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The Sermon at Benares: Betty Renshaw

This document provides biographical information about Betty Renshaw Barber and summarizes the key points of Gautama Buddha's life and teachings. It describes how he was born a prince but left his royal life at age 25 after seeing human suffering. He wandered for seven years seeking enlightenment and gained enlightenment under a peepal tree. His first sermon was delivered in Benares and taught that death is inevitable for all and the way to find peace is to accept this truth and overcome sorrow and grief.

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Rohan Mehta
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13K views14 pages

The Sermon at Benares: Betty Renshaw

This document provides biographical information about Betty Renshaw Barber and summarizes the key points of Gautama Buddha's life and teachings. It describes how he was born a prince but left his royal life at age 25 after seeing human suffering. He wandered for seven years seeking enlightenment and gained enlightenment under a peepal tree. His first sermon was delivered in Benares and taught that death is inevitable for all and the way to find peace is to accept this truth and overcome sorrow and grief.

Uploaded by

Rohan Mehta
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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THE SERMON AT BENARES

Betty Renshaw
The Sermon at Benares
The Sermon at Benares

About the author :-


Betty Renshaw Barber
Clinton, MS

Betty Louise Renshaw Barber was born in Shannon,


Mississippi on September 3, 1927, to P. C. and Lillian
Renshaw. After graduating valedictorian from
Shannon High School, she went on to obtain her
Bachelor of Arts degree from Mississippi College,
and later a Master of Arts from Mississippi University
for Women. She taught at the preschool level for
several years, and eventually, she was able to pass
her experiences on to others by teaching preschool
teachers.
Betty married Joseph Henry Barber, Jr. on December
23, 1950. They were married for 61 years.
The Sermon at Benares

❖Gautama Buddha (563 B.C. – 483 B.C.) began


life as a prince named Siddhartha Gautama.
❖At the age of 12 he started his schooling in
sacred Hindu scriptures and four years later he
was married to Yashodhara, a princess.
❖At the age of 25 , while out hunting he came
across a sick man, than an aged man , a monk
begging for alms and finally a funeral.
Sorrow

Old Age and


Illness
Pain

Funeral
The Sermon at Benares

❖These sights moved him so much that he at once


went out to seek enlightenment about the sorrows he
had seen.
❖After wandering for seven years, he finally set under
a peepal tree and got enlightenment, and came to be
known as Buddha.
❖He preached his sermon at Benares, the most holy
dipping place on river Ganga.
❖The sermon reflects the Buddha’s wisdom about
one mysterious kind of suffering.
INTRODUCTION
• Sermon is a religious talk delivered by any prophet or Saint.
Here we have the journey of Goutam Buddha from prince
hood to his saintly life.
• He left the palace at the age of 25, after seeing the sufferings
of the world, to seek enlightenment.
• He wandered for seven years, here and there, and under a
peepal tree at Bodhgaya he got it.
• His first sermon was delivered at Benaras as it was
considered to be the holiest place because of the river Ganga.
• He thought that he who seeks peace should draw out the
arrow of lamentation, complaint and grief.
• He who has drawn out the arrow has become composed, and
will obtain peace of mind; he who has overcome all will be free
from sorrow and be blessed.
KEYPOINTS
• This lesson tells us about the life of Gautama Buddha, who
was born in a royal family as Siddhartha.
• Once he saw a funeral processing, and monk begging for the
alms.
• These sights moved them a lot and he decided to become a
monk and started moving in search of enlightenment.
• He started meditation under a peepal tree and after seven
days he got enlightenment and he became known as the
Buddha (the Awakened or the Enlightened).
KEYPOINTS
• He preached his first sermon at Benares.
• Once a woman came to him requesting to bring her dead son
to life.
• Gautama Buddha asked the lady to bring handful of mustard
seeds from the house were there had been no death.
• The lady moved from one house to another but she could not
find a single house where no one has lost a child, husband,
parents or friend.
• Then she came to know that death common to all and is the
ultimate truth.
SUMMARY
• Sermon is a religious talk delivered by a prophet or Saint.
• Here we have the journey of Goutam Buddha from prince
hood to his saintly life.
• He left the palace at the age of 25, after seeing the sufferings
of the world, to seek enlightenment. He wandered for seven
years, here and there, and under a peepal tree at Bodhgaya
he got it.
• His first sermon was delivered at Benaras as it was
considered to be the holiest place because of the river Ganga.
SUMMARY
• He thinks that he who seeks peace should draw out the arrow
of lamentation, complaint and grief.
• He who has drawn out the arrow has become composed, and
will obtain peace of mind; he who has overcome all such
circumstances will be free from sorrow and be blessed.
Kisa Gautami
• Kisa Gautami was grieving over the death of her son.
• She moved from door to door and at last came to Buddha.
• She made him a humble request to make her son alive.
Buddha said he would do but he asked a handful of mustard
seeds.
• He further commanded it must be taken from a house where
no one had lost a child, husband, parent or friend.
Kisa Gautami
• She went from house to house but was unable to find one
where nobody had died.
• She was tired and hopeless and sat down at the wayside
watching the light of the city as they flickered up.
• And she realized that these lives flicker up for some time and
are extinguished again
• This way she was taught that the lives of mortals in this world
are troubled and brief and there is no means by which one
can avoid deaths.
• As all earthen vessels made by the potter are being broken,
so is the life of mortals. Death is inevitable.

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