The Sermon at Benares
Solutions For All Chapters First Flight 10
Thinking About the Text
1. When her son dies, Kisa Gotami goes from house to house. What does she ask for? Does she get it? Why not?
Ans: She asks for medicine to cure her dead child.
She does not get it.
Because the boy was already dead, and no medicine could bring him back to life.
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?
Ans: She asks for mustard seeds.
She does not get it.
Because there was no house in which some beloved one had not died.
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?
Ans: She understands that death is common to all and no one can escape it.
Yes, this is exactly what the Buddha wanted her to understand.
4. Why do you think Kisa Gotami understood this only the second time? In what way did the Buddha change her understanding?
Ans: She understood this only the second time because she experienced the truth by visiting many houses.
The Buddha changed her understanding by making her realize that death comes to every family.
5. How do you usually understand the idea of ‘selfishness’? Do you agree with Kisa Gotami that she was being ‘selfish in her grief’?
Ans: Selfishness means thinking only about oneself and not about others.
Yes, Kisa Gotami was selfish in her grief because she wanted to save only her child and forgot that death is common to all.
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