1. Siddhartha was born into the brahmin caste.

a. True

b. False

2. Engaged Buddhists typically focus their energies on the practice of meditation.

a. True

b. False

3. Buddhism is the smallest of the great world religions.

a. True

b. False

4. The development of Buddhist social activism has been largely responsible for making the
tradition more attractive to many Westerners.

a. True

b. False

5. One weakness of the Buddha's teaching style was not understanding that different audiences
required the message to be delivered differently.

a. True

b. False

6. Shifting the focus from wandering to settled communal existence actually strengthened
support for the sangha.
 a. True

b. False

7. Today the majority of Buddhists are of the Mahayana branch of Buddhism.

a. True

b. False

8. Nagarjuna was a great Indian philosopher who promoted Mahayana Buddhism.

a. True

b. False

9. Tantric traditions emphasized realizing salvation slowly over many lifetimes.

a. True

b. False

10. The Lotus Sutra is a popular Theravadin Buddhist scripture.

a. True

b. False

11. Pure Land Buddhism devotees were taught that their own self-power was insufficient to reach
nirvana.

a. True

b. False

12. The Buddha-nature school of thought influenced the Buddhist practice of Ch'an/Zen.
 a. True

b. False

13. In Buddhist history, there is no record of a relationship between the institutional religion and
political power.

a. True

b. False

14. The merit system, called punya, is available to all Buddhists, not just monks and nuns.

a. True

b. False

15. In the simplest (and still most popular) universal Buddhist ritual, monks pour water into a
vessel as they chant words revealed by the Buddha.

a. True

b. False

16. Zen Buddhism was especially attractive to some bohemians and intellectuals in Western
society.

a. True

b. False

17. The Buddha is a prime example of an engaged Buddhist.

a. True

b. False
18. Organizations led by laypeople have done the most in adapting Buddhist teachings and
practices to the world today.

a. True

b. False

19. Only in Tibet is Tibetan Buddhism the state religion.

a. True

b. False

20. The problem with extreme asceticism in the Buddha's view is that it weakens the body.

a. True

b. False

1. The stories used for teaching that tell of the Buddha's previous lives are called

a. arhats

b. stupas

c. prajnas

d. jatakas

2. Which one of the following is NOT one of the Three Refuges?

a. the Buddha

b. the Dharma
 c. the sangha

d. the prajna

3. For how long did the Buddha teach after he discovered nirvana?

a. about forty years

b. about ten years

c. about sixty years

d. about five years

4. The “four passing sights” did NOT include

a. a sick man

b. a hungry child

c. a dead man

d. an old man

5. The religious ideal as set forth in the Lotus Sutra is the

a. arhat

b. bodhisattva

c. prajna

d. householder

1. How long did the Buddha remain under the bodhi tree experiencing nirvana?
 a. four weeks

b. seven weeks

c. seven days

d. three days

2. Today the majority of Buddhists are

a. Mahayanists

b. Theravadins

c. tantrics

d. Vajrayanists

3. The new institution that the Buddha created in India was the

a. arhat

b. dharma

c. sangha

d. stupa

4. The first two main divisions of Buddhism were

a. Mahayana and Vajrayana

b. Theravada and Mahayana

 c. Theravada and Vajrayana

d. Mahayana and tantra

5. According to Buddhist doctrine, a human being is a continuously changing, interdependent

relationship between how many skandhas (aggregates)?

a. two

b. three

c. five

d. twelve

1. Theravadins and Mahayanists can be compared to

a. literalists and liberals

b. ulamas and Sufis

c. the Vatican and gnostics

d. all of the above

2. The root meaning of the term “Buddha” comes from

a. Siddhartha's past lives

b. overcoming temptation

c. having superhuman abilities

d. “waking up” to reality

3. You would find masters giving their disciples koans to solve in which form of Buddhism?
 a. Pure Land

b. Theravada

c. the Thunderbolt Vehicle

d. Zen

4. The Bodhidharma is the religious ideal as set forth in which form of Buddhism?

a. Zen

b. Theravada

c. tantra

d. none of the above

5. The most active and effective organizations in adapting Buddhist teachings and practices to
the world today have been

a. the traditional sanghas

b. those led by laypersons

c. Buddhist-ruled nations

d. none have been effective

1. How long did the Buddha remain under the bodhi tree experiencing nirvana?

a. four weeks

b. seven weeks
 c. seven days

d. three days

2. Today the majority of Buddhists are

a. Mahayanists

b. Theravadins

c. tantrics

d. Vajrayanists

3. The new institution that the Buddha created in India was the

a. arhat

b. dharma

c. sangha

d. stupa

4. The first two main divisions of Buddhism were

a. Mahayana and Vajrayana

b. Theravada and Mahayana

c. Theravada and Vajrayana

d. Mahayana and tantra

5. According to Buddhist doctrine, a human being is a continuously changing, interdependent

relationship between how many skandhas (aggregates)?
 a. two

b. three

c. five

d. twelve

6. Theravadins and Mahayanists can be compared to

a. literalists and liberals

b. ulamas and Sufis

c. the Vatican and gnostics

d. all of the above

7. The root meaning of the term “Buddha” comes from

a. Siddhartha's past lives

b. overcoming temptation

c. having superhuman abilities

d. “waking up” to reality

8. You would find masters giving their disciples koans to solve in which form of Buddhism?

a. Pure Land

b. Theravada
 c. the Thunderbolt Vehicle

d. Zen

9. The Bodhidharma is the religious ideal as set forth in which form of Buddhism?

a. Zen

b. Theravada

c. tantra

d. none of the above

10. The most active and effective organizations in adapting Buddhist teachings and practices to
the world today have been

a. the traditional sanghas

b. those led by laypersons

c. Buddhist-ruled nations

d. none have been effective

11. Siddhartha was born into the

a. merchant caste

b. brahmin caste

c. warrior caste

d. untouchable caste

12. Some Buddhists responded to colonial-era challenges by

 a. converting to Christianity

b. engaging in dialogue with science and Christianity

c. sermonizing in public

d. all of the above

13. The most common reason Buddhists wish to earn merit is

a. it makes them better meditators

b. to be reborn in heaven

c. to not become a hungry ghost

d. to join their ancestors

14. The amazing global diffusion of Buddhism after World War II was because Westerners were
drawn to Buddhism's

a. social activism

b. meditation techniques

c. yoga positions

d. monastic communities

15. The name most associated with “engaged Buddhism” is

a. Thich Nhat Hanh

b. Siddhartha Gautama
 c. Ram Dass

d. King Ashoka

1. The state of _______ means freedom and existence in an eternal state beyond all material
description.

2. The fourth Noble Truth states that the way to remove desire, or craving, is to follow the
_______.

3. The conversion of _______ in the third century BCE made Buddhism a broader-based religion
that reached beyond the ascetics to the householder majority population.

4. A more traditionalist Mahayana school that arose in response to the Pure Land school and
shifted the concept of “other power” to self-power, or individual effort to reach nirvana, was
called Ch’an in China and _______ in Japan.

5. The third large division of Buddhism that developed a few hundred years after the first two
divisions is called _______.

6. The Three Refuges include the Buddha, the _______, and the sangha.

7. By the year 100 CE, Buddhism had entered _______ through central Asia on the silk routes.

8. One of the most popular Mahayana Buddhist scriptures in East Asia and the one that shifts the
religious ideal from the arhat to the bodhisattva is called the _______.

9. The monk Nagarjuna, in the second century CE, was writing in opposition to the _______
branch of Buddhism.

10. The unique Buddhist concept of _______ says that there is no essential, unchanging interior
entity at the center of a person.
11. The earliest and strongest Euro-American contact with Buddhism in the early twentieth
century was with the _______ branch of Buddhism.

12. When Buddhists began to publicize their reforms, invest in printing technology, and rediscover
the practice of public sermonizing, they were being influenced by the missionary methodology
of _______ Christianity.

13. The central institution that perpetuated the faith of Buddhism was the monastic community
called the _______.

14. The most recognized Buddhist in the world today and a Nobel Peace Prize winner is the
fourteenth _______ _______.

15. _______ is the world’s only nation that has Tibetan Buddhism as its state religion.

16. A country that has remained one of the few refuges for Tibetan Buddhists, and until recently
the world’s only Hindu kingdom, also one of the world’s poorest nations, is _______.

17. The bodhisattva ideal was set forth in the_______________.

18. Unlike the philosophers and scholars of Buddhism, Buddhists-at-large still concentrate their
devotional activities on rituals and accumulating _______.

19. Avalokiteshvara was the most popular and universal celestial _______.

20. Buddhism could not have existed and grown in society at large without the support of the
_______.
21. nirvana
22. EightfoldPath
23. Ashoka
24. Zen
25. Vajrayana or tantra
26. Dharma
27. China
28. Lotus Sutra
29. Theravada
30. anatman or nonself
31. Mahayana
32. Protestant
33. sangha
34. Dalai Lama
35. Bhutan
36. Nepal
37. Lotus Sutra
38. merit
39. bodhisattva
40. householders
41. Explain what motivated Siddhartha to leave his family and riches behind to pursue spiritual
fulfillment.

42. Discuss Buddhism’s key practice of mindfulness meditation and include how it differs from the
Hindu meditation of trance.

43. How did colonialism contribute to the decline of Buddhism?

44. Explain how Siddhartha arrived at the “Middle Way” as being the right path.

45. Explain the merit-making system, or punya, that is so popular with the majority of Buddhists.

46. Discuss the impact of “engaged Buddhism” on the spread of Buddhism.