Solution of Chapter 10. The Sermon at Benares (First Flight - English Book)

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

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?

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?

Why do you think Kisa Gotami understood this only the second time? In what way did the Buddha change her understanding?

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

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!

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 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.

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.

What does the young man mean by "great honey coloured/Ramparts at your ear?" Why does he say the young men are "thrown into despair" by them?

What colour is the women’s hair? What does she say she can change it to? Why would she want to do so?

Objects have qualities which make them desirable to others. Can you think of some objects (a car, a phone, a dress .....) and say what qualities make one object more desirable than other? Imagine you were trying to sell an object: what qualities would you emphasise?

What about people? Do we love others because we like their qualities, whether physical or mental? Or is it possible to love someone “for themselves alone”? Are some people ‘more lovable’ than others? Discuss this question in pairs or in groups, considering points like the following:

(i) a parent or caregiver's love for a newborn baby, for a mentally or physically challenged child; for a clever child or a prodigy?

(ii) the public’s love for a film star, a sportsperson, a politician, or a social worker.

(iii) your love for a friend, or brother or sister.

(iv) your love for a pet, and the pet’s love for you.

You have perhaps concluded that people are not objects to be valued for their qualities or riches rather that for themselves. But elsewhere Yeats asks the questions: How can we separate the dancer from the dance? Is it possible to separate ‘the person himself or herself’ from how the person looks, sounds, walks and so on? Think of how you or a friend or member of your family has changed over the years. Has your relationship also changed? In what way?