The Sermon at Benares
The Buddha's path to enlightenment
Retell how Siddhartha became the Buddha.
What is a sermon? A sermon is a religious or moral talk. We also use the word jokingly: 'my mother's sermon about doing my work on time'.
A protected prince. Siddhartha Gautama (563–483 B.C.) was born a prince in northern India. He studied, married a princess, had a son, and lived royally, kept away from the world's suffering.
Four sights. At about twenty-five, out hunting, he saw:
- a sick man;
- an old man;
- a funeral procession;
- a monk begging for alms (food or money given to the poor).
These sights moved him so much that he left home to understand sorrow.
Enlightenment. He wandered for seven years. Then he sat under a peepal tree and vowed to stay until he understood. After seven days he was enlightened. He named the tree the Bodhi Tree (Tree of Wisdom) and became the Buddha, 'the Awakened' or 'the Enlightened'.
The first sermon. He gave his first sermon at Benares (Varanasi), 'most holy of the dipping places on the River Ganges'. Our lesson tells that sermon, about one kind of suffering that is hard to understand: losing someone you love.
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