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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What are the four qualities of maitri?
(a) Steadfastness, clear seeing, experiencing our emotional distress, and attention to the present moment..
(b) Frivolity, materialism, self-absorption, and disinterest in others.
(c) Our innate talents, meditation, generosity, and kindness.
(d) Hope, relaxation, aspiration, and generosity.

2. Who did Atisha take with him from India to Tibet?
(a) The most annoying person he knew.
(b) His sick brother.
(c) His own spiritual teacher.
(d) His mother.

3. What does the author experience after finding her boyfriend "passionately embracing" another woman?
(a) A deep sadness stemming from her unmet need to be loved.
(b) The horror of causing a tragedy after the rush of anger was released.
(c) An inability to release her own emotional energy.
(d) Absolute disgust with another human being.

4. What is the first lord of materialism?
(a) Function.
(b) Personal style.
(c) Form.
(d) Sensuality.

5. Why does the author encourage readers to question the "strategies of the ego"?
(a) To eventually change our behavior.
(b) To connect to the Superego.
(c) To let our guard down and better understand others.
(d) To increase the hope in our lives.

6. What are the lojong teachings for?
(a) Seeking spiritual guidance.
(b) Finding a good feeling.
(c) Opening the heart.
(d) Training the mind.

7. What does the author argue that we do to sow the seeds of our own suffering?
(a) "Most of us keep strengthening our negative habits."
(b) "Most of us fail to notice that the world is full of love."
(c) "Most of us believe that we are separate from others, and seek only our own good."
(d) "Most of us focus our energies on problems."

8. What relationship does Chodron claim we are predisposed to have with others?
(a) Relationships always take hard work, and we certainly are not predisposed to live easily with others.
(b) All beings are predisposed to waking up and reaching out to others.
(c) Just as we connect with our caretakers in infancy, we would naturally connect with others if we remained egoless, but this is lost in early childhood.
(d) Though relationships are unnatural, and love does not always flow freely, we can nourish these sentiments.

9. According to Chodron, what two things do all those who set out on this path discover that we all have?
(a) Changing emotions and difficulty focusing.
(b) Difficulty in life and diminished hope for the future.
(c) Neurosis and wisdom.
(d) Anxiety and attention problems.

10. What does Chodron claim is our relationship to reaching out to others?
(a) She argues that there is no point in trying to do this.
(b) She writes that this is our natural inclination.
(c) She claims that this is always hard work, and never natural for us.
(d) She writes that we can do it only with great effort.

11. Which of the following does Chodron recommend?
(a) Do not expect applause.
(b) Do not eat food that will make your mind race.
(c) Remember only positive moments from the past.
(d) Relax slowly into meditation, and it will be less strenuous on your body.

12. How does the author characterize meditation?
(a) As difficult but rewarding.
(b) As a great way to increase productivity,
(c) As simple and fun.
(d) As the only path to a life free from suffering.

13. What did the Buddha say about our relationship to enlightenment?
(a) We are never separated from enlightenment.
(b) Only by releasing the goal of achieving enlightenment is it achieved.
(c) We can all achieve enlightenment through the same method.
(d) Enlightenment can be achieved by everyone.

14. What is the final step of the formal practice of maitri?
(a) Listening to our heart in total silence.
(b) Teaching others what we have learned.
(c) Expanding our loving kindness to all others.
(d) Understanding that our own perspective is limited.

15. What do vajrayana Buddhists claim is inherent in emotion?
(a) Love.
(b) The seeds of self-growth.
(c) Hope.
(d) Wisdom.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does the author compare to an elderly couple living in a protected community in Florida?

2. What does the author cite Trungpa RInpoche as teaching?

3. Who taught that there are three principal characteristics of human existence?

4. What is the compassionate aspiration that the author begins with as she begins to teach?

5. What does the author claim Martin Luther King is an example of?

(see the answer keys)

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