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The Sermon at Banaras
Chapter Summary
“The Sermon at Benares” by Betty Renshaw sheds light on the early life of Lord Buddha, the chronicler of Buddhism in the world. The story outlines that Lord Buddha was originally born as a prince in the royal family but later he chose the path of spirituality and became the Guru of the Buddhists all around the world. The story described the way Lord Buddha left his prince hood considering the pain and suffering of the world.
In addition, the story outlines that, after Lord Buddha left his prince hood, he went in search of salvation and left all the worldly pleasures behind. The story catches glimpses of the spiritual awakening in Lord Buddha as he gave his first sermon in the city of Benares. The story describes an instance where he made Kisa Gotami realise that men are mortal. He also said that a wise person should never grieve at what is inevitable as it only enhances suffering and pain.
When her son dies, Kisa Gotami goes from house to house: What does she ask for?
After Kisa Gotami lost her only son, as he died, she started sinking into grief so much that she carries her child’s body in grief. Her grief enforced her to visit her neighbourhood in order to seek medicine for her son from them. Everyone in her neighbourhood thought that she lost her mind and all her senses were gone as her boy was dead. She got neither medicine nor any form of help from her neighbourhood as everyone else realised that the boy was already dead. They also assumed that the lady completely lost his sanity and as her only son died in front of him.
Kisa Gotami visits door-to-door her neighbours second time as Lord Buddha instructs her to take mustard seed from a house where no one has lost a child, parent or a husband. Kisa Gotami’ followed the instruction and started visiting house to house for a ‘handful of mustard seed. Everyone in her neighbourhood pitied her and was ready to give her what she wanted but as soon as she asked if they lost any of their close associates, parents or children she was surprised. She found out that everyone lost a lot of people and death was common in everyone’s life as it was in Kisa Gotami’s life.
Finally, Kisa Gotami found no house who did not lose any of their beloved ones once in their life. Therefore, she was unable to do what Lord Buddha said and as soon as she failed she went back to Lord Buddha for answers.
What does Kisa Gotami understand the second time that she failed to understand the first time?
After going through every neighbourhood that lost at least one of their close associates once in their lifetime, Kisa Gotami became very hopeless and weary and she sat down at the wayside. Upon sitting in the wayside, she thought that how selfish she was as she was thinking about her own grief only all the time. She also realised that death is very common to everyone and one day everyone got to leave their close associates and all the mundane feelings need to be left behind one day. She did not understand this at first time but after she visited every neighbourhood and understood that everyone has lost their beloved ones. Therefore, she understood what Buddha wanted her to realize as Buddha added that the mortal world is filled with trouble, grief and pain.
Kisa Gotami’ understood the truth of death only the second time because of the circumstances she faced after she visited all the houses in the neighbourhood. After Gotami visited every house for a handful of mustard, she realised that everyone in the neighbourhood has lost the closest associates in their life. Some lost their parents, some lost their husbands and some lost their children in their life just like Gotami. After she sat by the wayside and thought about the truth behind life and death, she understood that if a human is born in this world, then pain, suffering and death was inevitable. Immediately after she realized it, she went to Buddha for answers. There Buddha said that the mortal world is nothing but a combination of pain, grief and suffering.
The Idea of ‘Selfishness’
Selfishness is a feeling of always being self-centred without thinking about the other perspectives of life. The idea of selfishness is present almost everywhere as every human being attempts to possess a thought of rights on earthly objects. The same instance can be spotted in Kisa Gotami when she thought lost her only son and went into the neighbourhood to ask for help. After visiting Buddha, she clarified that death is an inevitable consequence and everyone needs to face it when the time comes. In the initial stage, Kisa Gotami was selfish about her son and her grief as she thought that her grief was her superior feeling for her. After asking for help in every neighbourhood, she realised that death came to everyone’s house and taken many lives in her neighbourhood.
FAQs
Q1. What life lesson did Buddha teach Kisa Gotami by sending her to every doorstep to collect a handful of mustard?
Ans. Buddha taught Kisa Gotami not only about the truth behind death but also allowed her to understand the meaning of selflessness. He enabled her to understand that everyone needs to leave one day due to the fierce consequence of death.
Q2. What did Buddha say to Kisa Gotami about the truth of mortal life?
Ans. Buddha said that everybody is subjected to death and if any mortal being is born in this world, it has to face the fierce consequence of death. Buddha completely changed the understanding of life and death for Kisa Gotami by enabling her to understand the means of life and death.
Q3. How did the neighbourhood feel when Kisa asked them about the meaning of life and death?
Ans. The neighbourhood felt disheartened when Kisa asked them about the death of their loved ones. They added that they are in their deepest grief due to the loss of those persons and the number of living is a few but the number of dead is many.
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