1. Describe the early life of Gautama Buddha.
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.
2. What were the sights that moved and shocked Gautama?
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 solution of all these sufferings. He wanted to seek enlightenment.
3. How did Siddhartha Gautama get enlightenment? Why did he name the fig tree as the Bodhi tree?
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 did the Buddha say in this regard? his first sermon at the city of Benares on the River Ganges.
4. What did Kisa Gotami do when her only son died? What did her neighbours think about her?
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 medicine to cure her son. The neighbours thought she had lost her senses. A dead child could never be cured.
5. How did Kisa Gotami go to the Buddha? What did Buddha ask Gotami to do?
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.
6. Did Kisa Gotami get a handful of mustard seeds as directed by the Buddha?
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.
7. Why did Kisa Gotami say, 'How selfish am I in my grief. What did she realise about the fate of mankind?
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.
8. What did Buddha say about the mortals of the world?
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.
9. Can grieving and lamentation avoid death and decay in this world? What did the Buddha say in this regard?
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.
10. What did the Buddha want Kisa Gotami to understand?
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 on the death of her son. Overcoming the sorrows makes a person free from sorrows.
11. How did Kisa Gotami realise that life and death is a normal process?
Kisa found no house where some beloved had not died. She understood that death is common to all. So she was being selfish in her grief. She thought only of her grief. Life and death is a normal process. Death is certain. No one can escape it.
12. Describe the main message that the lesson 'The sermon at Benares' gives to the readers.
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.
13. How did Kisa Gotami realise that life and death is a normal process?
kisa Gotami realized that life and death is a normal process. She found no house where some beloved had not died. She came to know that living are few, but dead are many.
14. Why was Kisa Gotami sad? What did she do in her hour of grief?
Kisa Gotami was sad because her only son died. So in her grief, she was at her wit’s end. She carried the dead child to all her neighbours. She asked them for medicine. The people remarked Kisa had lost her senses.
15. What did the Buddha want Kisa Gotami to understand?
The Buddha wanted Kisa Gotami to understand that man cannot her peace of mind by grieving. A man who has overcome sorrow will be free from sorrow and will be blessed.
16. Why did the Buddha choose Benares to preach his first sermon?
The Buddha chose Benares to preach his first sermon because he regarded it the most holy place on the bank of the Ganges. The devotees take a holy dip in it. His sermon reflects wisdom about one kind of suffering beyond one’s realization.
17. Why did Kisa Gotami go from house to house?
Kisa Gotami went from house to house because she wanted medicine to cure her dead son. At last, someone told about who could cure her dead son. Buddha told her to find a house where the death had not touched.
18. Why did the Buddha ask Kisa Gotami to bring a handful of mustard seeds?
The Buddha asked Kisa Gotami to bring a handful of mustard seeds from a house where no one had died ever, because he wanted her to realize the ultimate truth of life. Now she came to know that no one can escape death as death is common to all.
19. How did the Buddha teach Kisa Gotami the truth of life?
The Buddha asked Kisa Gotami to bring a handful of mustard seeds from a house where no one had died. She could not find such a house. She now realised the ultimate truth of life that no one escape death. So, she should not grieve on the death of her son. Thus, the Buddha taught Kisa Gotami the truth of life.
20. What did the Buddha do after he had attained enlightenment? Why?
After the Buddha had attained enlightenment, he began to teach and share his new understandings of truth of life-Death is a universal truth. The basics of his first sermon were to show the path of immortality to mankind by surrendering ‘all selfishness and grief’.
21. Do you agree that Kisa Gotami was being selfish in her grief? Give a reasoned answer.
Yes, Kisa Gotami was selfish in her grief in her grief. She went from house to house to get a handful of mustard seed to revive her son. The answer from every house was a big “No!’ The Buddha told her to find a house where death had not entered. She searched and searched.
At last, she became tired and hopeless. Then she watched, sitting at the wayside that the city lights flickered up and extinguished again. It made her realize that she had become selfish in her grief as death is common to all.
22. After her son’s death, why does Kisa Gotami go from house to house?
After her son’s death, Kisa Gotami went from house to house because she was grief-stricken. She carried her dead child to all her neighbours, asking them for medicine to cure her dead son. But she was disappointed as nobody could help her.
23. What did Siddhartha Gautama see when he went out for hunting? What impression did it make on his mind?
When Siddhartha Gautama went out for hunting, he saw a sick man, then an aged man, then a funeral procession, and finally a monk begging for alms.
These sights moved him so much that he at once went out into the world to seek enlightenment about the sorrows that he had witnessed.
24. What did Buddha say about death and suffering?
Buddha said about death and decay that the life of mortals in this world is troubled and brief, combined with pain. Everyone on this earth has to die one day. Nobody can escape death. As all earthen vessels made by the potter end in being broken, so is the life of mortals. Human beings are led to death as an ox is led to the slaughter. Therefore, the world is afflicted with death and decay.
25. Why was Gautama known as Buddha?
‘Buddha’ means ‘The Awakened’ or ‘The Enlightened’. After seven years of wandering Gautama attained wisdom. When he started sharing his new understandings with the suffering people, he was called ‘Buddha’.
26. Where did Gautama Buddha preach his first Sermon? What was it all about?
Gautama Buddha preached his first sermon at Benares, the holiest city. It was about the ways to overcome our sorrows. It reflects Buddha’s wisdom about one inscrutable kind of suffering.
27. Why was Kisa sad? What advice was given to her?
Kisa Gotami had lost her only son. He was dead. She loved him very much and wanted him to be alive. But she could not find any medicine so she was sad. She was advised to go to Buddha.
28. What did Kisa request her neighbours to give for her son? Did she get it?
Kisa Gotami asked her neighbour to give her a medicine that could bring life back to her son. No, she could not get any.
29. How did Kisa Gotami realise that the life and death is a normal process?
Buddha asked Gotami to bring mustard seeds from a house which had never lost any member of the family. She was unable to get such a house as man is normal and is bound to die.
30. When and where was Gautama Buddha born? Why did he decide to leave the palace?
Gautama Buddha was born in 563 B.C in Northern India. Buddha was away from all the sorrows of life. Once he saw a sick man, a beggar, an aged man and a funeral procession. He realised that the world was full of sorrow. He wanted to attain knowledge. So he decided to leave the palace to get enlightened.
31. How did ‘Bodhi Tree’ get its name?
After seven years of wandering Gautama sat under a peepla tree. He arraigned knowledge under that tree and get enlightened. He rena med the tree as ‘Bodhi tree’ which means the tree of wisdom. ‘Bodhi’ means knowledge.
32. What kind of suffering is reflected in the Sermon?
Grief over the death of a loved one is the main theme of this sermon. People fail to understand that death is common to all. All mortals have to die. There is no use of lamentation. One does not get peace of mind unless one overcomes the sorrows.
33. What were the greatest sorrows that pained Buddha?
Poverty, illness and death were the greatest sorrows tha t pained Buddha. He saw a poor man begging, an old man and a funeral procession that changed his course of life. These sights moved him so much that he went out into the world to seek enlightenment and truth.
34. Why did people think that Kisa had become mad?
Kisa Gotami’s only son died. She was not ready to accept the fact that once a mortal dies, he/she cannot be brought back to life. She went to her neighbours with her dead son to get some medicine to bring him back to life. People thought that Kisa had gone mad.
35. Why did Kisa go to Gautama Buddha?
One of the neighbours advised Kisa Gotami to go to Buddha who could have given her some life- saving medicine for her son.
36. According to Gautama Buddha, how can a person get a peace of mind?
A person can get peace of mind only if he draws out the arrows of lamentation complaint and grief. Those who overcome all sorrows become free from disillusion, get peace of mind and be blessed.