Transcription of Activity - NCERT
1 BEFORE YOU READA ctivityUse a dictionary or ask for your teacher s help as you discuss thefollowing questions in is a sermon? Is it different from a lecture or a talk? Canthis word also be used in a negative way or as a joke (as in my mother s sermon about getting my work done on )? out the meanings of the words and phrases given inthe withbe composeddesolation,lamentationprocurebe subject you heard of the Sermon on the Mount? Who delivered it?Who do you think delivered a sermon at Benares?GAUTAMA Buddha (563 483 ) began life as aprince named Siddhartha Gautama, in northernIndia.
2 At twelve, he was sent away for schooling inthe Hindu sacred scriptures and four years later hereturned home to marry a princess. They had a sonand lived for ten years as befitted royalty. At aboutthe age of twenty-five, the Prince, heretofore shieldedfrom the sufferings of the world, while out huntingchanced upon a sick man, then an aged man, thena funeral procession, and finally a monk beggingfor alms. These sights so moved him that he atonce went out into the world to seek enlightenmentconcerning the sorrows he had wandered for seven years and finally satdown under a peepal tree, where he vowed to staychanced uponcame across bychanceenlightenmenta state of highspiritual knowledge2021 22134 First Flightuntil enlightenment came.
3 Enlightened after sevendays, he renamed the tree the Bodhi Tree (Tree ofWisdom) and began to teach and to share his newunderstandings. At that point he became known asthe Buddha (the Awakened or the Enlightened). TheBuddha preached his first sermon at the city ofBenares, most holy of the dipping places on the RiverGanges; that sermon has been preserved and is givenhere. It reflects the Buddha s wisdom about oneinscrutable kind of Gotami had an only son, and he died. In her griefshe carried the dead child to all her neighbours, askingthem for medicine, and the people said, She has losther senses.
4 The boy is dead. At length, Kisa Gotami met a man who replied to herrequest, I cannot give thee medicine for thy child, but Iknow a physician who can. And the girl said, Pray tell me, sir; who is it? Andthe man replied, "Go to Sakyamuni, the Buddha. Kisa Gotami repaired to the Buddha and cried, Lordand Master, give me the medicine that will cure my boy. The Buddha answered, I want a handful of mustard-seed. And when the girl in her joy promised to procureit, the Buddha added, The mustard-seed must be takenfrom a house where no one has lost a child, husband,parent or friend.
5 Poor Kisa Gotami now went from house to house,and the people pitied her and said, Here is mustard-seed; take it! But when she asked, Did a son ordaughter, a father or mother, die in your family? theyanswered her, Alas! the living are few, but the dead aremany. Do not remind us of our deepest grief. And therewas no house but some beloved one had died in Gotami became weary and hopeless, and satdown at the wayside watching the lights of the city, asthey flickered up and were extinguished again. At lastthe darkness of the night reigned everywhere.
6 And sheconsidered the fate of men, that their lives flicker upand are extinguished again. And she thought to herself, How selfish am I in my grief! Death is common to all;yet in this valley of desolation there is a path that leadshim to immortality who has surrendered all selfishness. The Buddha said, The life of mortals in this worldis troubled and brief and combined with pain. For theresermonreligious or moraltalkdipping placesbathinginscrutablesomething whichcannot beunderstoodrepaired (a stylisticuse) went tovalley ofdesolationan area which is filledwith deep sorrowmortalsthose bound to die2021 22135 The Sermon at Benaresis not any means by which those that have been borncan avoid dying; after reaching old age there is death; ofsuch a nature are living beings.
7 As ripe fruits are earlyin danger of falling, so mortals when born are always indanger of death. As all earthen vessels made by thepotter end in being broken, so is the life of mortals. Bothyoung and adult, both those who are fools and thosewho are wise, all fall into the power of death; all aresubject to death. Of those who, overcome by death, depart from life,a father cannot save his son, nor kinsmen their ! while relatives are looking on and lamentingdeeply, one by one mortals are carried off, like an oxthat is led to the slaughter.
8 So the world is afflicted withdeath and decay, therefore the wise do not grieve,knowing the terms of the world. Not from weeping nor from grieving will anyoneobtain peace of mind; on the contrary, his pain will bethe greater and his body will suffer. He will make himselfsick and pale, yet the dead are not saved by hislamentation. He who seeks peace should draw out thearrow of lamentation, and complaint, and grief. He whohas drawn out the arrow and has become composedwill obtain peace of mind; he who has overcome allsorrow will become free from sorrow, and be blessed.
9 [Source: Betty RenshawValues and Voices: A College Reader (1975)]afflicted withaffected by suffering,disease or painlamentationexpression of her son dies, Kisa Gotami goes from house to house. What does sheask for? Does she get it? Why not? Gotami again goes from house to house after she speaks with theBuddha. What does she ask for, the second time around? Does she get it?Why not? does Kisa Gotami understand the second time that she failed tounderstand the first time? Was this what the Buddha wanted her tounderstand?
10 Do you think Kisa Gotami understood this only the second time? Inwhat way did the Buddha change her understanding? do you usually understand the idea of selfishness ? Do you agree withKisa Gotami that she was being selfish in her grief ?2021 22136 First text is written in an old-fashioned style, for it reports an incidentmore than two millennia old. Look for the following words and phrasesin the text, and try to rephrase them in more current language, basedon how you understand them. give thee medicine for thy child Pray tell me Kisa repaired to the Buddha there was no house but someone had died in it kinsmen Mark!
