The Sermon at Benares- Important Extra Questions- Short Answer Type

The Sermon at Benares

By– Betty Crenshaw

Short Answer Type Important Questions of The Sermon at Benares

1. Kisa compared human life to an inanimate object. What is it and why does she do so?

Ans. 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 as in great grief of the death of his

2. Where and when did Siddhartha become the Buddha?

Ans. At the age of 25, Siddhartha confronted a sick man then an age sight moved funeral procession and finally a monk. Palace and wandered for seven years to shed seedling team the tree The Bodenheim Tree’ until enlightenment came. He renamesFinally so much that he even allied heat swath teen admiral

3. Which people are referred to as “wise” by the Buddha in his sermons?

Ans. Buddha preached in his sermons that everything that is born will come to its end. Death is inevitable: both young and adult or fools and wise are subject to death. But the people who do not grieve knowing the terms of the world are called wise people. Wise people neither weep nor grieve.

4. Why was Kisa Gotamis ad?

Ans. Kisa Gotami’s only son had died. She was grief-stricken. Carrying the dead son, she went to all her neighbours to get some medicine that would cure her son. A man sent her to the Buddha who asked her to procure a handful of mustard seeds from a house where no one had died, but she couldn’t find such a house and was thus sad.

5. Why was Gautama known as the Buddha?

Ans. 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).

6. How did the Buddha teach Kisa Gotami the truth of life?

Ans. Buddha changed Kisa’s thinking with the help of a simple act—asking her to procure a handful of mustard seeds from that house where none had died. She could not understand it. But, gradually she understood that death is inevitable.

7. Describe the life of Gautama Buddha before enlightenment.

Ans. 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.

8. To seek peace one has to draw out the arrow of lamentation. State two values projected through the statement.

Ans.No lamenting can bring someone’s dear and near ones back to life. Neither can they stop one’s death. Lamenting tells upon one’s health. He becomes sick and pale. He loses appetite and interest in life. One has to learn that death is inevitable.

9. What sights moved Siddhartha Gautama to seek the path of enlightenment?

Ans. While going for hunting Gautam saw a sick man, an old man, a funeral procession and a monk begging. This encounter with the sufferings and grief moved him and he left to seek the path of enlightenment.

10. What did the Buddha preach to the people?

Ans. Buddha said that death is common to all mortals. You cannot avoid it. No amount of Weeping and lamenting can bring back a dead. So wise men don’t grieve. Weeping and Lamenting rather spoil one’s health. To overcome sorrow, become free of sorrow.

11. What happened to Kisa Gotami’s son? What did she ask her neighbours to give her?

When her son dies, Kisa Gotami goes from house to house. What does she ask for? Does she get it? Why not?

Ans. 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.

12. How do weeping and grieving affect us? (The Sermon at Benares)

Ans. Weeping and grieving bring no gains. It rather spoils one’s health and gives truer ‘, I Only you take out the arrow of lamentation and get composed you will get peace of overcome sorrow, become free of sorrow. I again go from house to house after she speaks with the Buddha.

13. Mention the incidents which prompted Prince Siddhartha to become a beggar.

Ans. 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.

14. What did Kisa Gotami learn in the end?

Ans. Kisa Gotami wandered from house to house to get a handful of mustard seeds but could not find it. She realized that death is common to all. All living beings have to die. She had been selfish in her grief.

15. What does the Buddha say about the world?

What is Gautam Buddha’s opinion about death?

Ans. 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.

16. Who was Gautam Buddha? When and where was he born?

Ans. Gautam Buddha was the earlier prince, Siddhartha who got enlightenment under a fig tree and was then named as Gautam Buddha. He was born as a prince in North India.

17. Kisa Gotami was selfish and grief-stricken. Justify.

Ans. Kisa Gotami lost her only son. In her grief, she carried her dead child everywhere and asked people to cure him. As instructed by Buddha she went door to door to get a handful of mustard seeds with condition that there should not be any loss of a child. Husband, parent or friend. In her grief, she forgot that everyone had to suffer such type of loss in his or her family Death is common to all. But in her grief, she became selfish and tried to full fill the condition that was impossible.

18. What does she ask for the second time around? Does she get it? Why not?

Ans. Buddha asked her to procure a handful of mustard seeds but he put a condition that it should be procured from a house where no death had ever taken place. She went from house to house but could not find such a residence.

Q.19. Who was Gautama Buddha?

Ans. 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.

Q.20. How did Siddhartha Gautama get the name of Buddha?

Ans. 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.

Q.21. What did Buddha ask the lady to do?

Ans. 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, husband or a friend. Then he would be able to help her.

Q.22. What does Gautama Buddha say about the life and death of human beings?

Ans. 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.

Q.23. Can an aggrieved person get peace of mind by weeping or grieving?

Ans. No, nobody can get peace of mind by weeping or grieving. Rather, his pain will be greater and his body will suffer by doing so. He will make himself sick and pale.

Q.24. Where did Buddha preach his first sermon?

Ans. After attainment of enlightenment, Buddha preached his first sermon at the holy city of Banaras which is situated on the sacred river Ganges.

Q.25. With what does Buddha compare the death and decay of human beings?

Ans. 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.

Q26. Describe the early life of Gautama Buddha.

Ans. Gautama Buddha began life as a prince. He was named Siddhartha Gautama. He was sent away for schooling in the Hindu sacred scriptures at twelve. When he returned home, he was married to a princess. He lived in royal luxury, shielded from the sufferings up to the age of twenty-five.

Q27. What were the sights that moved and shocked Gautama?

Ans. Prince Gautama had been deliberately shielded from all the sufferings of the world. One day he chanced upon a sick man, then an aged man and then a funeral procession. Finally, he saw a monk begging for alms. These sights moved him. He went out into the world to seek the solution of all these sufferings. He wanted to seek enlightenment.

Q28.What did Kisa Gotami do when her only son died? What did her neighbours think about her?

Ans. 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.

Q29. How did Kisa Gotami go to the Buddha? What did Buddha ask Gotami to do?

Ans. 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.

Q 30. Did Kisa Gotami get a handful of mustard seeds as directed by the Buddha?

Ans. 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.

Q31. 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 reigned everywhere. She realised that she had been very selfish in her grief Death spares none. One who is born is destined to die sooner or later. No grieving or lamenting would bring a dead man to life.

Q32. What did Buddha say about the mortals of the world?

Ans. The Buddha said to Kisa Gotami that the life of mortals is troubled and brief in this 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.

Q33. Can grieving and lamentation avoid death and decay in this world? What did the Buddha say in this regard?

Ans. This world is afflicted with death and decay. Therefore, the wise don’t grieve. No one will ever get peace of mind by weeping or grieving. Weeping or grieving only makes a person sick and pale. Only the person who has overcome all sorrow will be free from sorrow. He will then be blessed.

Q34. What did the Buddha want Kisa Gotami to understand?

Ans. 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.

Q35. What did Kisa Gotami realise at last?

Ans. 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.

Q36. Describe the main message that the lesson ‘The sermon at Benares’ gives to the readers.

Ans. The Buddha wants us to understand that this world is full of sufferings, death and decay. Death spares none. Death is the ultimate truth of life. Everything that is born today will die sooner or later. No lamentation or grieving will bring the dead to life again.

Q37. How did Siddhartha Gautama get enlightenment? Why did he name the fig tree as the Bodhi tree?

Ans. 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.