Extract based questions based on the lesson “The Sermon at Benares” given here to help students assess their preparation level. You can also see other sources for CBSE class 10 English.
The Sermon at Benares – Extract Based MCQs
🟡 Passage 1
“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 and cried, ‘Lord and Master, give me the medicine that will cure my boy.’
The Buddha answered, ‘I want a handful of mustard seeds.’ And when the girl in her joy promised to procure it, the Buddha added, ‘The mustard-seed must be taken from a house where no one has lost a child, husband, parent or friend.’ “
Q1. Why was Kisa Gotami seeking medicine for her boy?
A. Her son was crippled
B. Her son had the plague
C. Her son could not speak
D. Her son was dead
Q2. Which of these two things are true about the man who met Kisa Gotami?
A. He knew someone who could cure her child
B. He spoke very rudely to her
C. He did not have any medicine for her child
D. He was a monk who followed the Buddha
Q3. What is the meaning of the phrase ‘repaired to’?
A. Went to
B. Spoke to
C. Listened to
D. Promised to
Q4. What was Buddha’s intention when he asked Kisa Gotami to collect mustard seeds?
A. To make her realise the kindness of people
B. To preach his wisdom to everyone
C. To look for consolation from people
D. To make Kisa Gotami understand that everyone experiences loss of loved ones
Q5. What did the Buddha ask Kisa Gotami to bring as a cure for her son?
A. A handful of coins
B. Holy water from a river
C. A handful of mustard seeds
D. Some herbs from a physician
🟡 Passage 2
“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.
These sights so moved him that he at once went out into the world to seek enlightenment concerning the sorrows he had witnessed. He wandered for seven years and finally sat down under a peepal tree, where he vowed to stay until enlightenment came. Enlightened after seven days, he renamed the tree the Bodhi Tree (Tree of Wisdom) and began to teach and to share his new understandings.”
Q6. Choose two sights which moved the young prince greatly.
A. An old man
B. A funeral pyre
C. A monk
D. A dead child
Q7. What did the Buddha call the peepal tree after his enlightenment?
A. Tree of Enlightenment
B. Tree of Knowledge
C. Tree of Light
D. Tree of Wisdom
Q8. How many days did the Buddha sit under the peepal tree?
A. Seven days
B. Five days
C. Ten days
D. Eight days
Q9. How old was the Buddha when he went out to seek enlightenment?
A. Twenty-five years
B. Twenty-seven years
C. Twenty years
D. Thirty-two years
Q10. What did the Buddha do after he got enlightenment?
A. He became a leader of the people
B. He sat under the tree for some more time
C. He preached to people what he had understood
D. He went back home
🟡 Passage 3
“Of those who, overcome by death, depart from life, a father cannot save his son, nor kinsmen their relations. Mark! While relatives are looking on and lamenting deeply, one by one mortals are carried off, like an ox that is led to the slaughter. So the world is afflicted with death and decay, therefore the wise do not grieve, knowing the terms of the world.
Not from weeping nor from grieving will anyone obtain peace of mind; on the contrary, his pain will be the greater and his body will suffer. He will make himself sick and pale, yet the dead are not saved by his lamentation. He who seeks peace should draw out the arrow of lamentation, and complaint, and grief. He who has drawn out the arrow and has become composed will obtain peace of mind; he who has overcome all sorrow will become free from sorrow, and be blessed.”
Q11. What happens to the dead while the relatives are lamenting?
A. He is carried off like an ox led to slaughter
B. He is comforted by their lamenting
C. He feels grieved that his relatives are lamenting for him
D. He overcomes death and becomes immortal
Q12. Why do the wise men not grieve?
A. They know that the world is filled with death and decay
B. They are not afraid of death
C. They don’t want to become sick
D. They have no feelings for others
Q13. Which word means the same as ‘expressing grief’?
A. Composed
B. Lamenting
C. Suffer
D. To yell with pain
Q14. Which title best suits this passage?
A. Grief and pain
B. Ways to overcome sorrow
C. The Buddha
D. Death and decay
Q15. How does a person become blessed?
A. By lamenting
B. By weeping for his relatives
C. By praying a lot
D. By overcoming sorrow
🟡 Passage 4
“The Buddha said, ‘The life of mortals in this world is troubled and brief and combined with pain. For there is not any means by which those that have been born can avoid dying, after reaching old age there is death; of such a nature are living beings.
As ripe fruits are early in danger of falling, so mortals when born are always in danger of death. As all earthen vessels made by the potter end in being broken, so is the life of mortals. Both young and adult, both those who are fools and those who are wise, all fall into the power of death; all are subject to death.’”
Q16. Why did the Buddha say that it was not wise to grieve? (Choose two)
A. It will afflict one’s health
B. It will make one bitter
C. It will not bring back the dead
D. It will not make one immortal
Q17. Choose two ways in which the Buddha described the life of mortals.
A. Earthen vessels
B. Mustard seeds
C. Arrows
D. Ripe fruits
Q18. What was the Buddha’s message in the sermon?
A. To achieve immortality, one must overcome selfishness
B. To seek peace, one must overcome grief and suffering
C. To attain enlightenment, one must free oneself from worldly desires
D. To accomplish one’s mission, one must be strong at heart
Q19. Which of these words is a synonym for the word ‘troubled’?
A. Annoyed
B. Disturbed
C. Afraid
D. Confused
Q20. What, according to the Buddha, cannot be avoided by mortals?
A. Grief
B. Suffering
C. Death
D. Pain