Sibu Sir’S TuTorial

Notes by Sourabh Sir

Class 10th English “Sermon at Benares” Important Questions
& Answers:
Very Short Answer Type Questions :
1. When was Siddhartha Gautama born?
Answer - Siddhartha Gautama was born in 563 B.C. Lumbini/Kapilavastu
(Nepal)
2. What was the Parents name of Gautama Buddha ?
Answer - His father name was King Suddodhana (He was the head of the
Shakya clan of Kapilvastu) & Mother name was Queen MahaMaya Devi
3. What was the name of Gautama Buddha's Wife & Son ?
Answer - The name of the wife was Yashodhara (She was the daughter of
Shakyagana) and Son name was Rahula
4. What is the meaning of Buddha?
Answer - The meaning of Buddha is the Awakened or Enlightened.
5. Who was Siddhartha Gautama ?
Answer - Siddhartha Gautama was a prince born in North India.
6. What did Gautama Buddha study?
Answer - Gautama Buddha studied Hindu Sacred Scriptures.
7. When did Gautama Buddha marry?
Answer - Gautam Buddha married after his schooling at the age of sixteen.
8. What did Gautama Buddha see while hunting?
Answer - Gautama Buddha chanced upon a sick man, then an aged man, then
a funeral procession, and finally a monk begging for alms while hunting.
9. At what age did Gautama leave home for enlightenment?
Answer - He left home at the age of twenty-five for enlightenment.
10. After how many days of meditation did he get enlightenment?
Answer - He got enlightenment after the meditation of seven days.
11. How long did Gautama wander in search of wisdom?
Answer - He wandered for seven years in search of wisdom.
12. Where did Buddha give his first sermon?
Answer - Buddha gave his lint sermon at Benares.
13. What was the problem of Gotami?
Answer - Gotami’s son had died. She wanted him to live again.
14. What did Kisa Gotami realise in the end?
Answer - In the end, she realised that death is inevitable.
15. 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.
16. How did ‘Bodhi Tree’ get its name?
Answer - After seven years of wandering Gautama sat under a peepal tree. He
attained knowledge under that tree and got enlightened. He renamed the tree
as ‘Bodhi tree’ which means the tree of wisdom. ‘Bodhi’ means knowledge.

Medium Answer Type Questions :

1. Where did Buddha preach his first sermon?
Answer - Gautama Buddha preached his first sermon at the city of Benares,
which is regarded as the holiest of the bathing places on the river Ganges.
2. What were the greatest sorrows that pained Buddha?
Answer - Poverty, illness and death were the greatest sorrows that 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 enlightment and truth.
3. When her son dies, Kisa Gotami goes from house to house. What does she
ask for? Does she get it? Why not?
Answer - When Kisa Gotami’s son died, she went from house to house, and
asked for some medicine that would cure her child. No,she did not get it
because her hild was dead and no medicine could have brought him back to
life.
3. What did Buddha ask the lady kisa 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.
Or,
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.
4. What did Kisa Gotami learn in the end?
Answer - Kisa Gotami wandered from house to house to get a handful of
mustard seeds where no one had lost their loved ones 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.
5. According to Buddha, who are wise men?
Answer - According to Buddha, wise men are those people who never
complain or lament over their loss. They accept the truth and move on such
people are calm and composed. They lead a blessed and peaceful life.
6. 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.
7. How do weeping and grieving affect us? (The Sermon at Benares)
Answer - Weeping and grieving bring no gains. It rather spoils one’s health and
gives more trouble. A person only has to take out the arrow of lamentation and
get composed, he will get peace of mind and become free of sorrow.
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 born are 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.
9. 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.
10. How did Buddha get enlightenment ?
Or, How did Gautama come 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.
11. 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.
12. 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.
13. What is the nature of the life of 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.
14. What did Buddha say about the mortals of the world?
Answer - The Buddha said to Kisa Gotami that the life of mortals is troubled
and brief in this world. Those who have been born can 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.
15. Can grieving and lamentation avoid death and decay in this world? What
did the Buddha say in this regard?
Answer - 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.
Long Answer Type Questions :
1.Describe the journey of Siddhartha Gautama becoming the Buddha.
Answer - Gautama Buddha began his life as a royal prince. He was named
Siddhartha Gautama. At the age of twelve, Gautama was sent away for
schooling in the Hindu sacred scriptures. At the age of sixteen, he returned
home to marry a princess. The prince was deliberately shielded from all
sufferings of the world. But this attempt failed when the prince while out
hunting chanced upon a sick man. Then, he saw an aged man. He also chanced
to see a funeral procession. Finally, he saw a monk, begging for alms. These
sights of suffering, sickness and decay shocked and moved the prince. He
wanted to seek the final solution of all these sorrows and sufferings. He
wandered for seven Years in search of enlightenment. Finally, he sat down
under a fig tree. He meditated there until he was enlightened after seven days.
He renamed the tree the Bodhi Tree or the Tree of Wisdom. He became known
as the Buddha or the Awakened or the Enlightened one. The Buddha gave his
first sermon at Benares on the River Ganges.

2. Why did Gotami go to the Buddha? What lesson did he teach her?
Answer - After the death of Kisa Gotami’s only child, she became very sad. She
carried her dead child to her neighbours in order to get medicine to bring him
to life. Her neighbours thought that she had gone insane as she was unable to
accept the fact that her child is dead. It was then that someone suggested her
to meet Gautama Buddha.
When she met Gautama Buddha, he gave her an exercise to do. She was asked
to collect mustard seeds from a house where no one had ever died. She went
from one house to another but was unable to find a single house in the town
where no one had died. This way she realised that death is a part of life and
anyone who is born is bound to die one day.
Thus, Buddha changed her understanding of death by this exercise. Buddha
told her that only the wise do not grieve and they accept the reality. Mourning
brings only pain and sufferings to the body. One, who is composed, obtains
peace of mind and will be free from sorrow and be blessed. This gave her
strength to overcome grief.
3. What does the Buddha say about the life of mortals in this world? How can
one obtain the peace of the 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.

4. Through the story of Kisa Gotami what did the Buddha try to preach to the
common man?
Answer - The lesson on death and suffering that Buddha taught Gotami was
that, these are part and parcel of life. No one can avoid this truth. One has to
meet one’s destined end one day. Whoever has come into this world will die
one day. Thus, in the hour of grief for a loved one who has died, one must
remain calm and composed. Then one doesn’t occupy himself with grief.
Otherwise, they will feel the pain more.
However, those persons who are wise never complain or lament over their loss.
They never try to bring back to life their loved ones who are dead, as Gotami
wanted to do. They accept the truth and overcome their sorrow. Persons who
overcome their sorrow will be blessed. So, wisdom is in the fact that people
should not get distressed with pain, suffering or death.

5. 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 - Earlier, she could see only her grief. When she went from door to
door the second time, she understood that everyone was dealing with the loss
of a beloved one.
• There was not a single house in the town where death had not taken a father,
a mother, a sister, a brother, a son, or a daughter. Everyone, at some point or
another, has experienced the death of a loved one.
• Gautama Buddha helped her to understand all this as he told her to bring a
handful of mustard seeds from a house where death had never knocked at the
door.
• This way, she became aware that death is common to all human beings. The
Buddha changed her perception. She understood that a man could not get
peace of mind by grieving.

6. Why did Siddhartha become known as 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 old tree to meditate. He vowed to
stay there until he got enlightenment.
• After seven days, Gautama got enlightened. He named the tree the "Bodhi
Tree," which means "the tree of wisdom." He became known as ‘the Buddha’
which means "enlightened" or "awakened".
• He began to teach and 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 us about the universality of death, which is inevitable
and can’t be escaped.

7. 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.
8. 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.