CBSE Class 10 English The Sermon at Benares Assignment Set 03

Short Answer Type Questions

Question. What did the Buddha do after he had attained enlightenment? Why?
Answer: 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’.

Question. Kisa Gotami is being selfish in her grief. What is her selfishness ? Do you agree with her ?
                                                                              Or
Do you agree that Kisa Gotami was being selfish in her grief? Give a reasoned answer.
Answer: Kisa Gotami is selfish in her grief. She goes from house to house for the medicine to save her child but there is no alternative. Yes, we agree with her that she had lost her senses when her only son had died.

Question. What did Siddhartha Gautama see when he went out for hunting? What impression did it make on his mind?
Answer: 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.

Question. Gautama Buddha made Kisa Gotami realise a hard fact of life. What was it ?
Answer: Gotami felt herself to be selfish in her grief. She knew that death is common to all of them. She realised that this world is filled with deep sorrow and there is a path that leads one to immortality who has surrendered all selfishness.

Question. Who was Gautama Buddha ?
Answer: Gautama Buddha was a prince in northern India. His full name was Siddhartha Gautama. He was sent away for schooling at the age of twelve. He returned after four years and was married to Yashodhara.

Question. How was Gautama known as the Buddha ?
Answer: After wandering for seven years, Gautama sat under a fig tree. He stayed under the tree till he got enlightenment. After seven days he got enlightenment. He named the tree the Bo tree (Tree of Wisdom). He started teaching. From this point he became known as the Buddha.

Question. What did Buddha ask the lady to do ?
Answer: The Buddha asked the lady to bring a handful of mustard seeds. But these must be taken from a house where no one had lost a child, husband or a friend. Then he would be able to help her.

Question. How does Buddha illustrate that death to mortals is inevitable ?
Answer: The Buddha said that the life of mortals in this world is troubled and brief and combined with pain. After reaching an old age there is death. As fruits ripen, they are in danger of falling. So mortals who are born are always in danger of death.

Question. While going for hunting what did Gautama see ? Write down its effect.
Answer: While going out for hunting, Gautama saw a sick man, an aged man and then a funeral procession. Then he saw a monk begging for alms. These sights shocked him very much. He realised that the world is full of sorrows. He turned a beggar and went out to seek enlightenment.

Question. Write down the reply given by the people.
Answer: All pitied Kisa Gotami. But at her next query all were deeply moved. They exclaimed with deep sorrow that the dead were many and the living are few. They requested her not to open the thread of their deepest grief.

Question. Why did Prince Siddhartha leave the palace and become a beggar ?
Answer: While going out for hunting Siddhartha saw a sick man, an aged man and then a funeral procession. Then he saw a monk begging for alms These sights mourned him very much. He realised that the world is full of sorrows. He thus turned a beggar.

Question. How did Gautama Buddha begin life and where was he sent when he was twelve years old ?
Answer: Gautama Buddha began life as a prince named Siddhartha Gautama in northern India. When he was twelve years old, he was sent away for schooling in the Hindu sacred scriptures.

Question. When did Siddhartha marry ? For how long did he remain as a royal prince ?
Answer: Siddhartha married a princess when he was about sixteen years old and they were soon blessed with a son. After marriage, Siddhartha remained as a royal prince for about ten years.

Question. What sights moved Siddhartha to seek the path of enlightenment ?
Answer: Siddhartha as a prince was kept away from the sufferings of the world. But when he was about twenty five year old, Siddhartha came across by chance a sick man, an aged man, a funeral procession and a monk begging for alms, which made him seek enlightenment concerning the sorrows of the world.

Question. Where did Siddhartha vow to stay until the enlightenment came to him?
Answer: After wandering for seven years, Siddhartha sat down under a fig tree to seek enlightenment. He vowed to stay there until enlightenment came to him.

Question. What did Siddhartha do after the enlightenment ?
Answer: Siddhartha reached enlightenment after seven days. After that, he renamed the tree, under which he had achieved enlightenment, as the Bodhi Tree or the Tree of Wisdom, and began to teach and share his new understandings with other people. Thus, he became known as the Buddha, meaning the Awakened or the Enlightened.

Question. Where did the Buddha preach his first sermon ? What does the sermon reflect ?
Answer: The Buddha preached his first sermon at the city of Benares, most holy of the dipping places on the river Ganges. That sermon had been preserved and it reflects the Buddha’s wisdom about the kind of sufferings which cannot be understood.

Question. “I want a handful of mustard-seed.” From where did the Buddha ask Gotami to bring the mustard-seed ?
Answer: Kisa Gotami approached the Buddha and asked him to give her a medicine that would cure her dead son. Hearing her request, the Buddha then asked her to bring a handful of mustard-seeds from a house where no one had lost a child, husband, parent, or friend

Question. “How selfish am I in my grief !” What did Kisa Gotami realise about death and immortality ?
Answer: Kisa Gotami thought that she was selfish in her grief to ignore the reality of death. She realised that death is common to all. However, in this world, which is filled with deep sorrow, there is a path that leads to immortality if one surrenders all selfishness.

Question. Who, according to the Buddha are subject to death ?
Answer: According to Gautama Buddha, both young and adult, both those who are fools and those who are wise, all fall into the power of death and are all subject to death.

Long Answer Type Questions

Question. Through ‘The Sermon at Benares’, the Buddha preached that death is inevitable and we need to overcome the suffering and pain that follows. Based on your reading of the lesson, write how one should cope with the death of a loved one.
Answer: Death, sorrows and pain are reality of our life. No one can deny it. But, it is human nature to be grieved on the personal losses, although everyone knows that one who takes birth has to die one day. No one on this earth is immortal. Gautama Buddha did not know anything about pains, sorrows and death of men before he saw a sick man, then an aged man, then a funeral procession and a monk begging for alms. He decided to save the man from these sufferings.
So, Buddha made the people realize that death is a reality and is inevitable. So, men must not grieve on death, even one should cope with the death of a loved one.

Question. The Buddha said, ‘The world is afflicted with death and decay, therefore the wise 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 world is afflicted with death and decay; therefore the wise do not grieve, knowing the terms of the world. This statement of the Buddha is appropriate and relevant even for today’s life.
In the context of the above statement, death and decay is inevitable on this earth. Men are led to death as an ox is led to the slaughter. We cannot console ourselves by weeping and grieving, rather it will make us sick and pale. So, the wise never weep on death and never grieve on sorrows as they know that these are the realities and truth of our lives.
I think that the Buddha’s statement teaches the humans today that no one can escape from death. So, we should not grieve on death.

Question. How did Siddhartha Gautama become enlightened ? Where did he deliver his first sermon ?
                                                    Or
How did Siddhartha Gautama become Buddha?
Answer: After Siddhartha Gautama was confronted with the sorrows and sufferings of the world, he wandered for seven years. Finally he sat down under a fig tree, where he vowed to stay until enlightenment came to him. At this place, he reached enlightenment after seven days. Immediately, he renamed the tree, under which he had achieved his goal, as the Bodhi Tree, which means the Tree of Wisdom. He then began to teach and share his new understandings with the people. At that point, he became known as the Buddha, which means the Awakened or the Enlightened.

The Buddha preached his first sermon at the city of Benares, a holy place on the banks of River Ganges. That sermon has been preserved and it reflects the Buddha’s wisdom about the kind of sufferings which cannot be understood.

Question. What did Buddha say about death and suffering ?
Answer: After enlightenment, Buddha started to spread his teachings about life, truth and the likes of it. He told that death and suffering are the part and parcel of life. None can avoid this truth. One has to meet one’s destined end one day. Whoever has come to the world, will die one day. In the hour of grief, one must remain calm and composed so that grief doesn’t overcome one. People who are wise, never complain or lament over their loss. They accept the truth and be blessed with it. So, the wisdom lies in the fact that people should not get distressed with pain, suffering and death.

Question. Through the story of Kisa Gotami, what did the Buddha try to preach to the common man ?
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. He taught this, through the story of Kisa Gotami. Kisa was a common woman whose son had died. She could not believe it and carried her son to neighbours requesting them to give her a medicine to cure him. People thought that she was not in her senses. She approached Buddha. He asked her to procure a handful of mustard seeds but he put a condition that they should be procured from a house where no death has ever taken place. Kisa could not find such a house. She, sad and depressed, sat on the sideways and watched city lights that flickered and extinguished. It made her realise that human lives flicker and extinguish as well and that death is an unavoidable phenomenon. She thought herself to be selfish for thinking only about her grief.

Question. Sketch Gautama Buddha as the enlightened personality.
Answer: Gautama Buddha (563 B.C.-483 B.C.) was born in northern India. He was known as a prince named Siddhartha Gautama. When he was about twenty five years old, the Prince happened to while out for hunting. In the way he saw a sickman, and aged man and then a funeral procession. He was deeply touched on seeing a monk begging for alms. All these sights moved him very deeply. Till that day he was always shielded from seeing the worldly sufferings. Now he was a changed personality. He left his house and wandered for seven years. Ultimately he sat under a fig tree. Enlightenment came after seven days under the fig tree. He named the tree the Bo-Tree. He started his teaching and delivered his first sermon at the city of Benares.

Question. How did Buddha seek and achieve enlightenment ?
Answer: Once Gautama went for hunting. On the way he saw a sick man, an old man, a funeral procession and a begging monk. He was filled with sorrow. He renounced everything and went out into the world to seek enlightenment concerning the sorrows he had witnessed. After having wandered for seven years, Buddha sat under a fig tree with a vow not to move from there till he was enlightened. After being enlightened that took a week’s time, he renamed the tree as Bodhi Tree (Tree of Wisdom) and began to preach.

Question. Kisa Gotami lost her only son, so grief over-whelmed her. How did she learn that death is as normal in life as birth is?
Answer: Kisa Gotami understood that death is common to all and that she was being selfish in her grief. She understood this only the second time because it was then that she found that there was not a single house where some beloved had not died. The first time around, she was only thinking about her grief and was, therefore, asking for a medicine that would cure her son, when she met the Buddha, he asked her to get a handful of mustard seeds from a house where no one had died. He did this purposely to make her realize that there was not a single house where no beloved had died and that death is natural. When she went to all the houses the second time, she felt dejected that she could not gather the mustard seeds. Then, when she sat and thought about it, she realized that the fate of men is such that they live and die. Death is common to all. This was what the Buddha had intended her to understand.

Question. Why did prince Siddhartha Gautama seek the path of enlightenment ?
Answer: Gautama Buddha began life as a prince named Siddhartha Gautama, in northern India. At the age of twelve, he was sent away for schooling in the Hindu sacred scriptures. Four years later, he returned home to marry a princess and was soon blessed with a son. As a prince, he was always kept away from the sufferings of the world. But, at about the age of twenty-five, he came across by chance a sick man, then an aged man, then a funeral procession, and finally a monk begging for alms. These sights moved the prince so much that he at once went out into the world to seek enlightenment concerning the sorrows he had witnessed.

Question. How and what did Kisa Gotami realise about death ?
Answer: Kisa Gotami’s only son had died. In her grief, she had carried the dead child to all her neighbours asking them for medicine. The people thought that she had lost her senses as the child was already dead. At last, a man had suggested that she should go to the Buddha. So, she went to the Buddha and pleaded with him to give her the medicine that would cure her dead son. The Buddha answered that to fulfil her request he first needed a handful of mustard-seeds from a house where no one had lost a child, a husband, a parent or a friend. Hence, poor Kisa Gotami went from house to house asking for seeds, but she could not find a single house where some loved one had not died.
Thus, Kisa Gotami realised that death is common to all and that the lives of all human beings, just like the lights, flicker up and are extinguished again. She thought that how selfish she had been in her grief, when it was a grief that was shared by all living beings. She realised, however, that in this world which is filled with deep sorrows, there is a path that leads one to immortality if one has surrendered all selfishness.

Question. How does the Buddha elucidate to mortals that death is inevitable ?
Answer: The Buddha said that the life of mortals in this world is troubled, brief and combined with pain. Because, there are no means by which those that have been born can avoid dying. After reaching old age, there is only death that waits at the end. Just like ripe fruits are in danger of falling early, mortals too when they are born they are always in danger of death. Both young and adult, both those who are fools and those who are wise, they are all subject to death. A father cannot save his son, nor kinsmen their relations. That is why, the world is affected by suffering, disease, pain, death and decay because death is the inevitable end that all must reach. This is how the Buddha elucidates that death to mortals is inevitable.

Question. Who according to the Buddha, can obtain peace of mind and become free from sorrow ?
Answer: According to the Buddha, neither from weeping nor from grieving will anyone obtain a peace of mind. On the contrary, that person’s pain will enhance and his body will suffer from all the weeping and grieving. He will make himself sick and pale, yet the dead will not be saved by his expression of sorrow. That is why, the one who seeks peace should draw out from himself the arrow of lamentation, complaint and grief. The person who has drawn out the arrow and has become composed, will be able to obtain a peace of mind. Thus, the person who has overcome sorrow will be able to become free from sorrow, and shall be blessed.

Extract Based Questions

1. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follows :
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.”

Question. Where did Buddha say the given lines in the above extract? What does he highlight in this extract?
Answer: The Buddha said the given lines in his sermon at Benares. In the extract, he highlights that no one in this world can escape death.

Question. Fill in the blank appropriately.
Human life has been compared to _____.
(a) ripe fruits
(b) hatred
(c) death
(d) belief
Answer: (a) ripe fruits

Question. What do you understand by the term ‘Buddha’?
Answer: Buddha means the awakened or the enlightened.

Question. What did Buddha say about death and suffering?
Answer: Buddha said about death and suffering that they are part and parcel of life. None can avoid this truth. We have to meet our destined end one day. Whoever has come to the world, will die one day.

2. Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follows :
At about the age of twenty-five, the Prince, therefore 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.

Question. Which statement is not true according to the given passage?
(a) The prince was never exposed to death or sorrow.
(b) Since childhood the prince served the poor and sick.
(c) The prince once witnessed suffering people one after the other.
(d) The sufferings and sorrows of others moved the prince.
Answer: (b) Since childhood the prince served the poor and sick.

Question. Which of the following sentences expresses the antonym of the word ‘shielded’?
(a) The pitch was immediately covered and protected from rain.
(b) The police safeguarded the public property from getting harmed by the protesting crowds.
(c) The mounds of harvested crops lay exposed to rain and infestation.
(d) The abandoned strays have been sheltered in an animal home.
Answer: (c) The mounds of harvested crops lay exposed to rain and infestation.

Question. What do a sick man, an old man, a monk begging for alms and a death symbolised for Gautama Buddha? Answer in about 40 words.
Answer: They all symbolised various forms of suffering and sorrow. The incidents revealed a great truth- life is short. Beauty, riches, comforts, and youth all are transitory. One should cultivate detachment and free oneself from bondage.

Question. What would be the antonym of ‘enlightenment’ as used in the passage? Also use it in a sentence of your own.
Answer: ‘ignorance’
The ignorance of the young generation about the history of the country is appalling to say the least.