THE STORY OF GAUTAMA’S QUEST.

MEANINGS.
1. Prophesied- said what would happen in the future.
2. A renunciate- a person who gives up all the pleasures of life for a reason.
3. Imaginable- possible to imagine,
4. Mansion- large, impressive house.
5. Secluded- isolated, far from everything.
6. Realm- kingdom.
7. Beheld- saw.
8. Monk- a religious man who gives up all luxuries and lives apart form others.
9. Quest- search.
10. Illumination- understanding.
11. Attainment- achievement.
12. Nirvana- the state of peace and happiness that a person achieves after giving up
a;; personal desires.
13. Asceticism- simple and strict way of living for religious reasons.
14. Venerate- have great respect for.

1.COMPLETE THE FOLLOWING SENTENCES.

1. Gautam, the Buddha, was born over two thousand five hundred years ago
as Prince Siddharth.
2. The King was determined to prevent his beloved son from renouncing the
world.
3. For six years did Gautama practise intense asceticism
4. He realized that making the body suffer was not to enlighnment and truth.
5. To this day, we venerate this tree as the Bodhi tree.

Write short notes on.

● Prince Siddharth’s protected life.- Raja Shuddhodana
was determined to prevent his beloved son Prince
Siddharth from renouncing the world. He gave his
prince son, with every imaginable luxury and comfort. It
is said that the king had three magnificent places, one
for each season of the year, and in the beautiful
atmosphere of these royal mansions, Prince Siddharth
lived his secluded protected life..
● The ‘four signs’ that Prince Siddharth beheld Ans: – Prince
Siddharth beheld the Buddhist books call the ‘four signs’ –
witnesses to the impermanence of the world. The prince
saw an old man, a diseased man, a dead man and a monk.
And there entered into his heart a vision of dukkhas, the
world's sorrow. He asked himself repeatedly – ‘what is the
way out of the world – sorrow?’ The unanswerable
questions led him to renounce worldly life, leave his family
and set out in quest of the truth of life.

● The message in the vision-The message in the vision was

to convey to Buddha that he should not torture his body to
starvation in quest of the Truth of Life. It is illustrated by
the beautiful example of the sitar. The vision said that the
sitar had to be tuned low nor high. If the string of a sitar is
overstretched, it will break and lose its ability to make
music. Similarly, an overslack string too would not create
music. In other words, we should not go to extremes in
our efforts to achieve our goal.

● Sujata’s offering - A beautiful girl named Sujata

appeared before Gautama as he was trying to get up to
take a bath in the river but couldn’t due to weakness.
Sujata was carrying a golden bowl filled with sweetened
milk and rice. Seeing the weakened ascetic, she offered
the bowl of milk and rice at his feet. Buddha accepted her
offerings. The first meal after many days of starvation
refreshed him and infused a new strength in him. He
realized that making the body suffer was not the way to
enlightenment and truth.