The Sermon at Benares Summary

The Sermon at Benares Summary

Gautama Buddha was born as a prince in a North Indian royal family and was named Siddhartha Gautama. When he was twelve years old, he was sent to a distant place to study Hindu sacred texts and, returning four years later, he married a princess. Soon, they both had a son and lived a royal life for almost ten years. The royals were shielded from all the unpleasant experiences in the world until the prince met a sick man, an aged man, a funeral procession and a monk in search of alms. These experiences served as an eye opener for him and as such, he left behind all royalty to gain a higher sense of spiritual enlightenment.

Gautama Buddha went about seven years in search of enlightenment before he came in front of a peepal tree and chose to sit under it until he woke up. When he finally attained salvation after 7 days, he decided to reclaim the tree as the tree Bodhi tree (meaning tree of wisdom) and called himself 'Buddha' (meaning Awakened). Began to go. He even began to propagate his new feelings and his first sermon was delivered in the city of Benaras. The city of Banaras is considered sacred because it lives on the banks of the Ganges River. The first sermon that he gave was preserved and is famous to this day (it is also given below). It gives a new perspective to the imminent sufferings of man.

It talks about a woman named Kisa Gotami, whose son died recently. With unbearable pain and sorrow, she takes her son home to a wonder drug that could bring her son back. Frankly, everyone thought that the woman had lost the ability to think clearly. Going from house to house, she finally came across as a person who could not offer any medicine, but took her to Sakmuni, the Buddha. Filled with hope, the woman visited Gautama Buddha and begged him to treat her child.

As the man said, Gautama Buddha had a solution. He asked Kisa Gotami to get a handful of mustard. Restored with hope, Kisa Gotami thought that this was a very simple task until Lord Buddha made a condition that "mustard-seed should be taken from a house where anyone, even a child, The husband, parent or friend is not lost. "

Once again, Kisa Gotami went door-to-door, but this time, she was looking for mustard seeds. Many had mustard seeds, but none of them could fulfill the condition of Lord Buddha, in which no one was killed in the family. When asked, people requested him not to remember their deep sorrows. Unfortunately, she could not find a suitable home for her son to obtain mustard.

All hope was lost for Kisa Gotami and thus, in agony and agony, she found herself in a place on the side of the road. He constantly watched the city lights blink and looked at them until there was only darkness all around. After deep reflection, he realized that the man's fate was like the lights of these cities that twinkled and quenched again and again. The cycle of birth and death is the way nature works. Suddenly, she becomes conscious of how selfish he was in her grief and that she was born should rest for eternity. Men are mortal and those who are immortal are free from all worldly pleasures.

According to Lord Buddha, the life of mortal people is troubled because they have not made peace with the fact that one who is born must rest for eternity. There is no way that a living person can avoid facing death. Just as the risk of ripe fruit falling is high, an old mortal is bound to die. Just as all earthen pots break at some point, so do men. Old or young, foolish or wise, death leaves no one.

The only way for death to work is to withdraw the person from the living, that is, the person ceases to exist. No one has control over death, neither a father can save his son nor his relatives. Just as an ox is taken to the slaughterhouse to kill, similarly death also happens to the mortal, leaving no one behind. Thus, he who knows this truth and does not grieve over his loss, is the one who is said to be wise by Lord Buddha.

According to Lord Buddha, one should not grieve, cry, or grieve what it is bound to do, it will keep man away from achieving peace of mind. This will only increase the agony and agony many times leading to physical weakness and excess, no amount of grief will bring back the dead. It is very important to understand that one should carry on past feelings like grief and mourning as this is the only path that leads to the path of salvation.