Skip to content
Learnijoy

Class 10 · English · Chapter 8 · NCERT Class 10 English – First Flight

The Sermon at Benares Class 10 Notes

Free here: the full mind map and the first 5 of 9 parts of the notes. The rest is free with an account.

Chapter mind map

The whole chapter at a glance: the big idea, then each branch and what sits under it.

The Sermon at Benares and For Anne Gregory

A study of spiritual enlightenment, the universal nature of suffering, and the conflict between external appearance and inner identity.

  1. Siddhartha’s Path to Enlightenment

    The transformation of a sheltered prince into the Buddha through the realization of human suffering.

    • The Four Sights — Encountering a sick man, an aged man, a funeral, and a monk prompted his renunciation of royal life.
    • Renunciation and Wandering — He left his family at twenty-five and wandered for seven years seeking the cause of human sorrow.
    • The Bodhi Tree — He attained wisdom under a peepal tree (Tree of Wisdom) and became known as 'The Awakened'.

  2. The First Sermon at Benares

    A practical lesson on the inevitability of loss delivered at the holy bathing ghats of the Ganges.

    • Significance of Benares — A holy site on the River Ganges famous for its 'dipping places' or bathing ghats.
    • Inscrutable Suffering — The Buddha shared a new understanding of suffering that is difficult to understand or explain.
    • Spiritual Guidance — Unlike a casual lecture, this sermon provides a path to achieving peace of mind through wisdom.

  3. Kisa Gotami’s Quest

    A narrative illustration of grief and the Buddha's teaching method using a handful of mustard seeds.

    • The Mustard Seed Task — Seeds must be from a house where no one had lost a child, husband, parent, or friend.
    • The Universal Reality — She finds that 'the living are few, but the dead are many' in every household she visits.
    • Flickering City Lights — Watching lights go out helped her realize human lives also flicker and extinguish.

  4. Universal Nature of Mortality

    Concrete comparisons used to explain the limits of human control over life and death.

    • Ripe Fruit and Earthen Vessels — Mortality is compared to fruit that falls and vessels that break, emphasizing life's vulnerability.
    • The Shared Human Experience — Recognizing others' suffering helps the grieving feel less alone in their individual loss.
    • Limits of Control — The sermon explains that there is no way for those who are born to avoid dying.

  5. Attaining Peace of Mind

    The sermon describes peace as a movement towards understanding and acceptance.

    • The Arrow of Sorrow — Lamentation is like an arrow; peace is found by drawing out the wound of complaint and grief.
    • Acceptance vs. Denial — Grief cannot reverse death; acceptance is the path to being free from sorrow and blessed.
    • Compassionate Understanding — The teaching suggests that constant lamentation prevents the living from finding health.

  6. Poem: For Anne Gregory

    A dialogue exploring whether one can be loved for their true self rather than physical attributes.

    • Honey-Coloured Ramparts — A metaphor for Anne's hair, suggesting external beauty acts as a barrier to seeing the soul.
    • Anne’s Response — She offers to dye her hair brown, black, or carrot to be loved for her inner self.
    • The Religious Claim — A speaker reports that only God has the capacity to love a person for themselves alone.

  7. Literary Style and Tone

    The use of archaic language and poetic devices to convey philosophical depth.

    • Scriptural Prose — Terms like 'kinsmen' and 'repaired to' create a formal, authoritative, and timeless tone.
    • Poetic Structure — Yeats uses a conversational tone with a regular ABCBDB rhyme scheme across three stanzas.
    • Metaphorical Barriers — The 'ramparts' metaphor suggests visible beauty forms a barrier to seeing the person behind it.

  8. Answer Writing Analysis

    Guidelines for connecting character actions to broader themes of mortality and identity.

    • Claim, Evidence, Explanation — Strong answers start with a claim, support it with text, and explain the significance.
    • Symbolism of Lights — The flickering lights symbolize the cycle of birth and death that all humans undergo.
    • Analyzing Anne’s Motivation — Distinguish Anne’s wish for inner valuation from the man's focus on physical attraction.

Chapter notes

Read the prose and poems in this First Flight chapter bundle with clear explanations, character and theme analysis, literary devices, original language examples and Pause & Try Q/A.

01 · Explore

The Journey of Siddhartha Gautama

The textbook’s account introduces Siddhartha Gautama as a sheltered prince who begins seeking an understanding of suffering.

In the textbook’s traditional account, Siddhartha receives schooling, marries and lives a sheltered royal life. The stated dates and ages belong to this source’s narrative; these notes are explaining that account rather than establishing a new historical chronology.

At the age of twenty-five, while out hunting, Siddhartha encountered four sights that changed his life: a sick man, an aged man, a funeral procession, and finally a monk begging for alms. These experiences moved him deeply, prompting him to renounce his royal life and seek enlightenment regarding the sorrows of the world.

He wandered for seven years before sitting under a peepal tree, vowing to remain until he attained high spiritual knowledge. After seven days, he achieved enlightenment and renamed the tree the Bodhi Tree (Tree of Wisdom). He then became known as the Buddha, which means 'The Awakened' or 'The Enlightened'.

The Path to Enlightenment

  1. 1

    Royal Life

    Siddhartha lives as a prince, shielded from all forms of suffering.

  2. 2

    The Four Sights

    He witnesses sickness, old age, death, and a monk seeking alms.

  3. 3

    Renunciation

    He leaves his family and wealth to seek the cause of human sorrow.

  4. 4

    Enlightenment

    After seven years of wandering, he attains wisdom under the Bodhi Tree.

The sequence of events leading from Siddhartha's sheltered princely life to his transformation into the Buddha.

Pause & Try

Think it through first. Writing and checking your answer is free with an account.

Question

What were the four sights that prompted Siddhartha to leave his royal life?

Sign in to see the answer

Write your own answer and compare it with ours. It’s free.

Sign inNew here? Sign up free

NCERT reference: chapter PDF pages 1, 2.

02 · Explore

The First Sermon at Benares

The Buddha delivered his first sermon in the city of Benares, a holy site on the banks of the River Ganges.

A sermon is a religious or moral talk, distinct from a casual lecture because it aims to provide spiritual guidance. The Buddha chose Benares, famous for its 'dipping places' or bathing ghats on the Ganges, to share his new understanding of 'inscrutable' suffering—suffering that is difficult to understand or explain.

This sermon was not just a philosophical lecture but a practical lesson on how to view life and death. It has been preserved as a core teaching that reflects the Buddha's wisdom regarding the inevitability of loss and the path to achieving peace of mind.

Pause & Try

Think it through first. Writing and checking your answer is free with an account.

Question

Why is Benares significant in the context of the Buddha's first sermon?

Sign in to see the answer

Write your own answer and compare it with ours. It’s free.

Sign inNew here? Sign up free

NCERT reference: chapter PDF page 2.

03 · Explore

Kisa Gotami and the Mustard Seed

The story of Kisa Gotami illustrates the Buddha's teaching method through a personal and moving narrative of grief.

Kisa Gotami has lost her only son and, overwhelmed by grief, asks neighbours for medicine. They cannot restore his life. A man directs her to the Buddha. Read the neighbours’ response as part of the narrative, without treating distress after a loss as something shameful.

When Kisa Gotami asked the Buddha for medicine, he gave her a specific task: she must procure a handful of mustard seed. However, there was a condition—the seed must come from a house where no one had lost a child, husband, parent, or friend.

Kisa Gotami went from house to house. People were willing to give her mustard seeds, but when she asked if anyone had died in the family, the answer was always the same: 'The living are few, but the dead are many.' She could not find a single household that had not been touched by death.

Stage of QuestKisa Gotami's ActionThe Outcome/Lesson
Initial GriefAsks neighbors for medicine for her dead son.Neighbors pity her but realize she is in denial of death.
The Buddha's TaskSearches for mustard seeds from a deathless home.Realizes that every family has suffered loss.
AwakeningWatches city lights flicker and go out.Understands that human lives also flicker and extinguish.

Pause & Try

Think it through first. Writing and checking your answer is free with an account.

Question

What condition did the Buddha place on the mustard seeds Kisa Gotami was to collect?

Sign in to see the answer

Write your own answer and compare it with ours. It’s free.

Sign inNew here? Sign up free

NCERT reference: chapter PDF page 2.

04 · Explore

The Universal Nature of Death

Through her failure to find the mustard seeds, Kisa Gotami realizes that death is a common fate for all living beings.

Unable to find a household untouched by death, Kisa Gotami sits beside the road and notices lights appearing and going out. This image helps her recognise that her loss is not the only loss in the world. The narrative moves from her individual search to an understanding of a shared human experience.

The sermon compares mortality with ripe fruit that may fall and earthen vessels that eventually break. These comparisons make an abstract truth concrete. Their purpose is to explain the limits of human control, not to suggest that a loved person matters no more than an object.

Kisa calls her earlier focus selfish, but that word belongs to her reflection in the account. It should not become our judgment of people who are grieving. The lesson about universality can be explained compassionately: recognising others’ suffering may help her feel less alone.

Explain a comparison

Earthen vessel → fragility → mortality

An earthen vessel may be strong enough for daily use and still be breakable. The sermon uses this familiar image to explain that life is vulnerable. This is literary explanation, not a prediction of when anyone will die.

Pause & Try

Think it through first. Writing and checking your answer is free with an account.

Question

How does the Buddha describe the life of mortals in this world?

Sign in to see the answer

Write your own answer and compare it with ours. It’s free.

Sign inNew here? Sign up free

NCERT reference: chapter PDF pages 2, 3.

05 · Explore

Attaining Peace of Mind

The sermon describes peace as a movement towards understanding and acceptance, using the image of removing an arrow.

The Buddha’s teaching in this passage is that lamenting cannot reverse death. The arrow image presents overwhelming sorrow as a wound from which the sufferer seeks relief. Explain the image as the sermon’s spiritual teaching, rather than a medical instruction or a demand for instant calm. In the sermon, the arrow includes lamentation, complaint and grief.

Acceptance does not mean that the child was unimportant or that tears are wrong. People respond to loss in different ways and may need time, companionship and support. The source’s additional grief readings also show varied responses. A child studying the chapter should not conclude that sadness makes someone weak or selfish.

Pause & Try

Think it through first. Writing and checking your answer is free with an account.

Question

Does explaining the sermon mean saying people must never cry?

Sign in to see the answer

Write your own answer and compare it with ours. It’s free.

Sign inNew here? Sign up free

Question

How does the arrow image help explain the teaching?

Sign in to see the answer

Write your own answer and compare it with ours. It’s free.

Sign inNew here? Sign up free

NCERT reference: chapter PDF pages 3, 5.

The rest of this chapter

Keep reading The Sermon at Benares, free

  1. Locked: 1. Poem: For Anne Gregory
  2. Locked: 2. For Anne Gregory: Follow the Three Replies
  3. Locked: 3. Literary Style and Devices
  4. Locked: 4. Answer Writing: Analyzing Themes

Create a free account and you will continue right here, at the next section. You also get Joy, your AI tutor, a practice quiz, chapter videos and the NCERT chapter itself.

Continue reading — freeAlready have an account? Log in

All Class 10 English chapters