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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. 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.

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

3. Why did Confucius earn the title of First Teacher?
(a) Because he taught the Emperor
(b) Because he was first a teacher and then a politician
(c) Because no one had ever been a teacher before
(d) Because of his prominence in China as a teacher

4. What did Confucius believe about the authority of rulers?
(a) It is a necessary part of living.
(b) It comes through the bloodlines.
(c) It can only be maintained by force.
(d) It must be earned.

5. The two men Huston Smith regards as having the greatest impact on the world as we know it today.
(a) Robert Oppenheimer and Mahatma Gandhi
(b) Jesus and Confucious
(c) Napoleon and Joseph Stalin
(d) J. P. Morgan and Albert Einstein

Short Answer Questions

1. What is Confucius' trinity?

2. In the caste system, who receives the greatest punishment for wrong doing?

3. How does the development of Buddhism parallel that of all major world religions?

4. How did Confucius reject both the Realists and the Mohists?

5. What sense of Taoism has been most successfully exported to the West?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did the Buddha get his name?

2. Explain something about the Atman.

3. What is the ultimate goal of Hinduism?

4. Describe the last stage of spiritual awareness in Hinduism called sannyasin.

5. What warning is given about the practice of raja yoga?

6. What is the usefulness of practicing karma yoga?

7. What was the political condition in China as Confucius began his teaching?

8. When did Confucius begin his mission of teaching the people?

9. In what way does Taoism seem to have fragmented?

10. What is the gist of Philosophical Taoism?

(see the answer keys)

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