LAST MINUTE REVISION CHAPTER 10 : THE SERMON AT BENARES by Betty Renshaw

KEY POINT

 This lesson tells about the life of Gautam Buddha, who was born in a royal family as Siddhartha. 

Once he saw a funeral procession and monk begging for the alms.

 These sights moved him a lot and he decided to become a monk and started moving in search of enlightenment.
 He started meditation under a peepal tree and after seven days he got enlightenment and he became known as the Buddha ( the awakened or enlightened)
 The Buddha preached his first sermon at Benares.

Once a woman named Kisa Gotami asked the Buddha to give her a medicine to bring her dead son to life.
 The Buddha told her to bring him a handful of mustard seeds from a house where no one had died. 

Kisa Gotami could not get the seeds as she did not find anyone who had not lost his family member. 

She thought that she was really selfish in her grief. Death was common to all.

Yet there lay a path. That led man to immortality if he surrendered all selfishness.
 The Buddha told her that human life was brief and painful. All depart from life.

 He who is off the lamentation and grief shall have peace of mind.

One who has overcome sorrow will be
free from sorrow and be blessed.

IMPORTANT QUESTION ANSWER

1. How did Gautam Buddha make Kisa Gotmi understand the common truth of life that “Death is common to all”?
2. 2. What had happened to Kisa Gotami’s son? Why couldn’t she get a handful of mustard seeds from any house?
3. According to Gautam Buddha, how can one become free from the grief of death and decay?