NCERT Solutions for Class 10 English First Flight Chapter 8 – The Sermon at Benares is a key chapter in the CBSE Class 10 syllabus that conveys Gautama Buddha’s profound message on life, death, and suffering.
Through the story of Kisa Gotami, the chapter explains that death is inevitable and suffering is universal, and attachment leads to pain. The narrative helps students grasp the Buddhist philosophy of impermanence and compassion in a simple, relatable way.
Studying class 10 The Sermon at Benares NCERT solutions enables learners to understand the central theme, character significance, and moral values clearly, which is essential for writing well-structured answers in board examinations.
Class 10 The Sermon at Benares Summary
The Sermon at Benares explains the core teachings of Gautama Buddha through the story of Kisa Gotami, a grieving mother who loses her only child. In her sorrow, she approaches the Buddha to bring her son back to life.
The Buddha asks her to bring a handful of mustard seeds from a house that has never seen death. As she goes from door to door, Kisa Gotami realises that every family has experienced loss, and death is a common reality of life. This understanding helps her accept her child’s death and overcome her grief.
Through this incident, the Buddha teaches that suffering, death, and decay are unavoidable, and attachment to worldly things leads to pain. The chapter highlights important ideas like impermanence of life, acceptance of reality, and the path to peace through wisdom and detachment.
This class 10 The Sermon at Benares summary helps students understand the moral lesson and philosophical depth of the chapter in a clear and meaningful way.
Class 10 English The Sermon at Benares Question Answer
The Sermon at Benares Class 10 solutions help students understand the key message of life’s impermanence and Buddha’s teachings on suffering and detachment. These answers are written in simple language, making it easier to revise important themes and write clear, value-based responses in exams.
Class 10 The Sermon at Benares NCERT solutions
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:
Kisa Gotami was overwhelmed with grief and agony when her only son died. Desperate for a cure, she carried his lifeless body in her arms, going from house to house, asking for medicine to bring him back to life. However, no one could help her, as it was impossible to revive her dead son.
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:
After speaking with the Buddha, Kisa Gotami goes from house to house again, but this time she asks for mustard seeds from a house where no one has lost a loved one. She does not get the mustard seeds because she cannot find any house where death has not taken someone. This experience helps her realize that death is a universal part of life and that everyone faces the loss of loved ones.
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:
When Kisa Gotami failed to find a house where no one had lost a loved one, she became weary and helpless and sat down by the roadside. As she sat, she observed the flickering and extinguishing of lights, leading to complete darkness. This made her realize that death is inevitable, and she recognized her own selfishness in her grief and agony. She understood that everyone must face loss, but there is a path to peace and immortality for those who let go of their selfish desires. This realization was exactly what Buddha wanted her to understand: that every mortal being born into this world is destined to die one day.
Question 4: Why do you think Kisa Gotami understood this only the second time? In what way did the Buddha change her understanding?
Answer:
In the beginning, Kisa Gotami was overwhelmed by the grief of losing her young son. However, when she went from house to house the second time to find a handful of mustard seeds to revive her dead son, she realized that everyone had experienced the loss of a loved one. Not a single house was untouched by death; everyone had lost a son, husband, parent, or friend at some point. This made her understand that everyone faces the pain of death and loss. Feeling dejected, she sat down and realized that death is inevitable and that all mortal beings are destined to live and die someday. Through this experience, Gautama Buddha helped her understand that death is common to all mortal beings, and everyone is bound to die one day or another.
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:
A selfish person is someone who is extremely focused on their own needs and feelings. In the story, Kisa Gotami was also being selfish in her grief because she was only thinking about her own pain. When she lost her child, she was desperate to bring him back to life and went to Buddha for help. Buddha taught her an important lesson: humans are mortal, and everyone must die eventually. Although accepting the death of loved ones is hard, it is a natural and unavoidable part of life. This lesson helped Kisa Gotami understand that death is inevitable and happens to everyone.
Thinking about Language (Page 136)
Question I: This text is written in an old-fashioned style, for it reports an incident more than two millennia old. Look for the following words and phrases in the text, and try to rephrase them in more current language, based on 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!
Answer:
- Give you medicine for your child
- Please tell me
- Kisa went to the Buddha
- There was not a single house where no one had died
- Relatives
- Listen
Question II:
You know that we can combine sentences using words like and, or, but, yet and then. But sometimes, no such word seems appropriate. In such a case, we can use a semicolon (;) or a dash (—) to combine two clauses.
She has no interest in music; I doubt she will become a singer like her mother.
The second clause here gives the speaker’s opinion on the first clause. Here is a sentence from the text that uses semicolons to combine clauses. Break up the sentence into three simple sentences. Can you then say which has a better rhythm when you read it, the single sentence using semicolons, or the three simple sentences?
For there is not any means by which those who have been born can avoid dying; after reaching old age there is death; of such a nature are living beings.
Answer:
A single sentence using semicolons has a better cadence and rhythm; this implies that the three parts of the sentence are connected to each other in their meanings. The second clause gives detailed information about the first clause; the third clause is, therefore, directly related to both the first and the second clauses. Their meanings are conveyed more effectively when they are joined by semicolons.
Writing
Question 1: Write a page (about three paragraphs) on one of the following topics. You can think about the ideas in the text that are relevant to these topics and add your own ideas and experiences to them.
1. Teaching someone to understand a new or difficult idea
2. Helping each other to get over difficult times
3. Thinking about oneself as unique, or as one among billions of others
Answer:
Activity to be done by yourself.