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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What do psychologists call the network in the brain that is active when people are not doing anything in particular?

2. What kind of meditation does the author say produced a feeling that is probably similar to two hard drugs?

3. What adverb is used to describe briefly exposing someone to a word or an image, but not long enough for conscious awareness to set in?

4. The Buddha stated that what emotion has a "poisoned root and honeyed tip" (30)?

5. What experiments are said to have "powerfully demonstrated the capacity of the conscious self to convince itself that it is calling the shots when it is not" (79)?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does the author say about ways in which people should NOT "conceive of modules" (86)?

2. What does the author say about his own level of enlightenment and why?

3. Discuss an example or anecdote used by the author to demonstrate the value of mindfulness mediation.

4. How does the author shine a spotlight on his own flaws and for what purpose does he do so?

5. What are the differences between concentration meditation and mindfulness meditation?

6. Discuss the author's use of the anecdote regarding his tense jaw.

7. To whom does the author recommend a meditation practice?

8. What is the author's view of the phenomenon of human feelings?

9. Discuss the tendency of humans to engage in self-inflation.

10. How does the author use the example of the scar experiment?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What ultimate message is Robert Wright's book Buddhism is True sending about the nature and value of continually examining one’s own thought patterns and behaviors?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the author's decision to include humor within the text of the book Buddhism is True. What purpose the author have in mind when including these instances of humor and how does the inclusion of these instances support the overarching themes and messages of the text?

Essay Topic 3

How does the author's use of the first and second person point of view serve the author's purposes over the course of the book? Discuss how the author's choice of point of view helps to advance the treatment of at least three particular themes within the text.

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