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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Who are the two witnesses that Chodron writes about?
(a) The teacher and student.
(b) The male and female.
(c) The self and other.
(d) The inner and outer critic.

2. What does Chodron claim is our relationship to reaching out to others?
(a) She writes that this is our natural inclination.
(b) She argues that there is no point in trying to do this.
(c) She claims that this is always hard work, and never natural for us.
(d) She writes that we can do it only with great effort.

3. What are the three characteristics of human existence?
(a) Mediocrity, disinterest, and distraction.
(b) Change, adaptation, and unsatisfied expectations.
(c) Love, hope, and peace.
(d) Impermanence, egolessness, and suffering.

4. What are the lojong teachings for?
(a) Opening the heart.
(b) Seeking spiritual guidance.
(c) Training the mind.
(d) Finding a good feeling.

5. The author relates the story of a woman who found herself surrounded by people threatening to throw stones. What did she feel in that moment?
(a) Shared humanity.
(b) Joy.
(c) Humiliation.
(d) Stress.

6. What is the fifth step in the formal practice of maitri?
(a) Breathing deeply.
(b) Going from a sitting to standing position.
(c) Teaching others about the process.
(d) Engendering kindness for our enemies.

7. What are the three noble principles?
(a) Love, hope, and generosity.
(b) Good in the beginning, good in the middle, good in the end.
(c) Meditate, exercise, and rest.
(d) Confess your faults, move toward your fears, and release your expectations.

8. What is the first lord of materialism?
(a) Function.
(b) Personal style.
(c) Form.
(d) Sensuality.

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

10. What are the three lords of materialism?
(a) An attachment to status and material goods.
(b) Ways we maintain an "illusion of security."
(c) Obstacles to achieving Nirvana.
(d) Sins.

11. What does the author recommend that we do with our sorrow?
(a) Try to change it.
(b) Sit with it.
(c) Fully focus on it in order to verbalize it.
(d) Master it in order to eliminate it.

12. Which answer completes the following quote? "If this process of clear seeing isn't based on self-compassion it will become a process of ______."
(a) Self-aggression.
(b) Heartbreak.
(c) Losing patience.
(d) Increased tension.

13. Which of the two witnesses does Chodron say we should hold?
(a) "The principal one."
(b) "The first."
(c) "The second."
(d) "The nearest."

14. How many stages are in the formal practice of tonglen?
(a) Two.
(b) Four.
(c) Three.
(d) Five.

15. What hope does Chodron write that we should abandon?
(a) Hope of earning love.
(b) Hope of change.
(c) Hope of growth.
(d) Hope of fruition.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does the author claim that bodhichitta training unlocks?

2. What does Chodron believe that the teaching of the three marks of existence can motivate us to do?

3. How does Bodhi translate?

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

5. What does Chodron write we cannot do without loving-kindness for ourselves?

(see the answer keys)

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