About The Sermon at Benares.
The Sermon at Benares,” a prose piece by Betty Renshaw, is part of the First Flight collection and discusses one of the most significant teachings of Lord Buddha. This chapter highlights Buddha’s deep wisdom and the timeless lessons he imparted to humanity, particularly through the story of Kisa Gotami, a grieving mother who learns a powerful lesson about life, death, and the cycle of existence.
The Sermon at Benares is a narrative that explains a pivotal moment in the life of Lord Buddha, where he imparts a valuable teaching to a grieving mother, Kisa Gotami.
Summary:
Lord Buddha, originally born as Prince Siddhārtha Gautama, led a life of luxury, shielded from the world’s suffering. However, after encountering sickness, old age, death, and a monk, he left his royal life to seek the truth about human suffering. After years of meditation and contemplation under the Bodhi tree, he attained enlightenment and became known as the Buddha.
One day, he delivered a sermon in Benares, where he met a grieving mother, Kisa Gotami, who had just lost her only son. In her grief, Kisa sought out Buddha, hoping that he could bring her son back to life. Buddha, understanding her sorrow, sent her on a quest to find mustard seeds from a family who had never experienced death.
Kisa, full of hope, went from house to house, but she could not find any such family. Eventually, she realized that death is an inevitable part of life, and everyone, regardless of their status or wealth, must face it. This realization helped her to accept the natural cycle of life and death, and she was freed from her grief.
Lesson from the Sermon:
The sermon teaches that suffering and grief are part of the human experience, but one must come to terms with the impermanence of life. By accepting the inevitability of death, individuals can alleviate unnecessary sorrow and live more peacefully. Buddha emphasized the importance of understanding the natural cycles of life and death in order to find true peace and happiness.
Conclusion:
In this chapter, the teachings of Lord Buddha are imparted to Kisa Gotami, leading her to overcome her grief and accept the reality of life and death. The story highlights the Buddhist philosophy of accepting suffering as a part of life and finding peace through understanding and wisdom.
Summary
The poem “Anne Gregory” by W.B. Yeats very well. The poem is indeed structured as a conversation between the poet and Anne Gregory, where the poet reflects on how people often fall in love with the external, physical beauty of a person, particularly Anne’s beautiful golden hair. He suggests that no one truly loves her for her inner self, as her outward appearance captures their attention.
Anne, in the second stanza, expresses that she can change her physical appearance, implying that external beauty is temporary and superficial. She hopes that the love she receives will be based on her true inner nature rather than her physical attributes.
The poet, in the final stanza, responds by saying that only God has the ability to love us for who we truly are, beyond the superficial. Human love, he suggests, is always drawn to outward beauty, while divine love appreciates the essence of a person.
This conversation touches on deep philosophical themes about love, appearance, and the importance of inner qualities, concluding with the idea that true love, the kind that looks beyond the surface, is divine and not human.