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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does the author say is the only thought people have when eyeing a sugar doughnut?
(a) How eating it will leave them feeling tired or agitated later.
(b) How good it will taste.
(c) How intensely they will want another one only seconds after eating this one.
(d) How eating it will help them relax.

2. What does the author NOT list among the most popular reasons for people to try meditation?
(a) To make better decisions.
(b) To quell self-loathing.
(c) To cool anger.
(d) To relieve stress.

3. In most people, the left hemisphere of the brain controls what?
(a) Language.
(b) Affection.
(c) Decision-making.
(d) Emotions.

4. The idea within vipassana meditation is to see the true nature of what?
(a) Life.
(b) One's self.
(c) The world.
(d) Reality.

5. The author states that "More and more, groups of people define their identity in terms of" (17) what?
(a) Sharp opposition to other groups of people.
(b) Career.
(c) Material wealth.
(d) Family.

6. How many minutes does the author say he spends meditating each morning?
(a) 20 minutes.
(b) 30 minutes.
(c) 15 minutes.
(d) 40 minutes.

7. The Buddha said that engagement is the product of a what?
(a) A lust.
(b) A feeling.
(c) A shame.
(d) A power.

8. What two drugs does the author say he imagines produce results similar to the feelings he had after a particularly good session of meditation at his first retreat?
(a) Valium and heroin.
(b) LSD and psilocybin.
(c) Cocaine and valium.
(d) LSD and heroin.

9. Whom does the author name as being on the lowest end of the spectrum in relation to how easy it will be for a person to pick up meditation?
(a) Russell Westbrook.
(b) Nate Diaz.
(c) Bobby Knight.
(d) John McEnroe.

10. The Buddah lived and taught how many years ago?
(a) 1,200.
(b) 3,500.
(c) 700.
(d) 2,500.

11. What happened when the author analyzed closely his feelings before his speech at Poptech?
(a) The fear stayed within practicable limits.
(b) The shame increased.
(c) The anxiety seemed to ebb.
(d) The fear went away.

12. What is the meaning of the term metta?
(a) Saturation.
(b) Loving kindness.
(c) Extraordinary.
(d) Mantra.

13. What is the one thing that the author says natural selection "cares about" (3)?
(a) Procreation.
(b) Sustenance.
(c) Evolution.
(d) Survival.

14. Though the author admits that there are paradoxes within Buddhism, he says that there are also paradoxes within which branch of science?
(a) Forensics.
(b) Physics.
(c) Biology.
(d) Geology.

15. What is NOT one of the five aggregates named by The Buddha when he first split the self into five aggregates?
(a) Mental formations.
(b) Longings.
(c) The physical body.
(d) Feelings.

Short Answer Questions

1. The word vipassana is generally translated to what English word?

2. With what Buddhist tradition is Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche associated?

3. What is NOT listed among the traditional practices of Asian Buddhists not practiced by Western Buddhists?

4. On what body process should first-timers focus when meditating?

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

(see the answer keys)

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