Siddhartha | Page 9

shall spent the night, for there is enough space for
the innumerable, who flock here, to hear the teachings from his mouth."
This made Govinda happy, and full of joy he exclaimed: "Well so, thus we have reached
our destination, and our path has come to an end! But tell us, oh mother of the pilgrims,
do you know him, the Buddha, have you seen him with your own eyes?"
Quoth the woman: "Many times I have seen him, the exalted one. On many days, I have
seen him, walking through the alleys in silence, wearing his yellow cloak, presenting his
alms-dish in silence at the doors of the houses, leaving with a filled dish."
Delightedly, Govinda listened and wanted to ask and hear much more. But Siddhartha
urged him to walk on. They thanked and left and hardly had to ask for directions, for
rather many pilgrims and monks as well from Gotama's community were on their way to
the Jetavana. And since they reached it at night, there were constant arrivals, shouts, and
talk of those who sought shelter and got it. The two Samanas, accustomed to life in the
forest, found quickly and without making any noise a place to stay and rested there until
the morning.
At sunrise, they saw with astonishment what a large crowd of believers and curious
people had spent the night here. On all paths of the marvellous grove, monks walked in
yellow robes, under the trees they sat here and there, in deep contemplation--or in a
conversation about spiritual matters, the shady gardens looked like a city, full of people,
bustling like bees. The majority of the monks went out with their alms-dish, to collect
food in town for their lunch, the only meal of the day. The Buddha himself, the
enlightened one, was also in the habit of taking this walk to beg in the morning.
Siddhartha saw him, and he instantly recognised him, as if a god had pointed him out to
him. He saw him, a simple man in a yellow robe, bearing the alms-dish in his hand,
walking silently.
"Look here!" Siddhartha said quietly to Govinda. "This one is the Buddha."
Attentively, Govinda looked at the monk in the yellow robe, who seemed to be in no way
different from the hundreds of other monks. And soon, Govinda also realized: This is the
one. And they followed him and observed him.
The Buddha went on his way, modestly and deep in his thoughts, his calm face was
neither happy nor sad, it seemed to smile quietly and inwardly. With a hidden smile, quiet,
calm, somewhat resembling a healthy child, the Buddha walked, wore the robe and
placed his feet just as all of his monks did, according to a precise rule. But his face and
his walk, his quietly lowered glance, his quietly dangling hand and even every finger of
his quietly dangling hand expressed peace, expressed perfection, did not search, did not

imitate, breathed softly in an unwhithering calm, in an unwhithering light, an untouchable
peace.
Thus Gotama walked towards the town, to collect alms, and the two Samanas recognised
him solely by the perfection of his calm, by the quietness of his appearance, in which
there was no searching, no desire, no imitation, no effort to be seen, only light and peace.
"Today, we'll hear the teachings from his mouth." said Govinda.
Siddhartha did not answer. He felt little curiosity for the teachings, he did not believe that
they would teach him anything new, but he had, just as Govinda had, heard the contents
of this Buddha's teachings again and again, though these reports only represented second-
or third-hand information. But attentively he looked at Gotama's head, his shoulders, his
feet, his quietly dangling hand, and it seemed to him as if every joint of every finger of
this hand was of these teachings, spoke of, breathed of, exhaled the fragrant of, glistened
of truth. This man, this Buddha was truthful down to the gesture of his last finger. This
man was holy. Never before, Siddhartha had venerated a person so much, never before he
had loved a person as much as this one.
They both followed the Buddha until they reached the town and then returned in silence,
for they themselves intended to abstain from on this day. They saw Gotama
returning--what he ate could not even have satisfied a bird's appetite, and they saw him
retiring into the shade of the mango-trees.
But in the evening, when the heat cooled down and everyone in the camp started to bustle
about and gathered around, they heard the Buddha teaching. They heard his voice, and it
was also perfected, was of perfect calmness, was full of peace. Gotama taught the
teachings of suffering, of the origin