Chapter 10 The Sermon at Benares Important Questions Class 10 First Flight English
Very Short Answer Type Questions
Question 1. After how many days of meditation did he get enlightenment?
Answer
He got enlightenment after the meditation of seven days.
Question 2. What was the problem of Gotami?
Answer
Gotami’s son had died. She wanted him to live again.
Question 3. What did Gautama chance to see one day?
Answer
One day he chanced to see a sick man, an old man, a dead man’s funeral procession and a monk.
Question 4. What did Buddha ask Kisa Gotami to bring?
Answer
Buddha asked Gotami to bring a handful of mustard seeds from a house where no one had died.
Question 5. Where did Siddhartha get enlightened?
Answer
Siddhartha got enlightened under a peepal tree after seven days.
Question 6. At what age was Siddhartha married?
Answer
He was married at the age of sixteen years.
Question 7. How long did Gautama wander in search of wisdom?
Answer
He wandered for seven years in search of wisdom.
Question 8. What did she learn from the flickering of lights?
Answer
She learnt that the fate of men is just like the city lights that flickered and extinguished again and again.
Question 9. What did Kisa Gotami realise in the end?
Answer
In the end, she realised that death is inevitable.
Question 10. At what age did Gautama leave home for enlightenment?
Answer
He left home at the age of twenty-five for enlightenment.
Question 11. What did Siddhartha see at the age of twenty-five?
Answer
At the age of twenty-five, he saw a sickman, an aged man, a funeral procession and a monk begging.
Question 12. What have the life and death of the man been compared to?
Answer
The life and death are being seen and compared with the ripe fruits which have to fall.
Short Answer Type Questions
Question 1. What did the Buddha preach to the people?
Answer
Buddha said that death is common to all mortals. You cannot avoid it. No amount of Weeping and lamenting can bring back the dead. So wise men don’t grieve. Weeping and Lamenting rather spoil one’s health. To overcome sorrow, become free of sorrow.
Question 2. Describe the life of Gautama Buddha before enlightenment.
Answer
Buddha was earlier a prince and lived in luxury. When he encountered suffering and grief, it made him sad and sorrowful. He renounced everything and went in search of riddance from suffering. He wandered for seven years. Then, one day, he sat under a fig tree and vowed not to leave until he was enlightened.
Question 3. Mention the incidents which prompted Prince Siddhartha to become a beggar.
Answer
Siddhartha while going for hunting saw a sick man, an old man, a funeral procession and a monk begging. This was his first encounter with suffering and grief. It made him sad and he immediately renounced everything.
Question 4. Who was Gautama Buddha?
Answer
Gautama Buddha was a prince in northern India. His full name was Siddhartha Gautama and he was sent away for schooling at the age of twelve. He married Yashodhara when he returned after four years.
Question 5. What does Gautama Buddha say about the life and death of human beings?
Answer
Gautama Buddha says that the life of human beings in this world is troubled, brief and combined with pain. It is because there is not any means by which those that have been born can avoid dying.
Question 6. Describe the life of Gautama Buddha before enlightenment.
Answer
Buddha was earlier a prince and lived in luxury. When he encountered suffering and grief, it made him sad and sorrowful. He renounced everything and went in search of riddance from suffering. He wandered for seven years. Then, one day, he sat under a fig tree and vowed not to leave until he was enlightened.
Question 7. Kisa compared human life to an inanimate object. What is it and why does she do so?
Answer
Kisa compared human life with the lights of the city which flicker up and extinguished again and the darkness of the night spreads everywhere. Similarly, the human takes birth, flickers up and then extinguished the life of the remains. She compared so because the darkness of sadness spreads in use she was in great grief of the death of his.
Question 8. With what does Buddha compare the death and decay of human beings?
Answer
Gautama Buddha says that just as ripe fruit are liable to fall, so mortals when horn arc always in danger of death. An earthen vessel made by the potter end in being broken, the life of all mortals will ultimately meet death.
Question 9. What did Kisa Gotami do when her only son died? What did her neighbours think about her?
Answer
Kisa Gautami’s only son had died. She was overwhelmed with grief She carried the dead child to all her neighbours. She asked them for the medicine to cure her son. The neighbours thought she had lost her senses. A dead child could never be cured.
Question 10. What did the Buddha want Kisa Gotami to understand?
Answer
The Buddha wanted Kisa Gotami to understand that all men and women are mortals. And all mortals are destined to die. No lamentation and grieving can bring a dead person back to life. Therefore, she should stop lamenting and grieving the death of her son. Overcoming the sorrows makes a person free from sorrows.
Question 11. How did Siddhartha Gautama get enlightenment? Why did he name the fig tree as the Bodhi tree?
Answer
Gautama wanted a final solution for the sufferings and pains that afflicted the people of the world. He wandered for seven years for seeking enlightenment. Finally, he sat down under a fig tree. He vowed to stay there until enlightenment came. Enlightened after seven days, he renamed the fig tree. It was named as the Bodhi Tree or Tree of Wisdom. He gave his first sermon at the city of Benares on the River Ganges.
Question 12. Why was Gautama known as the Buddha?
Answer
Gautama sat under a pipal tree until he attained enlightenment. After seven days he got enlightenment and began to teach and share his new understandings. So he came to be known as the Buddha (the Awakened or the Enlightened).
Question 13. When her son dies, Kisa Gotami goes from house to house. What does she ask for? Does she get it? Why not?
Answer
When her son died, Kisa Gautama went from house to house in order to ask for as everyone said that she was out of her senses to invite for her son. But she didn’t get any it2nat her son was dead.
Question 14. How did Siddhartha Gautama get the name of Buddha?
Answer
Siddhartha Gautama sat under a big peepal tree, where he vowed to stay until enlightenment came. He was enlightened after seven days. He began to teach and share his new understandings. Then he came to be known as Buddha.
Question 15. How did Kisa Gotami go to the Buddha? What did Buddha ask Gotami to do?
Answer
A man advised Kisa Gotami to go to Sakyamuni, the Buddha. He was the physician who could cure her dead son. She went to the Buddha. He asked Kisa Gotami to bring a handful of mustard seeds from a house. The house must be such where no one had lost a child, husband, parent or friend.
Question 16. What did Kisa Gotami realise at last?
Answer
In the end, Kisa Gotami was free from all illusions. She realised the universal truth that all mortals are destined to die sooner or later. Death spares none. Her lamentation and grieving can’t bring her dead son alive. There was no family in which no son, daughter or parent had not ever died.
Question 17. How did the Buddha teach Kisa Gotami the truth of life?
Answer
Buddha changed Kisa’s thinking with the help of a simple act asking her to procure a handful of mustard seeds from a house where none had died. She could not understand it. But, gradually she understood that death is inevitable.
Question 18. What is Gautam Buddha’s opinion about death?
Answer
Buddha says that the world is a valley of death. There is a path that leads man to immortality reality that has been cleansed of all selfishness. Death is common to all. One who is born will die as well. Death is imminent. The life of mortals in this world is troubled and brief and combined with pain.
Question 19. What did Buddha ask the lady to do?
Answer
Buddha asked the lady to bring a handful of mustard-seeds. But these must be taken from a house where no one had ever lost a child, a husband or a friend. Then he would be able to help her.
Question 20. Did Kisa Gotami get a handful of mustard seeds as directed by the Buddha?
Answer
Poor Kisa Gotami went from house to house. The people pitied her and were ready to give a handful of mustard seeds to her. But, she couldn’t find a house where no one had lost a child, husband, parent or friend.
Question 21. What was the basic idea of the Buddha’s preaching?
Answer
The basic idea of the Buddha’s preaching was that death is the ultimate truth of life. It is that every living being has to die one day. No one can escape from death. Grief cannot console anyone. We must accept this universal truth.
Question 22. Why did Kisa Gotami go from house to house?
Answer
Kisa Gotami was a lady who lived in Benares. Her only son had died and she could not’bear it. She went from house to house to cure his dead son. Someone told him about the Buddha and she reached him to cure his dead son.
Question 23. What did Kisa Gotami do after the Buddha had asked her for a handful of mustard seed?
Answer
Kisa Gotami went from house to house to get a handful of mustard seed. People gave her the mustard
seed. But when she asked if anyone had died in their family, they regretfully told her that the livings were few, but the deads were many. Kisa Gotami found no house where someone had not died.
Question 24. Why did the Buddha choose Benares to preach his first sermon?
Answer
The Buddha preached his first sermon at the city of Benares. This city is regarded as the most holy of the dipping places of the River Ganga. That sermon has been preserved. It reflects the Buddha’s wisdom about one kind of suffering which cannot be understood.
Question 25. Why did prince Siddhartha leave the palace and became a beggar?
Answer
While out hunting prince Siddhartha chanced upon a sick man, an aged man and then a funeral procession and he also saw a monk begging. He realised that world is full of sorrow so he left the palace in the search of enlightenment.
Question 26. How did Gautama came to be known as the Buddha?
Answer
Siddhartha Gautama wandered for seven years and finally sat down under a Peepal tree till he got enlightenment. After seven days of enlightenment, he renamed the ‘Bodhi Tree’ and began to teach and to share his new understanding and came to be known as the Buddha.
Long Answer Type Questions
Question 1. What did Buddha say about death and suffering? Explain by giving examples from the text.
Answer
Buddha said that death is common to all mortals. Those who are born must die one day. You cannot avoid it. Death is certain. As ripe fruits fall off the trees and meet an end so do the lives of the mortals. Life of a man is like an earthen pot that breaks and meets its end. No amount of weeping and lamenting can bring the dead back to life. So, wise men don’t grieve. They understand that it is the law of nature. Also, weeping and lamenting bring no gains. It rather spoils one’s health and gives more pain. If only you take out the arrow of lamentation and get composed you will get peace of mind. lb overcome sorrow, become free of sorrow.
Question 2. Why does Kisa feel disappointed after going from door to door?
Answer
Kisa Gotami had only one son and he had died. In her greet fobs he occults reroof ended riser senses. all her neighbours asking them for medicine. She has thought the man suggested her to go to the Buddha. Kisa Gotami went to the Buddha and prayed 0hhaM on how to revive her son. The Buddha told her to procure a handful of mustard seeds from us. Here no one had olestra child, husband, parent or friend. Kisa Gotami went from door pitied her and offered her the seeds. But when she asked them if anyone had died in the family they could only answer that they had lost many and they did not want to that death of their deepest grief. Kisa Gotami became weary and hopeless and realized oath is common to all.
Question 3. “The world is afflicted with death eaters and d the Buddha. Expand this thought revising Kisa Gotami’s experience when she a5,” Buddha for a solution.
Answer
When Kisa Gotami went to the Buddha for the medicine to revive her a Buddha told her to procure a handful of mustard seeds from a house where no one and gave her the seeds. She then asked them if anyone in the family had died, and they answered that many were dead in the house and it aggrieved them to remember those dead people. She became weary and hopeless after going to several houses and getting the same response.
As she sat wearily she saw the city lights go out, and darkness reigned everywhere. She finally grasped the Buddha’s underlying meaning. She returned to the Buddha and narrated her experience. Thereafter the Buddha sermonized her that the life of mortals in this world is troubled and painful; that the world is afflicted with death and decay, and so there is no point in grieving over something which is inescapable.
Question 4. Why did Siddhartha conic to be called the Buddha? Where did he give his first sermon?
Answer
Siddhartha Gautama wandered for seven years in search of wisdom and truth. Finally, he sat down under a big people tree to meditate. He vowed to stay there until he got enlightenment. After seven days, Gautama got enlightenment. He named the tree as the ‘Bodhi Tree’. , that is ‘The tree of wisdom.’ He became known as ‘the Buddha’ which means ‘enlightened’ or ‘the awakened’. He began to teach and to spread his message of wisdom and truth. The Buddha gave his first sermon at Benares. It is the holiest of places on the hank of the Ganges. His first sermon reflects his wisdom about one kind of suffering i.e. death. Here the Buddha tells about the universality of death which is inevitable and can’t be escaped.
Question 5. Why did Kisa Gotami go to every neighbour? Why did she say, ‘How selfish I am in my grief?’
Answer
Kisa Gotami’s only son had died. Naturally, she was filled with grief. She carried the dead child to all her neighbours. She asked them for medicine. The people thought that she had lost her senses in grief. She was demanding medicine for her dead son.
Only after meeting the Buddha, she followed his instructions. She couldn’t get a handful of mustard seeds not even from one family. There was no family where no one had lost a child, husband, parent or friend. Only then she realised what the Buddha wanted her to understand. She realised that she was very selfish in her grief. She was grieving for her dead child. She forgot that death spares none. She realised that no lamentation or grieving can bring a dead person back to life again.
Question 6. In ‘The Sermon at Benares’, the Buddha preached that death is inevitable and we need to overcome the suffering and pain that follows. Discuss.
Answer
It is very painful to lose someone or something we love. When we lose someone it is a great emotional suffering. The more we grieve over death, the more painful it will be for us. Death is always unwelcome. We must realize that we are all mortals and death is common to all. We may lament and cry but we cannot bring dead back to life. All the riches of the world cannot bring life back. We must realize that death is common to all rich or poor. Those who have overcome sorrow will become free from sorrow and are blessed.
Question 7. What does the Buddha say about the life of mortals in this world? How can one obtain the peace of mind?
Answer
The Buddha preached his first sermon at Benares. He preached that all men, women and children are mortals. And, all mortals are destined to die. Actually, death and decay is the fate of all mortals in this world. Death spares none. The life of mortals in this world is troubled and brief. It is combined with pain. Those who have been born, can’t avoid dying.
Actually, there is no means of avoiding death and decay. The ripe fruits fall, so do the aged people of the world. One by one the mortals is carried off, like an ox that is led to the slaughter. Therefore, the wise do not grieve. No amount of lamenting or grieving can bring a dead man back to life. Weeping and grieving will never give anyone the peace of mind. On the other hand, they only compound miseries. He who has overcome all sorrows will become free from sorrows. He will become a blessed one.
Question 8. The Buddha said, “The world is affected by death and decay, therefore the wise men do not grieve, knowing the terms of the world.” Do you think the statement is appropriate even for today’s life? Write your views in the context of the above statement.
Answer
The above-said statement holds true concerning today’s life as well. Buddha said that death is common to all mortals. Those who are born must die one day. Death is certain, can’t be avoided. As ripe fruits fall off the trees, so is the life of mortals. Life of a man is like an earthen pot that breaks and meets its end. No amount of weeping and lamenting can bring the dead back to life. So, wise men don’t grieve. They understand that it is the law of the world. Weeping and lamenting produce no gains. It rather spoils one’s health and gives more pain.
If only you take out the arrow of lamentation and get composed, you will get peace of mind. To overcome sorrow, become free of sorrow. But in today’s world, man has forgotten this. He makes all kinds of efforts to provide himself with the comforts and earns money by all means whether wrong or right. He forgets that one day he has to die and everything will be left here only.
Question 9. Who was Gautama Buddha? What made him renounce his royal life and become a monk?
Answer
Gautama Buddha was born in 563 B.C. He was born in a royal family. His name was Siddhartha Gautama. At the age of twelve, he was sent away for schooling. He studied all the sacred Hindu scriptures. At the age of sixteen, he married a princess. They had a son. For ten years the couple passed a happy life. Siddhartha had been shielded from the sufferings of the world.
However, when he was twenty-five, Siddhartha saw a sick man, then an aged man, then a funeral procession. Finally, he came across a monk begging for alms. This was his first encounter with the harsh realities of life. These sights made him so sad that he decided to renounce the worldly pleasures. He left his family and became a monk. He went out into the world to seek spiritual knowledge.
Question 10. Why and how did Siddhartha Gautama become the Buddha?
Answer
Gautama Buddha was born as a prince named Siddhartha Gautama in northern India. At the age of twelve, he was sent away for learning the Hindu sacred scriptures. Four years later he returned home to marry a princess. They had a son and lived for ten years as befitted royalty. Upto the age of twenty-five, the prince was shielded from the sufferings of the world.
Then while going out for hunting, he came across by chance a sick man, an aged man, a funeral procession, and finally a monk begging for alms. These sights moved the prince so much that he went out into the world to seek a state of high spiritual knowledge concerning the sorrows of human beings. He wandered for seven years and finally sat down under a peepal tree. He got enlightenment after seven days. After that he came to be known as the Buddha.
Question 11. Describe the main teachings of the Buddha as highlighted in ‘The Sermon at Benares.’
Answer
Before the age of twenty-five, Siddhartha Gautam was carefully shielded from the sufferings of the world. When he saw a sick man, an aged man and a funeral procession for the first time, he was moved and shocked at the sights. He gave up his royal luxuries and went out in search of the permanent solution of all those sufferings and sorrows. After a long meditation, he got the enlightenment. At that time, he became known as the Buddha or the Awakened one. He gave his first sermon at Benares.
Through Kisa Gotami, the Buddha wanted to tell the world that death is the ultimate truth. All mortals are destined to die sooner or later. There is no family in a world where no one has lost a child, husband, parent or friend. Lamenting for a son or a parent is like showing selfishness in grief. No lamentation or grieving can bring a dead man back to life. This world is afflicted with death and decay. He who has overcome all sorrow will become free from sorrow. He will be the blessed one.
Question 12. Why did Kisa Gotami understand the message given by the Buddha only the second time? In what way did the Buddha change her understanding?
Answer
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 the 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.
Question 13. What did the Buddha ask Kisa Gotami to do? Why couldn’t Kisa Gotami succeed in getting a handful of mustard seeds from any family?
Answer
Kisa Gotami couldn’t get any consolation and cure from her neighbours. They realised that grief had made her almost mad. One of them directed her to the Buddha. He thought only the Sakyamum, the Buddha was the most appropriate physician to cure her son. The Buddha wanted the grieving woman to learn a lesson.
So, he asked her to bring a handful of mustard seeds from a family. The mustard-seed must be taken from a house where no one had lost a child, a husband or a friend. Poor Gotami went from house to house begging for a handful of mustard seeds. The people pitied her. They were ready to give a handful of mustard seeds to her. In short, there was no house where some beloved one had not died in it. So, Kisa Gotami didn’t succeed in her mission. She only realised that she had been selfish in grief.
Question 14. What is the nature of the life of the human beings according to the Buddha?
Answer
The life of mortals in this world is troubled and brief. It is combined with pain. Nobody can avoid dying. After reaching old age, there is death. Such is the nature of human beings. Just as ripe fruits are in danger of falling; so mortals are in danger of death. As all earthen vessels after a certain period of time break, so is the life of mortals. All have to die. Only he can get peace of mind who does not lament, complain and grieve. He who has overcome sorrow will be free from sorrow, and be blessed.