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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What relationship does Chodron claim we are predisposed to have with others?
(a) Relationships always take hard work, and we certainly are not predisposed to live easily with others.
(b) Just as we connect with our caretakers in infancy, we would naturally connect with others if we remained egoless, but this is lost in early childhood.
(c) Though relationships are unnatural, and love does not always flow freely, we can nourish these sentiments.
(d) All beings are predisposed to waking up and reaching out to others.

2. What is the compassionate aspiration that the author begins with as she begins to teach?
(a) The wish that her students can apply the teachings to free themselves and others from suffering.
(b) The aspiration that her students enjoy their class as much as she enjoys teaching.
(c) She expresses her wish to introduce her students to ideas that will open their minds to a new kind of Buddhist thought.
(d) The desire to help all of her students to feel enough compassion for themselves that the students can reach Nirvana.

3. Where does Chodron write that she got her idea of what was real as she grew up in the 1950s?
(a) School.
(b) Her family.
(c) Television.
(d) Church.

4. What does the author claim that sitting meditation cultivates?
(a) Freedom from emotion.
(b) Loving-kindness.
(c) Fear.
(d) Body aches.

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

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

7. How does the author claim that aspirations and affirmations differ?
(a) Chodron claims that they are not different.
(b) Chodron argues that affirmations and aspirations can be used interchangeably in meditation.
(c) Chodron writes that in one we try to convince ourselves of something, and in the other we aim to open our hearts.
(d) Chodron claims that aspirations have long been used by Buddhists, but affiirmations have been scientifically studied and documented more.

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

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

10. According to Chodron, what two things do all those who set out on this path discover that we all have?
(a) Neurosis and wisdom.
(b) Anxiety and attention problems.
(c) Changing emotions and difficulty focusing.
(d) Difficulty in life and diminished hope for the future.

11. How many steps does the aspiration practice for compassion have?
(a) Seven.
(b) Four.
(c) Three.
(d) Five.

12. 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 are unable to access our feelings in a meaningful way.
(c) We can hurt others.
(d) We can increase our suffering.

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

14. Where did Atisha Dipankara take the bodhichitta teachings?
(a) From India to Tibet.
(b) From India to Latin America.
(c) From Tibet to Japan.
(d) From China to India.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Chodron warn that we become habituated to doing?

2. What are the three lords of materialism?

3. What does the author recommend that we do with our sorrow?

4. Which does Chodron consider more emotionally challenging: loving-kindness or compassion?

5. What did the nineteenth century yogi Patrul Rinpiche suggest we do to train in compassion?

(see the answer keys)

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