Class 10 : English – Lesson 8. The Sermon at Benares
EXPLANATION & SUMMARY
💠 Explanation
🌟 Introduction to the Lesson
The Sermon at Benares is an extract from the life and teachings of Gautama Buddha, included in Class 10 NCERT First Flight. It conveys Buddha’s first sermon after attaining enlightenment, delivered at Benares (Varanasi). The story reflects on the inevitability of death and the path to overcoming grief through wisdom.
📚 About the Teacher (Gautama Buddha)
Gautama Buddha (563 BCE – 483 BCE), born as Prince Siddhartha, was the founder of Buddhism. Renouncing worldly pleasures, he attained enlightenment under the Bodhi tree at Bodh Gaya. His teachings emphasise compassion, detachment, and the Eightfold Path to end suffering.
💡 Setting / Context
The lesson is set in Benares (Varanasi), the spiritual heart of India, where Buddha delivered his first sermon. Through the story of Kisa Gotami, a grieving mother, the sermon explains the universal truth of mortality.
🎭 Key Sections / Episodes
Kisa Gotami’s Grief: She loses her only son and, blinded by sorrow, goes from house to house asking for medicine to bring him back to life.
Meeting the Buddha: People send her to Buddha, who gently asks her to collect mustard seeds from a house untouched by death.
The Realisation: She fails, as every house has faced death. She learns that mortality is universal.
The Sermon: Buddha explains that wise people accept death calmly, while grieving leads to misery. He preaches detachment and the way to overcome suffering.
🖋️ Tone, Style, and Devices
Tone: calm, compassionate, philosophical.
Style: narrative combined with moral teaching.
Devices: parable (story of Kisa Gotami), symbolism (mustard seeds = universality of death), and contrast (ignorance vs. wisdom).
🕊️ Themes and Takeaways
Inevitability of Death: Death is a natural, universal truth.
Wisdom through Acceptance: Only by accepting reality can one find peace.
Compassionate Teaching: Buddha uses simple examples to explain deep truths.
Detachment: Freedom from attachment reduces suffering.
💠 Summary
The Sermon at Benares highlights Buddha’s first teaching after enlightenment. Through the story of Kisa Gotami, who loses her only son and desperately seeks a cure, Buddha conveys that death is inevitable. By asking her to bring mustard seeds from a house untouched by death, Buddha helps her realise that no family is free from mortality. This wisdom transforms her grief into acceptance. In his sermon, Buddha teaches that mourning and desire only deepen sorrow, while peace comes from detachment and understanding the impermanence of life. The lesson conveys a universal truth: wisdom lies in accepting death as a part of existence.
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PASSAGE
PASSAGE
“Kisa Gotami went from house to house and the people pitied her and said, ‘Here is mustard seed; take it.’ But when she asked, ‘Did a son or daughter, a father or mother die in your family?’ They answered, ‘Alas! the living are few, but the dead are many. Do not remind us of our deepest grief.’ Thus Kisa Gotami could find no house where someone had not died.”
💠 (Short Answer – 30 words)
Why was Kisa Gotami asking for mustard seeds?
Answer: She was asked by Buddha to bring mustard seeds from a house untouched by death, hoping it would cure her dead son and teach her a lesson about mortality.
💠 (Multiple Choice)
What truth did Kisa Gotami realise?
A. That only her family faced death
B. That death is universal
C. That mustard seeds have magical power
D. That grief can bring back the dead
Answer: B. That death is universal
💠 (Fill in the blank)
The people told Kisa Gotami that the living are few, but the __ are many.
Answer: dead
💠 (Fill in the blank)
Kisa Gotami went from _ to _ in search of mustard seeds.
Answer: house, house
💠 (Assertion and Reason)
Assertion (A): Kisa Gotami found mustard seeds easily without any condition.
Reason (R): Every house she visited had never faced death.
A. Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A.
B. Both A and R are true, but R is not the correct explanation of A.
C. A is false, but R is true.
D. Both A and R are false.
Answer: D. Both A and R are false.
💠 (Short Answer – 30 words)
What universal message does this passage convey?
Answer: The passage conveys that death spares no one, touching every family, and only by accepting this truth can one overcome grief and attain peace.
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OTHER IMPORTANT QUESTIONS
🔴 Q1. Who gave the sermon at Benares?
🔵 Answer: Gautama Buddha.
🔴 Q2. Who was Kisa Gotami?
🔵 Answer: She was a grieving mother who lost her only son.
🔴 Q3. What did Kisa Gotami request from her neighbours?
🔵 Answer: She requested mustard seeds to cure her dead child.
🔴 Q4. What condition did Buddha give Kisa Gotami for bringing mustard seeds?
🔵 Answer: The mustard seeds must come from a house where no one had ever died.
🔴 Q5. Why could Kisa Gotami not bring the mustard seeds?
🔵 Answer: Because every house she visited had experienced death.
🔴 Q6. What truth did Kisa Gotami finally realise?
🔵 Answer: She realised that death is universal and spares no one.
🔴 Q7. How did Kisa Gotami’s grief change after her experience?
🔵 Answer: Her blind sorrow turned into wisdom and acceptance of reality.
🔴 Q8. What did Buddha say about the fate of mortals?
🔵 Answer: Buddha said that just as ripe fruits fall, mortals are bound to die once life is complete.
🔴 Q9. How do the wise face the fact of death?
🔵 Answer: The wise do not grieve; they accept death calmly as a natural truth.
🔴 Q10. What does excessive grief lead to, according to Buddha?
🔵 Answer: Excessive grief leads to misery, suffering, and bondage to the cycle of sorrow.
🔴 Q11. What is the central theme of Buddha’s sermon at Benares?
🔵 Answer: The inevitability of death and the importance of detachment to overcome sorrow.
🔴 Q12. How does the story of Kisa Gotami serve as a parable?
🔵 Answer: It symbolises how human beings cling to attachments, but only acceptance of mortality brings peace.
🔴 Q13. What message does The Sermon at Benares give to humanity?
🔵 Answer: It teaches that death is a natural law, grief is futile, and true wisdom lies in acceptance and detachment.
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