NCERT Class 10 English
The Sermon at Benares — Exercise Question Answers (Simple Words)
Oral Comprehension Check
1. Why was Gautama known as the Buddha?
Answer:
Gautama was known as the Buddha because he got enlightenment after years of meditation and searching for truth. “Buddha” means “the awakened or enlightened one”.
2. What did Kisa Gotami ask for when her son had died?
Answer:
Kisa Gotami asked for medicine to bring her dead son back to life.
3. Why was Kisa Gotami sad?
Answer:
Kisa Gotami was sad because her only son had died.
4. What did Gautama Buddha say to Kisa Gotami?
Answer:
Buddha told her to bring a handful of mustard seeds from a house where no one had ever lost a family member.
Thinking about the Text
1. When her son died, Kisa Gotami went from house to house. What did she ask for? Did she get it? Why not?
Answer:
Kisa Gotami went from house to house asking for medicine to make her son alive again. She did not get it because no medicine can bring a dead person back to life.
2. Kisa Gotami again went from house to house after she met the Buddha. What did she ask for then? Did she get it? Why not?
Answer:
After meeting Buddha, she asked for mustard seeds from a house where no one had died. She got mustard seeds, but she could not find any house where nobody had died because death comes to every family.
3. What did Kisa Gotami understand in the end?
Answer:
In the end, Kisa Gotami understood that death is natural and unavoidable. Everyone has to die one day.
4. Why do you think Kisa Gotami understood this only the second time? In what way did the Buddha change her understanding?
Answer:
At first, Kisa Gotami was too sad to understand the truth. Buddha made her realize through practical experience that every family suffers from death. This changed her thinking and helped her accept reality.
Thinking about Language
1. Pick out words from the text that describe the following:
(i) the act of thinking deeply
Meditation
(ii) an unhappy event
Sorrow
(iii) a peaceful state of mind
Enlightenment
(iv) the act of living in a place
Inhabited
2. Add ‘un’ to the following words and use them in your own sentences.
(i) aware → unaware
Sentence: I was unaware of the news.
(ii) pleasant → unpleasant
Sentence: The smell was unpleasant.
(iii) necessary → unnecessary
Sentence: It is unnecessary to worry.
(iv) important → unimportant
Sentence: Some people think small mistakes are unimportant.
Short Answer Questions
1. Who was Kisa Gotami?
Answer:
Kisa Gotami was a young woman whose only son had died.
2. What lesson did Buddha teach Kisa Gotami?
Answer:
Buddha taught her that death is universal and nobody can escape it.
3. What is the meaning of ‘Buddha’?
Answer:
“Buddha” means “the enlightened or awakened one”.
4. What did Buddha say about human life?
Answer:
Buddha said that human life is short and full of suffering, and death is certain.
Long Answer Question
Describe the story of Kisa Gotami in your own words.
Answer:
Kisa Gotami’s only son died, and she became very sad. She carried her dead son everywhere and asked for medicine to bring him back to life. Someone advised her to meet Gautama Buddha. Buddha told her to bring mustard seeds from a house where no one had died. She visited many houses but found that every family had lost someone. Then she understood that death is common to all. She accepted the truth and became peaceful.
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