Ch 8The Sermon at Benares

The Sermon at Benares

Author: Betty Renshaw — the piece is an excerpt from her anthology "Values and Voices — A College Reader", retelling the life of Gautama Buddha and his famous first sermon.

Introduction

"The Sermon at Benares" tells us how Prince Siddhartha Gautama became the Buddha, and presents the essence of his first sermon, preached at the holy city of Benares on the banks of the Ganges. Through the touching story of Kisa Gotami, a mother maddened by grief at her only son's death, the chapter teaches the Buddha's central message: death is common to all mortals, and peace of mind comes not from grieving but from accepting the truth of life with composure and wisdom.

Detailed Summary

The Life of Gautama Buddha

Gautama Buddha (c. 563 B.C. – 483 B.C.) began life as a prince named Siddhartha Gautama in northern India. At the age of twelve, he was sent away for schooling in the Hindu sacred scriptures, and four years later he returned home to marry a princess. They had a son and lived a royal, sheltered life for about ten years, the prince being carefully shielded from all the sufferings of the world.

At about the age of twenty-five, while out hunting, the prince chanced upon four sights that changed his life: a sick man, an aged man, a funeral procession, and finally a monk begging for alms. These sights of suffering moved him so deeply that he at once went out into the world to seek enlightenment concerning the sorrows he had witnessed.

Siddhartha wandered for seven years and finally sat down under a peepal tree, vowing to stay there until enlightenment came. Enlightened after seven days, he renamed the tree the Bodhi Tree (Tree of Wisdom) and began to teach and to share his new understandings. From that time on he was known as the Buddha — the Awakened or the Enlightened. He preached his first sermon at Benares, the city regarded as the most holy of the dipping places on the River Ganges; that sermon, preserved through the ages, reflects the Buddha's wisdom about one inscrutable kind of suffering — death.

The Story of Kisa Gotami

Kisa Gotami's only son had died. In her terrible grief she carried the dead child to all her neighbours, asking them for medicine to cure him. The people said she had lost her senses, for the boy was dead and no medicine could help. At length she met a man who told her that he could not give her medicine, but he knew a physician who could — the Sakyamuni, the Buddha.

Kisa Gotami went to the Buddha and begged him for medicine to cure her son. The Buddha replied that he wanted a handful of mustard-seed — but the seed must be taken from a house where no one had lost a child, husband, parent or friend. Filled with hope, the poor mother went from door to door. Everyone pitied her and offered mustard-seed, but when she asked whether any son or daughter, father or mother had died in that family, the answer was always the same: "the living are few, but the dead are many." There was no house in which some beloved one had not died.

Weary and hopeless, Kisa Gotami sat down at the wayside and watched the lights of the city as they flickered up and were extinguished again. At last the darkness of the night reigned everywhere, and she reflected on the fate of human beings: their lives flicker up and are extinguished just like those lamps. She realised the great truth — that death is common to all, and that she had been selfish in her grief, for in a world where everyone must die, mourning cannot bring the dead back. The path to peace lies in surrendering all selfishness.

The Buddha's Sermon

The Buddha then preached the truth of mortality. The life of mortals in this world is troubled, brief and combined with pain. As all ripe fruits are in danger of falling early, so mortals, once born, are always in danger of death; as earthen vessels made by the potter end in being broken, so is the life of mortals. Both young and old, fools and the wise alike, fall into the power of death. Neither weeping nor grieving can save a dead person; on the contrary, the mourner only suffers more — his pain becomes greater and his body grows sick and pale. He who seeks peace should draw out the arrow of lamentation, complaint and grief. Only the person who has drawn out this arrow and become composed will obtain peace of mind; he who has overcome all sorrow will become free from sorrow, and be blessed.

Themes

• The inevitability of death: Death spares no one — young or old, wise or foolish — and must be accepted as the law of life.
• Grief and acceptance: Weeping and lamentation cannot bring back the dead; they only increase pain. Peace comes from composure and acceptance.
• Wisdom through experience: The Buddha does not lecture Kisa Gotami; he lets her discover the truth herself through the mustard-seed errand.
• Universal suffering and shared humanity: Kisa Gotami learns that every home has known death; sorrow is not hers alone.
• Renunciation and enlightenment: Siddhartha's journey from prince to Buddha shows that true understanding demands giving up worldly comfort.

Character Sketches

Gautama Buddha

Born a sheltered prince, Siddhartha Gautama is transformed by his first contact with human suffering. His compassion and determination lead him to renounce royal luxury, wander for seven years and meditate until enlightenment. As the Buddha, he is the ideal teacher — wise, gentle and practical. Instead of preaching abstract philosophy to a grieving mother, he devises the mustard-seed task so that she may learn the truth through her own experience. His sermon shows deep insight into human sorrow and a compassionate path out of it.

Kisa Gotami

Kisa Gotami is a loving mother whose grief at her only son's death initially blinds her to reason — she carries the dead child from house to house seeking medicine. Yet she is sincere and teachable. Her weary journey from door to door slowly opens her eyes, and her reflection by the flickering city lights shows a capacity for deep thought. She evolves from a woman crazed by selfish grief into one who understands the universality of death, embodying the transformation the Buddha's wisdom can bring.

Important Word Meanings