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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. When does karma come into effect?
(a) When the spirit occupies a human form.
(b) When the spirit resides in a cow.
(c) When the spirit is in insect form.
(d) When the spirit has reincarnated.

2. What is dharma?
(a) A group of monks
(b) The Buddhist equivalent of karma
(c) An obstacle to reaching nirvana
(d) The means of crossing the river of ignorance

3. What is Confucius' trinity?
(a) Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
(b) Fire, Wind, and Water
(c) Man, Heaven, and Earth
(d) Servants, Kings, and God

4. What form of Buddhism flourishes in Japan?
(a) Hinayana Buddhism
(b) Theravada Buddhism
(c) Mahayana Buddhism
(d) Zen Buddhism

5. How does the development of Buddhism parallel that of all major world religions?
(a) It went into immediate decline after the death of the Buddha.
(b) It saw no period of hierarchical struggle.
(c) Hardly a century after the death of the Buddha it began to show signs of schism.
(d) It began to wage war with non-believers.

6. What appears to be a contradiction in Taoist thought?
(a) The idea of teaching the unteachable
(b) The earthly versus the esoteric
(c) The three different senses
(d) The ideas of reality and the supernatural

7. What is the idea of the spirit in Hinduism?
(a) It is the exclusive property of the body.
(b) It does not exist apart from the mind.
(c) The spirit is eternal and changes its habitation when it outgrows an old one.
(d) It dies with the body that houses it.

8. What is the result of seeking wealth, fame, and power?
(a) A lifetime of hard work
(b) Competition, which is always precarious
(c) Either celebrity or noteriety
(d) More failure than success

9. What is the tanha?
(a) Loosely translated, it is the fear of death.
(b) Loosely translated, it is religious education.
(c) Loosely translated, it is human desire.
(d) Loosely translated, it is suffering.

10. What was the subject matter of the Buddha's first sermon?
(a) The Way to Enlightenment
(b) The Four Nobel Truths
(c) The Wheel of Fortune
(d) The Eight-fold Path

11. To what other notable teacher has Confucius been compared?
(a) Aristotle
(b) Jesus
(c) Horace Mann
(d) Socrates

12. Where was Siddhartha sitting as he gained enlightenment?
(a) In a Hindu temple.
(b) Under the bo tree.
(c) On the banks of the Ganges.
(d) On a royal throne.

13. What do the guidelines for right conduct in Buddhism resemble?
(a) The Bill of Rights
(b) The Pledge of Allegiance
(c) The Ten Commandments
(d) The Boy Scout Code

14. According to Hinduism who has the spiritual ideas of infinite being, infinite awareness, and infinite bliss?
(a) Only the oldest gurus understand these things.
(b) All humans already posses these things but until a certain point they remain hidden.
(c) Only one individual per lifetime has this knowledge.
(d) Only philosophers can possess that information.

15. How does Hinduism teach that pain can be endured?
(a) By avoiding situations that have a potential for pain
(b) By focusing on that which distracts the mind from the pain itself
(c) By certain natural pain inhibitors taken orally
(d) By learning to enjoy the sensations of pain

Short Answer Questions

1. How might the rise of Buddhism be compared to the Protestant Reformation?

2. What did religious Taoism accommodate that other religions in China did not?

3. What is the follower of wu wei said to be able to do?

4. What is the Hindu concept of galaxies of finer or courser natures?

5. What is the real idea behind the three Taoist senses?

(see the answer keys)

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