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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What relationship does Chodron claim we are predisposed to have with others?
(a) 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.
(b) Relationships always take hard work, and we certainly are not predisposed to live easily with others.
(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 first lord of materialism?
(a) Personal style.
(b) Sensuality.
(c) Form.
(d) Function.

3. What is the main point of the formal practice of maitri?
(a) To love freely and ask nothing in return.
(b) To uncover the ability to love without bias.
(c) To give up our independence to join a community.
(d) To withdraw from the noise of our daily lives.

4. What are the four qualities of maitri?
(a) Steadfastness, clear seeing, experiencing our emotional distress, and attention to the present moment..
(b) Frivolity, materialism, self-absorption, and disinterest in others.
(c) Hope, relaxation, aspiration, and generosity.
(d) Our innate talents, meditation, generosity, and kindness.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. Why does Chodron work with aspirations?

2. Which of the following does Chodron recommend?

3. According to Chodron, what happens when we consciously try to fix faults in ourselves?

4. According to Chodron, what two things do all those who set out on this path discover that we all have?

5. What does the author call "those who train wholeheartedly in awakening unconditional and relative bodhichitta"?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did the nineteenth century yogi Patrul Rinpoche suggest arousing compassion?

2. What do the vajrayana Buddhists believe about emotions?

3. What ways does Chodron write that meditation can be misused?

4. Why does Chodron describe the experience of a young woman who was in a foreign country, surrounded by people throwing stones at her?

5. What is tonglen?

6. What is the role of interconnectedness in the kind of training that Chodron proposes?

7. Why does the author include an anecdote about finding her boyfriend "passionately embracing another woman"?

8. Why does Pema Chodron argue that most of us sow the seeds of our own suffering?

9. What does the slogan "train in three difficulties" mean?

10. What does the Buddhist teaching tell us that all other beings have been over the course of many lifetimes?

(see the answer keys)

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