Describe Kisa Gotami's realization while sitting at the wayside watching the city lights. What comparison did she make between the lights and human lives?
Answer
Kisa Gotami observed that human lives flicker up and are extinguished just like the city lights, making her realize that death is common to all and grief is selfish.
Step-by-step solution
- Describe the setting: Exhausted and helpless after finding death in every house, Kisa Gotami sat down by the roadside at nightfall.
- Detail her observation: She watched the lights of the city flickering up and then being extinguished into complete darkness.
- Explain the comparison: She realized that human lives are just like those lights—they shine for a brief time and are then extinguished by death.
- Conclude with her philosophical shift: She realized that her grief had made her selfish, as death is an unavoidable fate shared by every mortal being.
Common mistake: Describing the physical action of watching the city lights without explaining the internal spiritual epiphany Kisa Gotami had about human mortality.
Concept tested: Kisa Gotami's epiphany through city lights
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Related questions
- 1 In his sermon, what two analogies does the Buddha use to describe the mortality of human beings? Explain the significance of each analogy.
- 2 Analyse how the poet creates a contrast between the Buddha’s teachings and the materialistic world in "The Sermon at Benares".
- 3 Why did the Buddha ask Kisa Gotami to bring a handful of mustard seeds specifically from a house where no one had lost a child, parent, brother, or friend?
- 4 In the line “The world is a … of shadows”, the word that best fits the blank is:
- 5 According to the sermon delivered by Buddha at Benares, how does lamenting over the death of a loved one affect a person, and how can one attain peace of mind?
- 6 According to the chapter 'The Sermon at Benares', which four sights did Prince Siddhartha encounter while out hunting that moved him to renounce his royal life?