The Sermon at Benares | CBSE Class 10 English Notes

This note covers "The Sermon at Benares": the story of Kisa Gotami and the Buddha, a part-by-part summary, the characters, the themes, poetic... the literary devices of the prose piece, key quotations and answers to the textbook questions.

Who wrote "The Sermon at Benares" and what is it about?

The piece is adapted from a text by Betty Renshaw, published in her 1975 college reader, and it narrates the first sermon preached by the Buddha at the city of Benares, "most holy of the dipping places on the River Ganges".

The chapter opens with a short account of Gautama Buddha's life before telling the story of a grieving mother.

Gautama Buddha (563 B.C. to 483 B.C.) began life as a prince named Siddhartha Gautama in northern India.

At twelve he was sent away for schooling in the Hindu sacred scriptures, and four years later he returned home to marry a princess. They had a son and lived for ten years "as befitted royalty".

At about the age of twenty-five, the prince, "heretofore shielded from the sufferings of the world", came upon a sick man, an aged man, a funeral procession and a monk begging for alms while out hunting.

These sights moved him to leave the palace and seek enlightenment concerning the sorrows he had witnessed. He wandered for seven years, sat under a peepal tree and vowed to stay until enlightenment came.

He was enlightened after seven days, renamed the tree the Bodhi Tree ("Tree of Wisdom"), and became known as the Buddha, "the Awakened or the Enlightened".

The sermon he then preached at Benares "reflects the Buddha's wisdom about one inscrutable kind of suffering".

What happens in the story, part by part?

Kisa Gotami's loss and her search for medicine

Kisa Gotami had an only son, and he died. In her grief she carried the dead child to all her neighbours, asking them for medicine. The people said, "She has lost her senses.

The boy is dead." Finally she met a man who told her he could not give her medicine for her child but knew a physician who could: Sakyamuni, the Buddha.

The Buddha's strange request

Kisa Gotami went to the Buddha and cried, "Lord and Master, give me the medicine that will cure my boy." The Buddha answered that he wanted "a handful of mustard-seed".

When she joyfully promised to procure it, he added a condition: the seed "must be taken from a house where no one has lost a child, husband, parent or friend".

The second search, house to house

Kisa Gotami went from house to house again. People pitied her and offered mustard-seed readily, but when she asked whether a son, daughter, father or mother had died in that family, each answered, "Alas! the living are few, but the dead are many.

Do not remind us of our deepest grief." There was "no house but some beloved one had died in it".

Kisa Gotami's realisation

Weary and hopeless, she sat down at the wayside watching the lights of the city, as they "flickered up and were extinguished again". She saw that this was the fate of all human lives.

She thought, "How selfish am I in my grief! Death is common to all; yet in this valley of desolation there is a path that leads him to immortality who has surrendered all selfishness."

The Buddha's sermon on mortality

The Buddha then preached that the life of mortals "is troubled and brief and combined with pain", for none born can avoid dying.

He compared mortals to ripe fruits that are always in danger of falling, and to earthen vessels made by a potter that end in being broken.

Both the young and the adult, the fool and the wise, "all fall into the power of death; all are subject to death."

The Buddha's advice against grieving

He said that when death overcomes someone, "a father cannot save his son, nor kinsmen their relations," and that mortals are carried off "like an ox that is led to the slaughter".

He taught that weeping and grieving bring no peace, only greater pain and sickness, and that the dead "are not saved by his lamentation".

Instead, one should "draw out the arrow of lamentation, and complaint, and grief" to become composed and find peace, and to become "free from sorrow, and be blessed".

Who are the characters?

Kisa Gotami

Kisa Gotami is a mother overwhelmed by the sudden death of her only son. Her grief at first makes her irrational, so that the neighbours say "she has lost her senses." She is persistent and hopeful, going from house to house twice, first for ordinary medicine and then for mustard-seed with the Buddha's condition attached.

Her character develops across the story: she begins blind to the universality of death and ends with a profound insight, realising that death is "common to all" and that clinging to her own grief was a form of selfishness.

Her transformation from desperate denial to calm acceptance is the emotional centre of the text, and it is she, not the Buddha directly, who arrives at the truth through her own search.

The Buddha (Sakyamuni/Gautama)

The Buddha is presented as a wise and compassionate teacher who does not simply tell Kisa Gotami that her son is dead and grief is useless.

Instead, he sets her a task, the search for mustard-seed from a house untouched by death, that leads her to discover the truth for herself through experience rather than through being told.

This method shows his skill as a teacher: he uses a practical, almost impossible errand to teach a profound philosophical truth.

In the sermon that follows, he speaks with calm authority about the inevitability of death, using images from everyday life, such as ripe fruit and earthen vessels, to make an abstract idea concrete.

His teaching is not harsh; it aims at bringing "peace of mind" and freedom from sorrow.

The grieving neighbours and townspeople

The unnamed neighbours and townspeople Kisa Gotami meets on her two journeys form a kind of chorus.

On the first journey they dismiss her as having "lost her senses." On the second journey they are willing to give mustard-seed freely, but each household admits that someone has died in it, saying "the living are few, but the dead are many." Collectively, they reveal to Kisa Gotami, and to the reader, the universal truth of mortality that no single person could have shown her alone.

What literary and stylistic devices does the writer use?

The chapter is written in an "old-fashioned style", since it reports "an incident more than two millennia old", using archaic words and phrasing such as "thee", "thy", "Pray tell me" and "repaired to" (meaning went to). This gives the sermon the dignity and distance of scripture.

The Buddha teaches heavily through similes and imagery drawn from ordinary life: mortals are compared to "ripe fruits" always "in danger of falling," to "earthen vessels made by the potter" that "end in being broken," and to "an ox that is led to the slaughter." These homely images make the abstract idea of universal death vivid and immediate.

The mustard-seed quest functions as an extended parable or teaching device: rather than stating the lesson directly, the Buddha structures an experience that lets Kisa Gotami discover the truth herself. This is a form of indirect, experiential teaching rather than direct lecture.

The prose uses repetition and parallel structure ("a father cannot save his son, nor kinsmen their relations") and rhetorical balance, typical of oral and scriptural traditions, to give the sermon a measured, chant-like rhythm suited to its solemn subject.

The text also uses long sentences joined by semicolons, as in "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," building a cumulative, meditative effect rather than a series of short, separate statements.

What are the themes of the chapter?

The universality of death

The central theme is that death comes to everyone without exception. The Buddha states that "both young and adult, both those who are fools and those who are wise, all fall into the power of death; all are subject to death." Kisa Gotami learns this not as an abstract idea but through the concrete fact that every house she visits has lost someone.

Grief, selfishness and acceptance

The chapter examines how personal grief can narrow a person's vision until she believes her loss is unique.

Kisa Gotami's insight, "How selfish am I in my grief! Death is common to all," suggests that recognising the shared nature of suffering is the first step towards peace, rather than denying or indulging grief endlessly.

Teaching through experience rather than instruction

The Buddha does not simply explain mortality to Kisa Gotami; he sends her on a search that lets her arrive at the truth herself. This reflects a theme about the most effective way to change deep-seated understanding: through lived experience, not lecture.

Freedom from sorrow through letting go

The sermon's conclusion teaches that weeping and lamenting do not help the dead and only harm the living further. The one "who has drawn out the arrow and has become composed will obtain peace of mind," suggesting that detachment from excessive sorrow, not denial of feeling, leads to lasting calm.

What are the key quotations from the chapter?

The following lines from the chapter carry its central turns of thought, from the Buddha's strange request, through the townspeople's answers, to Kisa Gotami's own realisation and the Buddha's closing teaching on grief.

"I want a handful of mustard-seed." — the Buddha, setting Kisa Gotami her task.

This is the Buddha's first response to her plea for medicine, and it sets in motion the search that will teach her the truth about death.

"The mustard-seed must be taken from a house where no one has lost a child, husband, parent or friend." — the Buddha's condition.

The condition looks simple but proves impossible to meet, because every household has known some loss.

"Alas! the living are few, but the dead are many." — the townspeople, to Kisa Gotami.

This answer, repeated in every house, is what gradually convinces Kisa Gotami of the universality of death.

"How selfish am I in my grief! Death is common to all." — Kisa Gotami's realisation.

This marks the turning point from denial to acceptance in her character.

"All fall into the power of death; all are subject to death." — the Buddha's sermon.

"He who has drawn out the arrow and has become composed will obtain peace of mind." — the Buddha's sermon.

These final two lines summarise the Buddha's teaching that composure, not lamentation, brings genuine peace after loss.

What are the answers to the textbook questions?

1. When her son dies, Kisa Gotami goes from house to house. What does she ask for? Does she get it? Why not? She asks the neighbours for medicine for her dead son.

She does not get it, because the people realise "the boy is dead" and tell her she has "lost her senses"; no medicine can revive a dead child.

2. Kisa Gotami again goes from house to house after she speaks with the Buddha. What does she ask for, the second time? Does she get it? Why not? She asks for a handful of mustard-seed from a house where no one has lost a child, husband, parent or friend.

She gets offers of mustard-seed everywhere, but never one that meets the condition, because in every house someone has died: "there was no house but some beloved one had died in it."

3. What does Kisa Gotami understand the second time that she failed to understand the first time? Was this what the Buddha wanted her to understand? The second time, she understands that death is common to all beings and that she had been "selfish" in grieving as though her loss alone mattered.

This is exactly what the Buddha wanted her to learn, since his mustard-seed condition was designed to show her this truth through her own search rather than by being told directly.

4. Why do you think Kisa Gotami understood this only the second time? In what way did the Buddha change her understanding? The first time, people simply told her the boy was dead, which she could not accept emotionally.

The second time, the Buddha made her discover the universality of death for herself, through repeated personal experience of hearing every household's own loss, which carried more conviction than any direct statement could have.

5. How do you usually understand the idea of 'selfishness'? Do you agree with Kisa Gotami that she was being 'selfish in her grief'? Selfishness is usually understood as placing one's own interest above others'.

Kisa Gotami calls her grief selfish because she had treated her loss as uniquely unbearable, ignoring that "the living are few, but the dead are many" everywhere; recognising this shared suffering is what she means by overcoming selfishness.

How is the chapter's old-fashioned language used?

The text deliberately uses archaic forms to signal that this is "an incident more than two millennia old". Phrases such as "give thee medicine for thy child" and "Pray tell me, sir" use old second-person forms ("thee", "thy") that modern English no longer uses in ordinary speech.

"Kisa repaired to the Buddha" uses "repaired" in its older sense of "went to", a usage the text itself glosses. "There was no house but someone had died in it" uses "but" in an old-fashioned sense meaning "that not", a construction unfamiliar in modern conversational English.

"Kinsmen" is an old word for relatives, used in the sermon's line that "a father cannot save his son, nor kinsmen their relations." The exclamation "Mark!", meaning "take note" or "pay attention," opens a key sentence in the sermon to draw the listener's focus to the image of mortals "carried off, like an ox that is led to the slaughter."

This elevated, scriptural register suits the gravity of the subject, death and grief, and distinguishes the sermon's voice from ordinary narration, giving it the solemn authority appropriate to a religious teaching handed down over centuries.

Students are also asked, in the textbook activity on this chapter, to rephrase such words and phrases in more current language, which helps bring out how far ordinary spoken English has moved from this scriptural style over two thousand years.

Why does the Buddha use the mustard-seed test instead of simply explaining?

The Buddha could have told Kisa Gotami directly that death is universal and that her son could not be revived. Instead, he gives her a seemingly achievable task: find mustard-seed, a common household item, from a single house untouched by death.

This method works because it lets Kisa Gotami encounter the truth repeatedly, in her own words and through her own effort, house after house, rather than accepting it on someone else's authority.

Each refusal she receives carries the same message in a different voice, reinforcing the lesson through accumulation rather than a single statement.

By the time she sits down at the wayside "watching the lights of the city, as they flickered up and were extinguished again," she has already absorbed, through direct experience, the pattern that the Buddha wanted her to see: that every life, like every lamp, eventually goes out.

The realisation therefore feels like her own discovery, not an imposed belief, which is why it brings her genuine peace rather than mere intellectual agreement.

What is the significance of the images of ripe fruit and earthen vessels?

In his sermon, the Buddha explains mortality through two homely comparisons: "as ripe fruits are early in danger of falling, so mortals when born are always in danger of death," and "as all earthen vessels made by the potter end in being broken, so is the life of mortals."

Both images are drawn from everyday rural life familiar to his audience: fruit that may fall at any time once ripe, and clay pots that are fragile by nature and destined eventually to break.

Neither image is dramatic or frightening; both describe an ordinary, expected end to something that was always going to happen.

By choosing such ordinary, undramatic comparisons rather than terrifying ones, the Buddha presents death not as a tragedy to be feared but as a natural and inevitable part of existence, "of such a nature are living beings," which supports his larger argument that grieving excessively over something inevitable achieves nothing and only increases suffering.

What does the sermon say about weeping and lamentation?

The Buddha's closing teaching addresses grief directly: "Not from weeping nor from grieving will anyone obtain peace of mind; on the contrary, his pain will be the greater and his body will suffer."

He observes that excessive mourning harms the living without helping the dead, since "the dead are not saved by his lamentation." His advice is not to suppress feeling without acknowledgement, but to actively "draw out the arrow of lamentation, and complaint, and grief," an image suggesting that grief, if clung to, becomes like an embedded arrow causing ongoing pain.

The reward for this composure is stated plainly: "he who has drawn out the arrow and has become composed will obtain peace of mind; he who has overcome all sorrow will become free from sorrow, and be blessed." This final line summarises the sermon's practical purpose, to lead the grieving towards peace, not by denying death's reality but by accepting it as common to all.

Glossary

• Sermon — a religious or moral talk, here the Buddha's first such talk, preached at Benares, most holy of the dipping places on the River Ganges.
• Chanced upon — came across something by chance, as Siddhartha Gautama chanced upon a sick man, an aged man, a funeral and a begging monk.
• Enlightenment — a state of high spiritual knowledge, reached by Siddhartha Gautama under the peepal tree after seven days, after which he became the Buddha.
• Dipping places — places along a river used for ritual bathing; Benares is described as the most holy of these dipping places on the Ganges.
• Inscrutable — something which cannot be understood or explained; the sermon reflects the Buddha's wisdom about one inscrutable kind of suffering.
• Repaired (to) — an old-fashioned, stylistic use meaning "went to", as when Kisa Gotami repaired to the Buddha to beg for medicine.
• Valley of desolation — an area filled with deep sorrow; Kisa Gotami uses the phrase for the grief-stricken world she realises she shares with everyone.
• Mortals — those bound to die, a term the Buddha uses throughout his sermon to describe all living beings, young and old, fool and wise alike.
• Afflicted with — affected by suffering, disease or pain; the Buddha says the world is afflicted with death and decay, so the wise do not grieve.
• Lamentation — an expression of sorrow or grief; the Buddha teaches that the dead are not saved by a mourner's lamentation, however great it is.
• Procure — to obtain or get something; Kisa Gotami joyfully promises to procure a handful of mustard-seed for the Buddha, not knowing his condition.
• Be subject to — to be liable to or bound by something; the Buddha says all beings, wise or foolish, young or old, are subject to death.
• Kinsmen — male relatives; the sermon says that when death overcomes someone, a father cannot save his son, nor kinsmen save their relations.
• Composed — calm and in control of one's feelings; the Buddha says one who has drawn out the arrow of grief becomes composed and finds peace.

Common errors and misconceptions

• Misconception: Kisa Gotami asks for mustard-seed the first time she visits the neighbours. Correct: the first time she asks for ordinary medicine; the mustard-seed request comes only after she meets the Buddha, on her second round of visits.
• Misconception: the Buddha refuses to help Kisa Gotami. Correct: he agrees to help, but sets her a task (finding mustard-seed from a house untouched by death) that teaches her the truth rather than denying her request outright.
• Misconception: Kisa Gotami fails her task because no one will give her mustard-seed. Correct: people readily offer mustard-seed; she fails only to find a house that has never lost anyone to death.
• Misconception: the sermon condemns all feeling of grief as wrong. Correct: it says weeping does not bring peace and does not save the dead, and advises drawing out the "arrow" of grief to become composed, not that grief itself is forbidden.
• Misconception: the Buddha was always known by that name. Correct: he was born Siddhartha Gautama, a prince, and became known as "the Buddha" only after his enlightenment under the Bodhi Tree.
• Misconception: the sermon was preached at the Bodhi Tree. Correct: he was enlightened under the Bodhi Tree, but preached this first sermon afterwards at the city of Benares.

Exam-style questions with model answers

Q1. What did the Buddha ask Kisa Gotami to bring him, and from what kind of house? [2 marks]

1. He asked for a handful of mustard-seed.
2. It had to come from a house where no one had lost a child, husband, parent or friend.

Q2. Name the stages described in the chapter's opening account of Gautama's early life, before he became the Buddha. [2 marks]

1. He was born a prince and sent away for schooling at twelve.
2. He married a princess four years later and lived as royalty for ten years.
3. At about twenty-five he saw a sick man, an aged man, a funeral and a begging monk, and left to seek enlightenment, wandering seven years before sitting under the peepal tree.

Q3. Explain, with reference to the text, why Kisa Gotami could not find a single house free from death. [4 marks]

1. She went from house to house asking for mustard-seed on the Buddha's condition.
2. People willingly offered the seed, showing that the task itself seemed easy.
3. But when asked whether anyone had died in that household, each family admitted a loss, saying "the living are few, but the dead are many."
4. This repeated pattern across every house proved to her that death touches every family without exception, which was the Buddha's intended lesson.

Q4. Describe the images the Buddha uses in his sermon to explain the inevitability of death, and explain their effect. [4 marks]

1. He compares mortals to "ripe fruits" that are "always in danger of falling."
2. He compares mortals to "earthen vessels made by the potter" that "end in being broken."
3. He compares those carried off by death to "an ox that is led to the slaughter."
4. These homely, everyday images make the abstract certainty of death feel natural and ordinary rather than frightening, supporting his argument against excessive grief.

Q5. Trace the stages through which Kisa Gotami moves from grief to acceptance, and explain what this teaches about dealing with loss. [6 marks]

1. Kisa Gotami begins in denial, carrying her dead son from house to house asking for medicine, and the neighbours say she "has lost her senses."
2. A man directs her to the Buddha, who she begs for "the medicine that will cure my boy."
3. The Buddha sets her the mustard-seed task, which sends her on a second search through the town.
4. In every house she finds willing donors of mustard-seed but also a confession of loss, "the living are few, but the dead are many," so she can never meet the full condition.
5. Exhausted, she sits at the wayside watching the city lights flicker and go out, and realises death is "common to all" and that her grief had been selfish.
6. This teaches that understanding gained through one's own repeated experience, rather than through being told, can bring genuine acceptance and "peace of mind" rather than continued denial or despair.

Q6. What does the Buddha say happens to those who weep and lament for the dead, and what does he recommend instead? [3 marks]

1. He says weeping and grieving do not bring peace of mind; instead, "his pain will be the greater and his body will suffer."
2. He states that the dead "are not saved by his lamentation," so mourning does not help the one who has died.
3. He recommends drawing "out the arrow of lamentation, and complaint, and grief" to become composed and find lasting peace.

Key takeaways

• The chapter narrates the Buddha's first sermon, preached at Benares, as told through the story of Kisa Gotami's grief for her dead son.
• Kisa Gotami first seeks medicine for her son, then seeks mustard-seed from a house untouched by death, as set by the Buddha.
• No house is found free from death, teaching Kisa Gotami that "death is common to all" and that her grief had been selfish.
• The Buddha teaches through experience, a task, rather than through direct explanation, letting Kisa Gotami discover the truth herself.
• His sermon uses homely images, ripe fruit and earthen vessels, to show death's inevitability for the young, the old, the foolish and the wise alike.
• He teaches that weeping and lamentation do not help the dead and only increase the mourner's suffering.
• Drawing out the "arrow" of grief and becoming composed leads to peace of mind and freedom from sorrow.
• The text is written in an old-fashioned style, using archaic words such as "thee", "thy" and "repaired" to suit its ancient subject.

Test yourself

What did Kisa Gotami first ask her neighbours for after her son died?

She asked them for medicine to cure her dead son, but they told her the boy was dead and she had "lost her senses."

What condition did the Buddha attach to the mustard-seed?

It had to come from a house where no one had lost a child, husband, parent or friend.

Why could Kisa Gotami not fulfil the Buddha's condition?

Because in every house she visited, someone had died; "there was no house but some beloved one had died in it."

What realisation did Kisa Gotami reach while watching the city lights?

She realised that "death is common to all" and that she had been selfish in grieving as if her loss alone mattered.

What two everyday images does the Buddha use to show death's inevitability?

He compares mortals to ripe fruit always in danger of falling, and to earthen vessels made by a potter that end in being broken.

What does the Buddha say about weeping for the dead?

He says weeping and grieving do not bring peace of mind, make the mourner's pain greater, and do not save the dead from death.

What advice does the Buddha give for finding peace after loss?

To draw out the "arrow" of lamentation, complaint and grief, and become composed, so as to obtain peace of mind and be free from sorrow.

Where did Siddhartha Gautama become enlightened, and what did he rename the place?

He became enlightened under a peepal tree after sitting there for seven days, and renamed it the Bodhi Tree, meaning "Tree of Wisdom."