CBSE Class 10, English, "THE SERMON AT BENARES" MCQ, Short Answers, Long Answers, Extra Questions

CBSE, Class 10, The First Flight, Les

The Sermon at Benares

Extract based MCQ, Short Answers and Long Answer

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 Read the extract carefully and select the most suitable answer from the choices given:

1. " They had a son and lived for ten years as befitted royalty. At about the age of twenty -five, the Prince, heretofore shielded from the sufferings of the world, while out hunting chanced upon a sick man, then an aged man then a funeral procession, and finally a monk begging for alms."

1. " They " here refers to..........

(a)  Father and mother of Buddha

(b)  The men who participated the funeral procession 

(c)  A sick man and an aged man

(d)  Siddhartha and his wife

 

2. " lived as befitted royalty " What does it mean ?

(a) lived not to be fit for a royal standard

(b) lived gloomily as there were full of sufferings

(c) lived enjoying all the facilities of the royal court

(d) lived uncaring the downtrodden

 

3. "They heretofore shielded from the sufferings of the world". Why ?

(a) In the Palace there had no sufferings, so  they did not know what sufferings

      were.

(b) They were Prince and his wife, so they didn't want to meet the poor people

(c) They didn't want to be in the Palace and enjoy the pleasure of the Royal

      kingdom

(d) They were very good people, so they shielded away from the suffering.

 

4. When did Buddha get chance to meet a sick man, and funeral procession ?

(a) when he was tending his horses.

(b) When he was hunting animals and birds.

(c) When a monk told begged him for alms.

(d) When he was enlightened, he understood all.

 

Answers:  1,(d).     2,(c).     3,(a).     4,(b).

 

2.  " These sights so moved him that he at once went out into the world to seek enlightenment concerning the sorrows he had witnessed. He wondered for seven years and finally sat down under a peepal  tree, where he vowed to stay until enlightenment came ". 

1. "These sights so moved him".  What did he feel after seeing those sights?

(a) He wanted to move away from those sights

(b) He felt sad after watching those sights

(c) He was angry  and shouted at the ministers

(d) Those sights moved one by one as in a screen

 

2. What are the sights mentioned here?

(a) The sights of the palace and its richness.

(b) The sights of animals and birds which are going to be killed

(c) The sights of sufferings of the destitute and deceased persons

(d) The sights of peepal tree forest.

 

3. What do you mean by the word "enlightenment" ?

(a) It is nothing but darkness and suffering  of the world.

(b) The act of giving light during the night

(c) It means possessing a state of high spiritual knowledge   

(d) possessing highest degrees from the top most universities

 

4. What vow did he take ?

(a) He vowed to rule his kingdom as long as he could

(b) He vowed to sit under a peepal tree  until he was enlightened.

(c) He vowed that he would help the poorest of poor till his death

(d) He vowed nothing but to capture his enemy kingdoms

 

Answers:  1,(b).     2,(c).     3,(c).     4,(b).

3.  "At that point he became known as the Buddha. The Buddha preached his first sermon at the city of Benares, most holy of the dipping places on the river Ganges; that sermon has been preserved and is given here. it reflects the Buddha's wisdom about one inscrutable kind of suffering"

1. What is the meaning of the name "Buddha" ?

(a) a sage

(b) a monk

(c) a prince

(d) the enlightened

 

2. What do you mean by "Sermon" ?

(a) A place in Benares

(b) Religious or moral talk

(c) Voluntary help

(d) None of the above

 

3. What is the meaning of "The dipping places" ?

(a) A place where we can dip or hide our things

(b) A place from where one can get knowledge

(c) A place where people bathing

(d) A place where kings keep their treasure.

 

4. What is "inscrutable kind of suffering" ?

(a) Suffering that can't be understood easily.

(b) Suffering that can be digested easily

(c) A pretended suffering for material  benefit

(d) A blissful state of suffering.

 

Answers: 1,(d).     2,(b).     3,(c).     4,(a).

 

4. "At length Kisa Gotami met a man who replied to her request, "I cannot give thee medicine for thy child, but I know a physician who can." And the girl said , "Pray tell me, sir; who is it ?" And the man replied, "Go to Sakyamuni, the Buddha". Kisa Gotami repaired to the Buddha".

 

1. What did Kisa Gotami ask to the man?

(a) She asked him some alms to buy medicine for her child

(b)She asked him to get away  from her way

(c) She asked him the address of Buddha

(d) She asked him some medicine to alive her child

 

2. What did the man suggest to Kisa Gotami ?

(a) He suggested to bury the child in a grave yard

(b) He suggested the name of a great doctor

(c) He suggested to take the child to a good hospital

(d) He suggested not to cry as death was common to all

 

3. What is the meaning of the word "repaired" ?

(a) it means rectified the defect by repairing

(b) It means crying aloud uncontrollably

(c) It means she went to Buddha

(d) it means nothing but a stylistic way of talking

 

4. What happened to her child?

(a)The boy was dead

(b) The boy got an accident

(c) The boy was suffering from high fever

(d) The boy was made to fear by a cruel ghost.

 

Answers: 1,(d).     2,(b).     3,(c).     4,(a)

 

5. "And she thought to herself, "How selfish am I in my grief ! Death is common to all; yet in this valley of desolation there is a path that leads him to immortality who has surrendered all selfishness"

1. What sort of selfishness mentioned here?

(a) She thought that her son should not die, though death is common to all.

(b) She thought that she should be very rich and no one should defeat her.

(c) She thought that it was the duty of the God to protect her

(d) She thought that she was not a selfless lady

 

2. What is common to all ?

(a) Right to live

(b) Right to vote

(c) Death

(d) Equality

 

3. What do you mean by "Valley of desolation"

(a) An area where the rich are tightly packed

(b) An area which is filled with deep sorrow

(c)  An area where contented lives are blossomed

(d) A detached area of a deserted valley 

 

4. How can one be immortal ?

(a) By doing good work for the society

(b) By helping the destitute and the poor

(c) By loving all the neighbors thinking nothing

(d) By surrendering all elfishness.

 

Answer: 1,(a).     2,(c).     3,(b).      4,(d).

 

Short answers

1. Who was Buddha? How was his early life?

Answer: Buddha was the son of a King. He was born in 563 B.C. His name was Siddhartha Gautama. During his schooling, he learnt the Hindu sacred scriptures. Then he married a princess. They had a son. He lived in his palace for ten years as befitted royalty.

 

2. When did he first meet the suffering people of the world ?

Answer: One day he went out for hunting where he met a sick man, an aged man and also witnessed a funeral procession. All of them were very sad. It was a new experience to him and he was moved a lot.

 

3.  Where did Buddha preach his first sermon?
Answer: Buddha preached his first sermon at the city of Benares, particularly on the bank of the holy bathing places of  the river Ganges.

 

4. Why was Kisa Gotami sad ? What did she do to overcome her grief ?

Answer: Kisa Gotami was sad over the death of her only son. She couldn't bear her grief. She also believed that some physician could help her by giving some effective medicine. she went from house to house searching medicine, but she couldn't get. one man told her to meet Sakyamuni, the Buddha. She did so. From him she could get a psychological treatment, that reduced her grief.

 

5. What did Buddha ask her to bring him ? Did she bring what he had asked ?

Answer: Buddha asked her to bring him a handful of mustard seed from a house where no one had lost a child, husband, parent or friend. She went from house to house where nobody had died. She couldn't find even a single house in such a type. Then she understood that death was common to all.

6. How did Kisa Gotami realise that death is a truth?       

 Answer: Kisa Gotami went from house to house but was unable to find one house where nobody had died. She was tired and hopeless. She sat down at the roadside watching the lights of the city that they flickered up and extinguished. She realized that similar to the city lights human lives also flickered up for some time and put off. The death is the only truth in the world.

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7. The Buddha said, ‘The world is afflicted with death and decay, therefore the wise do not grieve", Explain.

Answer: Death is common to all the living beings. Living beings are mortal, death is inevitable to all. It is a harsh reality and a natural phenomenon. Therefore, The wise will not cry over death. we all have to accept this universal truth. 

 
8. Mention an incident which made Siddhartha to become a beggar?
Answer: Once Siddhartha went for hunting where he came across a monk asking for alms. Unable to understand the sufferings of the monk, he became a beggar like the monk whom he met and went in search of spiritual knowledge to understand the cause of suffering.

9. What does the Buddha want teach Kisa Gotami ? 

 Answer: Buddha wants to teach Kisa Gotami that death is common to all and no one can escape from the hands of death. So the wise men will not cry  if death grips its icy hands on their  kith and kin

 

10. What does Kisa Gotami learn in the end ? 
Answer: In the end, Kisa Gotami digests that death is common to all and that no one can escape from it. The wise people will accept this truth, that the death is a real one. The wise will seek for inner peace instead of material benefits.

 

11. What did the Buddha do after he had attained enlightenment ?

Answer: After Buddha was enlightened, he set out to share the truth for relieving the pain of death. Life and death are a cyclic processes. One can get real happiness by attaining inner peace.

Long answer

1. What was Buddha's vision on death ?

Answer: All living beings are mortals. They will die by and large. But they do not know that they are going to die. They look over the dead bodies and lament deeply because they are ignorant about death. One by one  mortals are carried off, like an ox that is led to the slaughter house.

So the world is afflicted with death and decay. The wise do not grieve because they know that death is unavoidable. No one can get peace of mind by grieving and crying. If they cry, their pain will be greater and their body will suffer a lot. They will make themselves sick and pale. No dead is saved by their lamentation. we have to compose ourselves to obtain peace of mind. if we overcome all sorrows, we will be free from sorrows and we will be blessed.
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