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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Who are the best teachers in teaching us to rejoice in the good fortune of others?
(a) People with power over us.
(b) Difficult people.
(c) Children.
(d) The elderly.

2. What does the author claim that thoughts become with time?
(a) "Convoluted."
(b) "More and more separate from others."
(c) "More and more clear."
(d) "100 percent believable."

3. What happened to the woman who gave a panhandler a bill outside of a store?
(a) He fell down and she had to care for him.
(b) Her husband was passing by and saw this.
(c) He came to her aid when she had a heart attack.
(d) He told her she may have given him too much.

4. What is overwhelm?
(a) Resentment.
(b) "A holier-than-thou attitude."
(c) Boredom.
(d) "A sense of helplessness."

5. What is Chodron's tone in Chapter 15?
(a) Passionate.
(b) Hurried.
(c) Straightforward.
(d) Hatful.

6. What does Chodron write about categorizing things into "for" and "against"?
(a) Harder than focusing exclusively on the negative.
(b) Efficient.
(c) Making it more difficult to find joy.
(d) Narrowing the mind.

7. How many near enemies of compassion are there?
(a) Five.
(b) Three.
(c) One.
(d) None.

8. What did Geshe Ben do after a meal with his patrons?
(a) Got caught swimming in the pool.
(b) Was found cooking.
(c) Got caught with his hand in a flour bag.
(d) Was seen using the bathroom.

9. What is the "seed of goodness"?
(a) Packets of seeds.
(b) Fatigue.
(c) Hope and love.
(d) Openness and tenderness.

10. What does Chodron write that a woman she knew did in traffic?
(a) A consistent 45 minute formal aspiration practice.
(b) "Sitting commute meditation."
(c) A daily negativity "detox."
(d) "Traffic of tonglen."

11. How does Chodron view strength from a historical perspective?
(a) She does not touch on this theme.
(b) She writes that strength came more naturally to spiritual teachers in other time periods.
(c) She argues that there has not been a change over time.
(d) Chodron writes that it is easier to access strength in the modern world.

12. Why can our good fortune be hard to miss?
(a) Because it is not "our habitual human behavior."
(b) Because it is easier to focus on negativity.
(c) Because of its "ordinariness."
(d) Because society pressures us to have so much that we focus on our lack.

13. What is the pirate's name in the traditional Buddhist story about a ship captain and a pirate?
(a) Lewis.
(b) Angry Spearman.
(c) Erik the Enojar.
(d) Bearded Bar.

14. What is the name of the ship captain in traditional Buddhist stories?
(a) Rudolf.
(b) Compassionate Heart.
(c) Prat.
(d) Scholarly Sam.

15. What is the second stage in learning to rejoice?
(a) To rejoice about the simplest things possible.
(b) To take time to truly enjoy aspects our routine that are the most normal.
(c) To take joy in our relationships.
(d) To rejoice in the good fortune of another.

Short Answer Questions

1. What sense is associated with "loss of heart"?

2. Which of the following is one of the three kinds of laziness?

3. What is most important in doing good deeds?

4. What does Chondron claim is the essence of generosity?

5. What is threefold purity?

(see the answer keys)

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