Have you ever lost someone you loved?
Maybe a grandparent. Maybe a pet. Maybe someone close.
And in that pain, did you ever feel that no one else in the world could possibly understand what you were going through?
That your grief was different. Bigger. More unbearable than anyone else’s.
Kisa Gotami felt exactly that way. She lost her only child. And her pain was so deep that she refused to believe he was gone.
But what she discovered on her journey — from door to door, through a city full of grief — changed her completely. It is one of the most powerful stories in your Class 10 English textbook.
The Sermon at Benares is Chapter 8 of First Flight. It is a story over 2500 years old. But once you understand it properly, you will never forget it.
Let us go through it together. Simply. Clearly. Step by step.
Who Was the Buddha? — The Short Answer
Before the story begins, your Class 10 English textbook gives you a background on the Buddha. Let us go through it quickly.
Gautama Buddha was born in 563 B.C. in northern India. His real name was Siddhartha Gautama. He was a prince. His family was royal. He had everything — wealth, a beautiful wife, a son, a palace, and a completely comfortable life.
But here is the thing. His family had protected him too well. He had never seen the real world.
At around the age of twenty-five, everything changed.
One day, while he was out hunting, he came across four sights — one after another. First, a sick man. Then, an aged man. Then, a funeral procession (a dead body being carried for burial). And finally, a monk begging for alms (a holy man who had given up everything and was living on whatever people gave him).
These four sights shook Siddhartha to his core. He had never seen suffering like this before. He could not get it out of his mind.
So he left the palace. He left his wife, his son, and his royal life behind. And he went out into the world to find the truth about suffering.
He wandered for seven years. Then he sat down under a peepal tree and made a decision. He would not get up until he found the answer.
He sat there for seven days. And on the seventh day, he found what he was looking for. He was enlightened — he had reached a state of deep, complete spiritual understanding.
After that, the peepal tree was renamed the Bodhi Tree, which means the Tree of Wisdom. And Siddhartha became the Buddha, which means the Awakened One or the Enlightened One.
The Buddha then went to the city of Benares — also called Varanasi, the holiest city on the River Ganga — and preached his first sermon there. That is the sermon your Class 10 English chapter is about.
Meet Kisa Gotami — A Mother in Pain
Now we come to the story itself.
Kisa Gotami was a young woman. She had one son. And that son died.
When the child died, Kisa Gotami did not accept it. She could not. She carried the dead child in her arms and went from house to house in the village, asking everyone for medicine that would bring her son back to life.
The neighbours looked at her with pity. They whispered to each other: “She has lost her senses. The boy is dead.”
No one could help her. But nobody told her the truth clearly either. They just looked away.
Then, one man was a little different. He said to her: “I cannot give you medicine for your child. But I know a physician who can.”
Kisa Gotami asked who it was.
The man said: “Go to Sakyamuni — the Buddha.”
The Mustard Seed — The Cleverest Lesson Ever Taught
Kisa Gotami went to the Buddha. She fell at his feet and cried: “Lord and Master, give me the medicine that will cure my boy.”
Now, what would you do if you were the Buddha?
Would you tell her that her son is dead and cannot be brought back? Would you explain the philosophy of death to her?
That would not work. Not for someone in her condition. She was not ready to hear it. Grief had closed her mind.
So the Buddha did something much smarter.
He said: “I want a handful of mustard seed.”
Kisa Gotami was overjoyed. Mustard seed was common. Every house had it. She promised to bring it immediately.
But then the Buddha added one condition.
He said: “The mustard seed must be taken from a house where no one has lost a child, husband, parent or friend.”
Just one condition. One small rule.
Kisa Gotami agreed and went off to find the mustard seed.
Door to Door — And What She Found
Kisa Gotami went to the first house. The people there said: “Yes, take some mustard seed!”
She was relieved. But then she asked the condition: “Has anyone in your family died? A son or daughter, a father or mother?”
The family replied: “Oh, the living are few, but the dead are many. Do not remind us of our deepest grief.”
She could not take the mustard seed from that house.
She went to the next house. Same answer.
The next house. Same answer.
House after house, street after street, she searched through the whole city. And everywhere she went, she found the same thing.
There was not a single house where someone had not died.
Not one.
Slowly, exhausted, Kisa Gotami became weary and hopeless. She sat down by the side of the road. It was getting dark. She watched the lights of the city flicker on — and then go out, one by one.
And as she sat there in the darkness, something happened inside her.
She looked at the city lights and thought about life. How lives flicker up and are extinguished, just like those flames. And then she said something to herself that is one of the most important lines in your Class 10 English chapter:
“How selfish am I in my grief! Death is common to all.”
She had understood.
What Kisa Gotami Understood
This is the heart of the chapter. Let us be very clear about what she understood.
First time (when she went from house to house asking for medicine): She was completely lost in her own pain. She thought no one else had suffered like her. She thought her son’s death was somehow special, somehow different, somehow fixable.
Second time (when she went from house to house asking for mustard seed): She slowly realised that every single house had known death. Every family had lost someone. Grief was not hers alone. Death was not her personal enemy. Death came to everyone. Always. Without exception.
This realisation did not make her grief disappear. But it changed her grief. It moved her from a private, personal, lonely pain to a shared, universal understanding. She stopped feeling like the only person in the world who had ever suffered.
And that is exactly what the Buddha had planned.
He never told her anything directly. He simply sent her on a journey that allowed her to discover the truth herself. Because when we discover something ourselves, we believe it. When someone only tells us, we might argue with it.
The Buddha’s Sermon — What He Said About Death
After Kisa Gotami understood the truth, the Buddha gave his sermon. Let us look at what he said, in simple language.
On death: The Buddha said that the life of all human beings in this world is troubled, brief, and full of pain. There is no way to avoid dying. Everyone who is born will die. Young and old, fool and wise — all fall into the power of death.
He used two beautiful comparisons to explain this.
He said: “As ripe fruits are early in danger of falling, so mortals when born are always in danger of death.” Think of a mango tree. The moment a fruit is ripe, it is ready to fall. That is how fragile human life is.
He said: “As all earthen vessels made by the potter end in being broken, so is the life of mortals.” Every clay pot, no matter how carefully made, will eventually break. That is what happens to every human life too.
On grief: The Buddha said that weeping and grieving will not give anyone peace of mind. On the contrary, the pain only becomes greater. The dead are not saved by the lamentation (crying and mourning) of the living. The body of the person who grieves too long will become sick and weak.
On the path to peace: The Buddha said that a person who seeks peace should draw out the arrow of lamentation, complaint, and grief. Think of it this way: if an arrow is stuck in your body, you do not lie there crying about the arrow. You pull it out. And once it is removed, you begin to heal.
Similarly, grief is the arrow. As long as you hold on to it and keep lamenting, you keep suffering. When you accept the truth and let go, you find peace.
“He who has drawn out the arrow and has become composed will obtain peace of mind; he who has overcome all sorrow will become free from sorrow, and be blessed.”
The Bodhi Tree and the Mustard Seed — Why the Buddha Did It This Way
Here is something worth thinking about.
The Buddha could have simply told Kisa Gotami: “Your son is dead. Death comes to everyone. Please accept it.”
But he did not.
Why?
Because telling is not the same as understanding. When you are deep in grief, words do not reach you. Logic does not reach you. No argument works.
The only thing that works is experience.
So the Buddha sent Kisa Gotami out into the world. He made her knock on every door. He made her see, with her own eyes, that grief lived in every house. He made her feel the universality of death not as a theory but as a lived reality.
By the time she came back, she did not need to be taught the lesson. She had already learned it herself.
This is actually one of the most sophisticated methods of teaching in the world. And it was used by the Buddha over 2500 years ago.
Key Facts Table — The Sermon at Benares Class 10 English
| Detail | Fact |
|---|---|
| Chapter | 8, First Flight (Class 10 English NCERT) |
| Author | Betty Renshaw (source); based on Buddha’s life |
| Protagonist | Kisa Gotami |
| Buddha’s original name | Siddhartha Gautama |
| Buddha’s birth | 563 B.C., northern India |
| Buddha’s death | 483 B.C. |
| Age when he left the palace | About 25 years |
| Four sights that moved him | Sick man, aged man, funeral procession, begging monk |
| Years of wandering | Seven years |
| Tree of enlightenment | Peepal tree, later renamed Bodhi Tree (Tree of Wisdom) |
| Days to reach enlightenment | Seven days |
| Where first sermon was preached | Benares (Varanasi), on the River Ganga |
| What Kisa Gotami lost | Her only son |
| What Buddha asked her to bring | A handful of mustard seed |
| The condition | From a house where no one had died |
| What she discovered | Every house had known death |
| Key lesson | Death is universal; grief should not be permanent |
Important Vocabulary — The Sermon at Benares Class 10 English
Sermon — A religious or moral talk. A sermon is meant to teach a lesson about life, values, or spiritual matters.
Enlightenment — A state of very high spiritual knowledge and understanding. When the Buddha was enlightened, he understood the deepest truths of life.
Chanced upon — Came across something by chance, without planning. The prince chanced upon the sick man while out hunting.
Inscrutable — Something that cannot be fully understood. The chapter says the Buddha’s sermon reflects his wisdom about one inscrutable kind of suffering.
Repaired (stylistic use) — Went to a place (old-fashioned use). Kisa Gotami repaired to the Buddha means she went to the Buddha.
Procure — To obtain or get something. The Buddha asked Kisa Gotami to procure the mustard seed.
Valley of desolation — An area filled with deep sorrow and grief. Life, the chapter says, is like a valley of desolation.
Immortality — Living forever; never dying. Kisa Gotami thinks of the path to immortality through surrendering selfishness.
Mortals — Human beings; those who are bound to die. All mortals must eventually die.
Kinsmen — Relatives; members of the same family. Even kinsmen cannot save a dying person.
Afflicted with — Affected by suffering, disease, or pain. The world is afflicted with death and decay.
Lamentation — The expression of sorrow through crying and mourning. The Buddha says lamentation does not help the dead or the living.
Composed — Calm and in control of one’s emotions. He who draws out the arrow of grief and becomes composed will find peace.
Weary — Very tired, especially from effort or suffering. Kisa Gotami became weary after going from house to house.
Complete Q&A — The Sermon at Benares Class 10 English
Q: When her son dies, Kisa Gotami goes from house to house. What does she ask for? Does she get it? Why not?
When her son dies, Kisa Gotami is overwhelmed with grief. She refuses to accept his death. She carries the dead child to all her neighbours and asks for medicine to bring him back to life. She does not get it. No one can give it to her because there is no medicine that can revive the dead. The neighbours feel sorry for her and say that she has lost her senses. One man finally directs her to the Buddha.
Q: Kisa Gotami goes from house to house again after speaking with the Buddha. What does she ask for the second time? Does she get it? Why not?
The second time, Kisa Gotami asks for a handful of mustard seed. The Buddha has told her to bring mustard seed from a house where no one has lost a child, husband, parent, or friend. She does not get it, despite visiting every house in the city. Every single family has lost someone. There is no house in the entire city where death has not come. So she cannot fulfil the Buddha’s condition.
Q: What does Kisa Gotami understand the second time that she did not understand the first time?
The first time, Kisa Gotami was completely lost in personal grief. She believed her son’s death was something that could be undone if she found the right medicine. She was thinking only about herself and her loss. The second time, going from house to house and hearing the same story everywhere, she realised that death is universal. It comes to every family. Every person who is born will die. She was not alone in her grief. Death is the common fate of all mortals. She said to herself: “How selfish am I in my grief! Death is common to all.” Yes, this is exactly what the Buddha wanted her to understand.
Q: Why do you think Kisa Gotami understood this only the second time? How did the Buddha change her understanding?
Kisa Gotami could not understand the truth when she was told about it directly. Her grief had closed her mind. The Buddha understood this. He did not lecture her or give her a long explanation. Instead, he sent her on a journey of discovery. By going from door to door and hearing the same story of loss in every home, she experienced the truth firsthand. The journey itself became the teaching. When we discover something ourselves, we believe it far more deeply than when we are only told. The Buddha changed her understanding by letting her find it herself.
Q: How do you understand the idea of selfishness? Do you agree that Kisa Gotami was selfish in her grief?
Usually, selfishness means thinking only about your own gain or pleasure at the expense of others. Kisa Gotami’s grief was not selfish in the ordinary sense. She was not hurting others on purpose. But she was being selfish in a different way — she was so wrapped up in her own pain that she could not see the suffering around her. She thought her loss was unique. She thought no one else could understand. When she finally saw that every family in the city had suffered loss, she called herself selfish — because she had been unable to see the bigger picture. In that sense, yes, her grief had made her self-enclosed and unable to connect with the universal experience of suffering.
Q: What does the Buddha compare human life to in his sermon? What do these comparisons mean?
The Buddha uses two comparisons. First, he compares human life to ripe fruit. He says that just as ripe fruits are always in danger of falling from the tree, mortals from the moment of birth are always in danger of death. The comparison shows how fragile and uncertain life is. Second, he compares mortals to earthen vessels made by a potter. All clay pots will eventually break. No matter how carefully made, no pot lasts forever. Similarly, no human life lasts forever. Both comparisons show the same truth: death is not a tragedy that happens to a few unlucky people. It is the natural end of every life.
Q: What does the Buddha mean by “drawing out the arrow of lamentation”?
The Buddha uses the image of an arrow stuck in a body. An arrow causes great pain. But the way to stop the pain is not to cry over it or keep thinking about it. The way to stop the pain is to pull the arrow out. Lamentation — weeping and mourning endlessly — is like leaving the arrow in the wound. It does not help the dead. It only makes the living more sick and weak. The Buddha is saying: accept the truth of death, stop the endless mourning, and you will find peace. Drawing out the arrow means letting go of uncontrollable grief and choosing to become composed and calm again.
Q: What does the Buddha say will happen to those who cannot stop grieving?
The Buddha says that weeping and grieving do not give peace of mind. Instead, the pain grows larger. The person who grieves endlessly will make themselves sick and pale. Their body will suffer. The dead are not brought back or helped by the lamentation of the living. So long mourning hurts only the person who is alive. But the person who draws out the arrow of grief and becomes composed will obtain peace of mind. And the person who overcomes all sorrow will become free from sorrow and will be blessed.
Themes — What the Chapter Is Really About
Death is universal. The central theme of The Sermon at Benares Class 10 English is simple: every living being dies. No one is exempt. Rich and poor, young and old, wise and foolish — all must die. This is not a reason for despair. It is simply a truth that needs to be accepted.
Grief is natural, but endless grief is harmful. The chapter does not say that grief is wrong. Kisa Gotami’s love for her son was real, and her grief was real. The Buddha does not dismiss it. But he shows her — and us — that staying trapped in grief forever damages the living without helping the dead.
Experience teaches better than words. The Buddha’s greatest wisdom in this story is not what he says but what he does. He sends Kisa Gotami on a journey that teaches her the lesson through experience. This is a powerful truth about learning.
Selfishness in grief. Kisa Gotami calls herself selfish because in her pain she had become blind to the suffering of others. True wisdom comes when we can see our personal pain as part of the larger human experience.
Acceptance leads to peace. The path out of grief is not denial and not endless mourning. It is acceptance. Once Kisa Gotami accepts the truth of universal death, she can begin to move toward peace.
Why the Story Still Matters Today
The Sermon at Benares Class 10 English was first taught over 2500 years ago. But think about this.
Every year, millions of people lose someone they love. And many of them go through the exact same thing Kisa Gotami went through. They cannot accept the loss. They carry their grief like a dead weight. They feel utterly alone in their pain.
The Buddha’s lesson is still true today. When you are grieving, one of the most healing things you can do is talk to other people who have also lost someone. When you realise that the whole world has known grief — that you are not alone, that loss is part of every human life — something shifts inside you. The pain does not disappear. But it becomes bearable.
That is what 2500 years of this story have been telling us.
The Exam Strategy — What to Write in Your Board Paper
For The Sermon at Benares Class 10 English board exam questions, here is what matters most.
The most common questions are about Kisa Gotami’s two journeys. Always be clear about what she asked for each time and why she did not get it. The second journey is the more important one — it is where the lesson is learned.
Questions about the Buddha’s method of teaching are also very common. Always explain that he did not tell her the answer directly. He sent her on a journey that let her discover the truth herself. This is the key insight.
The metaphors — ripe fruit and earthen vessels — are tested regularly. Know both. Know what they represent. Be ready to explain them in your own words.
The phrase “drawing out the arrow of lamentation” is a very common exam question. Know the metaphor clearly. Grief is the arrow. Pulling it out means accepting death and choosing peace.
One Last Thought
Think about this for a moment.
Kisa Gotami walked through an entire city with a dead child in her arms. She knocked on every door. She was exhausted, hopeless, and broken.
But she kept going. Because she loved her son.
And because she kept going, she found something she was not looking for. She found the truth. She found that the whole world was carrying the same grief she was. She found that she was not alone.
The Buddha did not give her medicine. He gave her something better. He gave her understanding.
And with understanding came peace.
That is what The Sermon at Benares — your Class 10 English chapter — is really teaching you. Not just about death. But about what to do when life becomes unbearable. About how to find peace not by running away from the truth, but by walking straight into it.
Kisa Gotami walked into it. And she came out the other side.
So can you.
Also Read: Nelson Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom Class 10 — Complete Explanation | Madam Rides the Bus Class 10 — The Story About a Bus Ride That Will Break Your Heart | Glimpses of India Class 10 — All 3 Parts Explained
