The Sermon at Benares

Gautama Buddha (563 B.C.–483 B.C.) was born a prince named Siddhartha Gautama in northern India. At twelve he studied Hindu scriptures; at sixteen he married and lived ten years in royal comfort. At about twenty-five, while hunting, he saw a sick man, an aged man, a funeral procession, and a begging monk. Deeply moved, he left palace life to seek enlightenment about human suffering.

Gautama Buddha began life as Prince Siddhartha Gautama in northern India. Educated in sacred scriptures and married young, he lived as royalty until the age of about twenty-five. While out hunting he chanced upon a sick man, an old man, a funeral procession, and a monk begging for alms. These sights shook him so deeply that he went out into the world to seek enlightenment concerning the sorrows he had witnessed.

Siddhartha wandered for seven years and finally sat under a peepal tree, vowing to stay until enlightenment came. After seven days he was enlightened, renamed the tree the Bodhi Tree (Tree of Wisdom), and began to teach. He became known as the Buddha - the Awakened or the Enlightened One.

For seven years Siddhartha wandered in search of truth. At last he sat beneath a peepal tree and vowed not to rise until enlightenment came. Enlightened after seven days, he called the tree the Bodhi Tree and began sharing his new understanding. From that moment he was known as the Buddha - the Awakened One.

The Buddha preached his first sermon at Benares, the holiest dipping place on the River Ganges. That sermon, preserved in this chapter, reflects his wisdom about a kind of suffering that is hard to understand - the grief that follows death.

The Buddha delivered his first sermon at Benares, regarded as the most holy of the bathing places on the Ganges. The sermon preserved here reflects the Buddha's wisdom about one inscrutable kind of suffering - the pain of losing those we love and the illusion that our grief is unique.

Kisa Gotami had an only son who died. In her grief she carried the dead child from house to house asking for medicine. People pitied her but said she had lost her senses - the boy was dead. At length a man told her to go to Sakyamuni, the Buddha, who alone could help.

Kisa Gotami's only son died, and in her desperation she carried the dead child to her neighbours begging for medicine. People said she had lost her senses because the boy was already dead. Finally a man directed her to Sakyamuni, the Buddha, saying he was the physician who could cure her sorrow.

Kisa Gotami begged the Buddha for medicine to cure her boy. He asked for a handful of mustard-seed - but only from a house where no child, husband, parent or friend had ever died. Hopeful, she went from door to door. People offered mustard-seed, yet every house had known death. There was no house where some beloved one had not died.

When Kisa Gotami cried to the Buddha for medicine, he told her to bring a handful of mustard-seed from a home untouched by death - no lost child, husband, parent or friend. She went eagerly from house to house. Though people gave her mustard-seed, each family admitted that death had visited them. She found no house free from loss.

Weary and hopeless, Kisa Gotami sat by the wayside watching city lights flicker and go out. She saw that human lives, too, flare up and are extinguished. She thought: 'How selfish am I in my grief! Death is common to all.' In this valley of desolation there is a path to immortality for one who surrenders all selfishness.

Exhausted, Kisa Gotami sat at the roadside watching lamps flicker up and die in the darkness. She understood that mortal lives rise and fall in the same way. She realised how selfish her grief had been - death is common to all. Yet even in this valley of desolation there is a path leading to peace for those who surrender selfish sorrow.

The Buddha taught that mortal life is troubled, brief, and full of pain. No one who is born can avoid dying. Like ripe fruit or earthen pots, all mortals are subject to death. Relatives may lament, but weeping cannot save the dead or bring peace. The wise draw out the arrow of lamentation and complaint; overcoming sorrow, they obtain peace of mind and are blessed.

The Buddha declared that the life of mortals is troubled, brief, and combined with pain. Death comes to all - young and old, wise and foolish. While kinsmen lament, mortals are carried off one by one like oxen to slaughter. Grieving cannot obtain peace; it only increases suffering. He who would be free must draw out the arrow of lamentation and become composed; then he overcomes sorrow and is blessed.