In Herman Hesse’s Siddhartha, rebirth and reincarnation is presented as a habitual nature of life. In part one of the text, his constant reincarnating seems slightly confusing. It becomes clearer at the end of the novel, when both Govinda and Siddhartha reach their goal of Enlightenment. The continual cycle of rebirth in Siddhartha means that none of these forms truly died and were subject to a transformation through the process of rebirth. Rebirth in this novel is therefore presented as the continuation of the spirit of one life form with different appearances, but they all have the same fundamental nature of the individual remaining unchanged as they live their many lives in search for Nirvana. The novel begins with Siddhartha who is a young, naïve Brahmin yearning to understand the reasons for his existence and the Brahmin culture. He ends up as a sagacious, old man who has finally found peace within himself and within his surroundings. Throughout the book, Hesse allows the reader to follow Siddhartha's rebirthing process both through his experiences, and the people with whom he encounters. During his journey, he makes a number of different choices that put him on a path leading to his constant reincarnating. This is marked by conflict within himself leading to self-discovery and independence from the spiritual or nonspiritual lifestyle. Siddhartha's transformation is developed by the various rebirths and experiences in the novel: his encounter with the Samanas, his meeting with the Buddha, his first love experience with Kamala, his effort to be like the common people, his great success with money, his attempted suicide, the arrival/departure of his son, and his reunion with Govinda, as they all contribute to his self-discovery. His first experience on his spiritual quest is when he becomes one of the Samanas. Siddhartha leaves the Brahmins because he does not believe that their path will lead him to his own self-discovery, to Atman. He believes that the teachings are not enough and one cannot be taught to find themselves. As an ascetic, Siddhartha sacrifices all of his belongings as a sign of determination where Hesse says, "Siddhartha had one single goal-to become empty, to become empty of thirst, desire, dreams, pleasure, and sorrow-to let the Self die. No longer to be Self, to experience the peace of an emptied heart, to experience pure thought-that was his goal." (14). Siddhartha goes from a place he has known all his life to the unknown, the Samanas, where he practices a new lifestyle but continues to fail at discovering himself. Siddhartha begins to realize that being with the Samanas will not help him reach his goal. In addition, the doubt continues when he finds out that none of the Samanas have ever reached Nirvana, except for the Buddha. This leads Siddhartha to believe one must direct themselves in order to reach Nirvana and one cannot be reliant upon the teachings of others to guide them. The first major rebirth of Siddhartha experiences is when he meets with Gotama, the Buddha. After several years of living the pure life of a Samana, Siddhartha decides to try to find Gotama to assist him on his journey of self-discovery. After they meet, Siddhartha starts to question the words that the Buddha speaks and he becomes persuaded that the method’s the Buddha uses can only satisfy his logical and monetary needs, however, not his spiritual needs. He begins to understand that the Buddha reached Nirvana through going on his own personal journey and experiencing things first hand. Siddhartha sees that undergoing his own experiences and attaining self-discovery can only be made by himself, regardless of what teachers or teachings may teach him. After Govinda commits to becoming one of the Samana monks, Siddhartha informs him that he will depart soon but he hopes his friend finds his Nirvana. On his journey, after leaving the Samanas, Siddhartha encounters his first woman/love! Kamala was the first person to teach him about the value and beauty of love. He learned that he shouldn’t take something without giving som