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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Why does Chodron work with aspirations?
(a) "We may not be able to change our circumstances, but we can think differently always."
(b) "Aspirations keep us on track when our minds seem to want to run wild."
(c) "Aspirations are an ancient tradition, created by true spiritual leaders."
(d) "The best way to serve ourselves is to love and care for others."

2. How does Chitta translate?
(a) As relaxation.
(b) As love, heart, and affection.
(c) As mind, heart, or attitude.
(d) As mind or thought.

3. What does the author compare with the rawness of a broken heart?
(a) Yoga.
(b) Nirvana.
(c) Bodhichitta.
(d) Meditation.

4. What does the author claim that lojong slogans or the slogans of Atisha can help us do?
(a) Remember wisdom at emotional moments.
(b) Learn to meditate in less time than any other method.
(c) Become a true warrior.
(d) Understand the nature of love.

5. What are the four limitless qualities?
(a) Change, Suffering, discomfort, and lack.
(b) Loving-kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity.
(c) Hope, generosity, love, and relaxation.
(d) Material things, ideas, barriers of the self, and barriers of others.

6. What is the first stage of the formal practice of maitri?
(a) Standing in the first yoga position.
(b) Decide that we will do no harm.
(c) Engendering loving-kindness for ourselves.
(d) Closing our eyes, and taking a deep breath to relax the body.

7. What does Chodron believe that the teaching of the three marks of existence can motivate us to do?
(a) "Understand the nature of love."
(b) "Stop struggling against the nature of reality."
(c) "Meditate well from the moment we begin."
(d) "Accept spiritual teachings."

8. In practicing compassion, who is the first person we aspire to feel compassion for?
(a) Ourselves.
(b) Our families.
(c) People we do not know.
(d) Our enemies.

9. According to Chodron, what happens when we consciously try to fix faults in ourselves?
(a) We may have positive results, but they are uncertain.
(b) We can increase our suffering.
(c) We are unable to access our feelings in a meaningful way.
(d) We can hurt others.

10. Who taught that there are three principal characteristics of human existence?
(a) Buddha.
(b) Martin Luther King.
(c) Mother Teresa.
(d) Chodron.

11. What does the author claim that bodhichitta training unlocks?
(a) Our innate ability to relax.
(b) The four limitless qualities.
(c) Our feeling of happiness.
(d) Our own deepest needs.

12. What is the traditional aspiration used in formal maitri training?
(a) "My life and my joy is my responsibility."
(b) "May I and others enjoy happiness and the root of happiness."
(c) "May I create joy in my own life, and rejoice in the happiness that I see in the lives of others."
(d) "There are no problems that I must solve."

13. What does Chodron believe that we should do with the emotions related to our experiences?
(a) Pretend that we feel positive, until it becomes our true feeling.
(b) Become intimate with them.
(c) Ignore them.
(d) We should notice the ways in which we can alter our circumstances to make ourselves happy.

14. What does the author claim "cannot proliferate" without our thoughts?
(a) The humiliation of past mistakes.
(b) Misunderstandings.
(c) Emotions.
(d) Poor relationships.

15. What insight did the woman give whom the author mentions is constantly on a diet?
(a) Addictions are divided along gender lines.
(b) Some addictions are widely considered healthy.
(c) All addictions address the same emotional needs.
(d) Addictions temporarily relieve suffering.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does the author claim Martin Luther King is an example of?

2. Which answer completes the following quote? "If this process of clear seeing isn't based on self-compassion it will become a process of ______."

3. What does the author experience after finding her boyfriend "passionately embracing" another woman?

4. What are the three noble principles?

5. What does Chodron claim we cultivate through making aspirations?

(see the answer keys)

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