism are integral for a beautiful soul.
The
river flows gently, ever changing and reflecting,
Like
the great mirror of wisdom.
There
is neither bondage nor liberation.
The
seeker has come to the end of its searching.
This
is home coming, Hegel's great synthesis.
There
was neither Siddhartha, nor Govinda, as both had vanished into the realm
of wooOM.
Acknowledgement
The
story is a parody based on "Siddhartha"
by Hermann Hesse and Hegel's opus magnum "The Phenomenology of the Spirit".
Text and the Picture Gallery by Mira Fong
January
1, 2007
