Class 10 - First Flight - Chapter 10 - The Sermon at Benares

Thinking About the Text

Question 1.

When her son dies, Kisa Gotami goes from house to house. What does she ask for? Does she get it? Why not?

Answer:

When her son dies, Kisa Gotami goes from house to house asking for medicine for her son. She does not get it because her son was dead and there is no medicine for death.

Question 2. 

Kisa Gotami again goes from house to house after she speaks with the

Buddha. What does she ask for, the second time around? Does she get it?

Why not?

Answer:

Kisa Gotami again goes from house to house after she speaks with the

Buddha. This time she asks for a handful of mustard provided that no one from their family had died. She does not get the mustard this time around because every household mourned some nearone's death and did not fulfill the condition.

Question 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?

Answer:

Kisa Gotami failed to understand first time that death is universal and there is no cure for death. However the second time around while going from one household to other she realises that she has been acting selfish in her grief and that death is universal to all living beings. This is exactly what Buddha wanted her to understand.

Question 4. 

Why do you think Kisa Gotami understood this only the second time? In

what way did the Buddha change her understanding?

Answer:

Kisa Gotami understood this the second time because every time she went to a household asking for mustard she enquired whether some nearone had died in their family and all of them responded in affirmative. Buddha had asked her to bring a fistfull of mustard provided that no one from the family had died.

This way Buddha made Kisa Gotami realize the universality of death and helped her to come to terms with her own loss.

Question 5. 

How do you usually understand the idea of ‘selfishness’? Do you agree with Kisa Gotami that she was being ‘selfish in her grief ’?

Answer:

The idea of selfishness involves putting self interest first and disregarding others. Yes, I agree with Kisa Gotami that she was being selfish in her grief as she was not ready to accept the death of her son and wanted a cure for it.