BEFORE YOU READ
Activity
Use a dictionary or ask for your teacher’s help as you discuss the following questions in groups.
1. What is a sermon? Is it different from a lecture or a talk? Can this word also be used in a negative way or as a joke (as in “my mother’s sermon about getting my work done on time…”)?
2. Find out the meanings of the words and phrases given in the box.
afflicted with be composed
desolation, lamentation
procure be subject to
3. Have you heard of the Sermon on the Mount? Who delivered it? Who do you think delivered a sermon at Benares?
GAUTAMA Buddha (563 B.C. – 483 B.C.) began life as a prince named Siddhartha Gautama, in northern India. At twelve, he was sent away for schooling in the Hindu sacred scriptures and four years later he returned home to marry a princess. They had a son and lived for ten years as befitted royalty. At about the age of twenty-five, the Prince, heretofore shielded from the sufferings of the world, while out hunting chanced upon a sick man, then an aged man, then a funeral procession, and finally a monk begging for alms. These sights so moved him that he at once went out into the world to seek enlightenment concerning the sorrows he had witnessed.
He wandered for seven years and finally sat down under a peepal tree, where he vowed to stayuntil enlightenment came. Enlightened after seven days, he renamed the tree the Bodhi Tree (Tree of Wisdom) and began to teach and to share his new understandings. At that point he became known as the Buddha (the Awakened or the Enlightened). The Buddha preached his first sermon at the city of Benares, most holy of the dipping places on the River Ganges; that sermon has been preserved and is given here. It reflects the Buddha’s wisdom about one inscrutable kind of suffering.
Kisa Gotami had an only son, and he died. In her grief she carried the dead child to all her neighbours, asking them for medicine, and the people said, “She has lost her senses. The boy is dead.”
At length, Kisa Gotami met a man who replied to her request, “I cannot give thee medicine for thy child, but I know a physician who can.”
And the girl said, “Pray tell me, sir; who is it?” And the man replied, "Go to Sakyamuni, the Buddha.”
Kisa Gotami repaired to the Buddha and cried, “Lord and Master, give me the medicine that will cure my boy.”
The Buddha answered, “I want a handful of mustard-seed.” And when the girl in her joy promised to procure it, the Buddha added, “The mustard-seed must be taken from a house where no one has lost a child, husband, parent or friend.”
Poor Kisa Gotami now 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 her, “Alas! the living are few, but the dead are many. Do not remind us of our deepest grief.” And there was no house but some beloved one had died in it.
Kisa Gotami became weary and hopeless, and sat down at the wayside watching the lights of the city, as they flickered up and were extinguished again. At last the darkness of the night reigned everywhere. And she considered the fate of men, that their lives flicker up and are extinguished again. And she thought to herself, “How selfish am I in my grief! Death is common to all; yet in this valley of desolation there is a path that leads him to immortality who has surrendered all selfishness.”
The Buddha said, ‘‘The life of mortals in this world is troubled and brief and combined with pain. For there is not any means by which those that have been born can avoid dying; after reaching old age there is death; of such a nature are living beings. As ripe fruits are early in danger of falling, so mortals when born are always in danger of death. As all earthen vessels made by the potter end in being broken, so is the life of mortals. Both young and adult, both those who are fools and those who are wise, all fall into the power of death; all are subject to death.
“Of those who, overcome by death, depart from life, a father cannot save his son, nor kinsmen their relations. Mark! while relatives are looking on and lamenting deeply, one by one mortals are carried off, like an ox that is led to the slaughter. So the world is afflicted with death and decay, therefore the wise do not grieve, knowing the terms of the world.
“Not from weeping nor from grieving will anyone obtain peace of mind; on the contrary, his pain will be the greater and his body will suffer. He will make himself sick and pale, yet the dead are not saved by his lamentation. He who seeks peace should draw out the arrow of lamentation, and complaint, and grief. He who has drawn out the arrow and has become composed will obtain peace of mind; he who has overcome all sorrow will become free from sorrow, and be blessed.”
[Source: Betty Renshaw Values and Voices: A College Reader (1975)]
Thinking About The Text
Q. 1: When her son dies, Kisa Gotami goes from house to house. What does she ask for? Does she get it? Why not?
Ans. : Kisa Gotami goes from house to house to get some medicine which could put back life into the body of her dead son. But once a person is dead, he cannot be revived. Hence, people only pity at her agony because they know that no medicine can bring life back into the body of her dead son.
Q. 2: Kisa Gotami again goes from house to house after she speaks with the Buddha. What does she ask for, the second time around? Does she get it? Why not?
Ans. : After speaking with the Buddha, Kisa Gotami goes from house to house to get a handful of mustard seeds only from a house in which nobody ever died. Since death is an imminent fact and is integral to the life cycle, so Kisa Gotamy does not get mustard seeds.
Kisa Gotami was failed to find a single house, which did not lose their beloved son, husband, friend etc. she understood that death is common to all.
Q. 3: What does Kisa Gotami understand the second time that she failed to understand the first time? Was this what the Buddha wanted her to understand?
Ans. : The second time she understood the real truth of life and death. She understood that everyone who has come into this world is going to die sooner or later. she understood that death is common to all.
By sending her to different houses, Buddha wanted her to realize the truth of nature and human life. He also wanted her to rise this matters so that the departed soul could rest in peace.
Q. 4: Why do you think Kisa Gotami understood this only the second time? In what way did the Buddha change her understanding?
Ans. : The woman went from door to door but she could find no family where there had been no death. While returning, she saw the lights flickering and extinguishing this realise her that she is very selfish in her grief.
Buddha taught the realty of death, the ultimate end of every life for death there can be no escape; no medicine of death is inevitable.
Q. 5: How do you usually understand the idea of ‘selfishness’? Do you agree with Kisa Gotami that she was being ‘selfish in her grief ’?
Ans. : Being concerned with our own desires and beliefs is called selfishness. Kisa Gotami was only thinking about her personal sorrow and life after death of her son. She was not thinking about grief of all other people. So, it can be said that she was being ‘selfish in her grief.
Some Extra Answer (30-40 Words):
Q.1. Who was Gautam Buddha? Write a few lines about his early life.
Ans. Gautam Buddha was a prince. He was named Siddhartha Gautam by his parents. He was born in 563 B.C. in North India. He was sent away for schooling when he was twelve years old but four years later, he got married to a princess.
Q. 2. What did Buddha say about the mortals of the world?
Ans. The Buddha told Kisa Gotami the mortalness of the life in the world. Those who have been born can’t avoid dying.
As ripe fruits are in danger of falling, so mortals are always in danger of death.
All earthen vessels end in being broken.
Q. 3. Did Kisa Gotami get a handful of mustard seeds as directed by the Buddha?
Ans. Kisa Gotami went from house to house to get a handful of mustard seeds. The people pitied her and were ready to give, but she couldn’t find a house where no one had lost a child, husband, parent or friend.
Q. 4. Why did Kisa Gotami say, ‘How selfish am I in my grief!’ What did she realise about the fate of mankind?
Ans. Kisa Gotami became weary and hopeless. At last, the darkness of the night spreaded everywhere. While returning, she saw the lights flickering and extinguishing this realise her that she is very selfish in her grief.
She realised that she had been very selfish in her grief none spares from death.
One who is born is going to die sooner or later. Any type of grieving or lamenting would not bring a life into a dead body.
LONG ANSWER QUESTIONS (100-150 Words)
* Q.1. Describe the journey of Siddhartha Gautam becoming the Buddha.
Ans. Gautam Buddha began his life as a royal prince. He was named Siddhartha Gautama. At twelve, Gautama was sent away for schooling in the Hindu sacred scriptures. At the age of sixteen, he returned home to marry a princess.
The prince was deliberately shielded from all sufferings of the world. But this attempt failed when the prince while out hunting chanced upon a sick man. Then, he saw an aged man. He also chanced to see a funeral procession. Finally, he saw a monk, begging for alms. These sights of suffering, sickness and decay shocked and moved the prince. He wanted to seek the final solution of all these sorrows and sufferings. He wandered for seven Years in search of enlightenment. Finally, he sat down under a fig tree. He meditated there until he was enlightened after seven days. He renamed the tree the Bodhi Tree or the Tree of Wisdom. He became known as the Buddha or the Awakened or the enlightened one. The Buddha gave his first sermon at Benares on the River Ganges.
* Q. 2. What did the Buddha make Kisa Gautami understand and how?
Ans. The Buddha realized that the woman did not understand that death is inevitable. She did not know that death is the final end of all living beings and that there can be no medicine for death. So Buddha asked the woman to bring him a hand full of mustard seed and that he could give her the medicine for her son. But he said that eh seed must be from a house where there had been no death.
The woman went from door to door but she could find no family where there had been no death and she could not get the mustard seed. The woman came to realize that reality of death by the story of Kisa Gautami, Buddha taught the realty of death, the ultimate end of every life for death there can be no escape; no medicine of death is inevitable.
* Q. 3. Why did kisa Gautami go twice from house to house? In what way did the Buddha change her understanding?
Ans. Kisa Gautami go twice from house to house in hope of to save her dead son.
First time Kisa Gotami goes from house to house to get some medicine which could put back life into the body of her dead son.
After speaking with the Buddha, Kisa Gotami goes from house to house second time to get a handful of mustard seeds only from a house in which nobody ever died.
While returning, she saw the lights flickering and extinguishing, this realise her that she is very selfish in her grief.
Buddha taught the realty of death, that the death is an ultimate end of every life. There is no medicine to escape the death.
Q. 4. “The life of mortals in this world is troubled and brief and combined with pain” With this statement of the Buddha, find out the moral values that Kisa Gotami learnt after the death of her child.
Ans. After the death of her only son, Kisa Gotami went to the Buddha. Firstly, she went to every neighbour, asking for medicine for her dead son. She had lost all her senses. She forgot that no medicine could bring back the dead.
Then she went to Buddha for making her son alive. Buddha asked her to bring a handful of mustard seeds from a house where no death had occur. But she couldn’t find such a house. The Buddha made her realise that death is common to all. It also shows the detachment from mundane life. Only grieving cannot bring peace of mind.
Q. 5. Why did Kisa Gotami understand the message given by the Buddha only the second time? In what way did the Buddha change her understanding?
Ans. Kisa Gotami had lost her only son and in grief, she carried her dead son to all her neighbours to get him cured and restored back to life. Finally, she went to the Buddha asking him for medicine to cure her boy. The Buddha felt that she needed to be enlightened about the truth of life — that death and sorrow are inescapable. He could see that grief had blinded her, and it would be difficult for her to accept the truth. So the Buddha told her to procure mustard seeds from a house where none had died.
Kisa Gotami went from door to door. Then she realized that there was no house where no one had died and that death is common to all. She came back to the Buddha where He sermonized her that life in this world is troubled and filled with sorrows. He gave her examples of ripe fruits and earthen vessels whose ‘lives’ are short. This way he made her realize that death is unavoidable and none —even the near and dear ones — can save anyone from death.
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