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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 is the problem of explaining nirvana?
(a) It has multiple meanings.
(b) It can only been reached after death.
(c) It is an untranslatable word.
(d) To the unenlightened mind, it is vague.

2. What is the Taoist outlook on good and evil?
(a) They are not opposites but revolve around each other.
(b) They are one and the same thing.
(c) They are representations of heaven and earth.
(d) They have nothing to do with yin/yang.

3. How did the Taoist church devise a way of harnessing higher power for human benefit?
(a) By perfecting astrology
(b) By organizing religious retreats
(c) By assuming the reality of magical intervention
(d) By opening schools for magicians

4. What is the irony of assigning god-like attributes to the Buddha?
(a) He wanted that designation while he was alive.
(b) He taught that all men are gods.
(c) He was never painted or sculpted during his lifetime.
(d) In his lifetime he adamantly resisted any such idea.

5. How did Confucius reject both the Realists and the Mohists?
(a) The first was too clumsy and external and the latter was too utopian
(b) The first was too old and the latter was too innovative
(c) The first was status quo and the latter was experimental
(d) The first was too formal and the latter was too undefined

Short Answer Questions

1. How is the idea of heaven and earth viewed in Confucianism?

2. The two men Huston Smith regards as having the greatest impact on the world as we know it today.

3. What did Confucius believe about the authority of rulers?

4. What physical exercise was developed by Taoists?

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

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Taoism look at the weak and the deformed?

2. What is the purpose of Jnana yoga in Hinduism?

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

4. How did the Buddha get his name?

5. Why is Zen Buddhism so difficult to define in words?

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

7. How does Sri Ramakrishna explain the Hindu tolerance of other religions?

8. In two sentences, describe what is known about Lao Tzu.

9. How did Siddhartha react to any effort to elevate him to god stature?

10. What is the inherent problem with perceiving the natural world according to Hinduism?

(see the answer keys)

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