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History of Tibetan Buddhism - Quiz
Contributed by: Norman
  • 1. Which religion opposed Buddhism from its outset in Tibet?
A) Taoism
B) Hinduism
C) Bön
D) Confucianism
  • 2. Who was the king during whose reign Buddhism reached a peak in the 9th century?
A) Rälpachän
B) Trisong Detsen
C) Songtsen Gampo
D) Langdarma
  • 3. In what year was terminology in translation standardized in Tibet?
A) 836
B) 825
C) 817
D) 841
  • 4. Which dynasty did the three Dharma Kings belong to?
A) Tang Dynasty
B) Yuan Dynasty
C) Ming Dynasty
D) Yarlung Dynasty
  • 5. What is the ranking of Songtsen Gampo as a king of Tibet?
A) 3rd
B) 41st
C) 38th
D) 33rd
  • 6. Who assisted the three Dharma Kings in building monasteries?
A) Ü Dumtsen
B) Khenpo Santaraksita
C) Guru Padmasambhava
D) Yumtän
  • 7. Where were dharma books printed during the era of the three Dharma Kings?
A) Lhasa
B) Chang'an
C) Yalung
D) Sanchu
  • 8. The Tibet-China treaty was signed between what years?
A) 838–841
B) 841–842
C) 817–836
D) 821–823
  • 9. How many stone stelae were inscribed with the Tibet-China treaty terms?
A) Two
B) Three
C) One
D) Four
  • 10. Who murdered Ralpachen in 838?
A) Ösung
B) Yumtän
C) Ü Dumtsen
D) Langdarma
  • 11. When did imperial patronage of Tibetan Buddhism begin?
A) Around 755
B) 7th century
C) 9th century
D) 11th century
  • 12. Which ruler nearly destroyed Buddhism starting in 841?
A) Songtsen Gampo
B) Ralpachen
C) Langdarma
D) Trisong Detsen
  • 13. What followed the collapse of political centralization in the Tibetan Empire?
A) Sakya period
B) Golden age of Buddhism
C) Yuan Imperial Court period
D) Era of Fragmentation
  • 14. Which school became preceptors of the Yuan imperial court?
A) Sakya
B) Bön
C) Yarlung
D) Kagyu
  • 15. Where did Yumtän establish a separate line of kings?
A) Chang'an
B) Sanchu
C) Yalung
D) Lhasa
  • 16. Which king established Buddhism as the official religion of Tibet in the 8th century?
A) Padmasambhāva
B) Trisong Detsen
C) Songtsän Gampo
D) Mes-ag-tshoms
  • 17. Who were the two Indian masters who founded the Nyingma school?
A) Padmasambhāva and Śāntarakṣita
B) Songtsän Gampo and Trisong Detsen
C) Jincheng Gongzhu and Mes-ag-tshoms
D) Kamalaśīla and Moheyan
  • 18. What is the meaning of the name of the Nyingma school?
A) The Hidden Masters
B) The Revealed Ones
C) The New Treasures
D) The Ancient Ones
  • 19. What are the hidden texts found by tertons in the Nyingma tradition called?
A) Abhisamayālankāra
B) Terma
C) Sutras
D) Vinaya
  • 20. From which Indian state did scholars of the Pāla dynasty influence Tibetan Buddhism?
A) Kashmir
B) Magadha
C) Kosambi
D) Gandhara
  • 21. The blend of which two Buddhist traditions characterizes Tibetan Buddhism?
A) Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna
B) Hinayana and Chan
C) Sarvāstivāda and Mūlasarvāstivāda
D) Mādhyamika and Yogācārin
  • 22. Which 4th-century Yogācārin text was central to the teaching of Pāla dynasty scholars?
A) Terma
B) Abhisamayālankāra
C) Vinaya
D) The Council of Lhasa
  • 23. Which school provided the Tibetan vinaya?
A) Nyingma
B) Yogācāra
C) Chan
D) Mūlasarvāstivāda
  • 24. Which princess was sent to Tibet in 710 and married Mes-ag-tshoms?
A) Padmasambhāva
B) Kamalaśīla
C) Jincheng Gongzhu
D) Moheyan
  • 25. What was the name of the Chan master invited by Trisong Detsen to transmit the Dharma?
A) Padmasambhāva
B) Kamalaśīla
C) Moheyan
D) Śāntarakṣita
  • 26. At which monastery did the debate between Moheyan and Kamalaśīla take place?
A) Khotan
B) Magadha
C) Lhasa
D) Samye
  • 27. Who speculated that Moheyan's ideas were preserved in dzogchen teachings?
A) Śāntarakṣita
B) Giuseppe Tucci
C) Sam van Schaik
D) John Myrdhin Reynolds
  • 28. According to John Myrdhin Reynolds, what was the Tibetans' level of interest in Chinese Buddhism?
A) They exclusively followed Chinese texts
B) Extremely high interest
C) Identical to Indian influence
D) Almost no interest at all
  • 29. When did Buddhists first actively disseminate their practices in Tibet?
A) 11th to 14th centuries CE
B) 1st to 3rd centuries CE
C) 6th to 9th centuries CE
D) 16th to 19th centuries CE
  • 30. What happened to Buddhism in Tibet during the 9th and 10th centuries?
A) It spread to India
B) It waned
C) It was completely banned
D) It became the state religion
  • 31. When did Tibetan Buddhism rise again after the Era of Fragmentation?
A) 12th century
B) 11th century
C) 13th century
D) 10th century
  • 32. Which empire's invasion of Tibet led to the spread of Buddhism to Mongolia and China?
A) Qing Dynasty
B) Zhangzhung Kingdom
C) Ming Dynasty
D) Mongol Empire
  • 33. Who founded the Gelugpa school?
A) Thothori Nyantsen
B) Je Tsongkhapa
C) Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso
D) The 5th Dalai Lama
  • 34. Who was the 5th Dalai Lama?
A) Je Tsongkhapa
B) Thothori Nyantsen
C) Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso
D) A Mongol leader
  • 35. Which group was invited to intervene in the Tibetan civil war of 1639–1642?
A) The Manchurians
B) The Chinese
C) The Mongols
D) The Indians
  • 36. What was the purpose of the 19th-century Rimé movement?
A) To support the Mongol invasion
B) To convert the Bon religion
C) To counter Gelugpa dominance
D) To establish a new dynasty
  • 37. When did Tibet acquire de facto independence from the Qing Empire?
A) 19th century
B) 21st century
C) Early 20th century
D) 17th century
  • 38. What event in 1950 ended Tibetan independence?
A) Manchurian uprising
B) Civil war
C) Chinese invasion
D) Mongol invasion
  • 39. Where did Mahayana Buddhism arrive in the 1st century CE via Tibet?
A) India
B) Mongolia
C) China
D) The Western world
  • 40. In which century did Buddhism begin to affect the Bon religion in the Kingdom of Zhangzhung?
A) 9th century
B) 6th century
C) 1st century
D) 3rd century
  • 41. Who was the king when Buddhist relics supposedly fell onto the palace roof?
A) Thothori Nyantsen
B) Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso
C) A Mongol Khan
D) Je Tsongkhapa
  • 42. Where was the palace located where the Buddhist relics allegedly fell?
A) Zhangzhung
B) Beijing
C) Mongolia
D) Yumbulakhang
  • 43. During whose reign were Sanskrit Buddhist scriptures first translated into Tibetan?
A) Wencheng
B) Bhrikuti
C) The Fifth Dalai Lama
D) Songtsen Gampo
  • 44. Which Nepali dynasty was Queen Bhrikuti from?
A) Shakya
B) Malla
C) Licchavi
D) Tang
  • 45. What religious figure is Songtsen Gampo traditionally considered an embodiment of?
A) Akshobya Buddha
B) Shakyamuni Buddha
C) Avalokiteśvara
D) Green Tara
  • 46. Which Chinese princess married Songtsen Gampo?
A) Tara
B) Wencheng
C) Bhrikuti
D) Jomo
  • 47. Who was responsible for building the Red Palace on Red Mountain?
A) Indian missionaries
B) Nepali craftsmen
C) Tibetan soldiers
D) Chinese monks
  • 48. What is the modern name for the Tsulag Khang temple?
A) Potala
B) Mar-po-ri
C) Jokhang
D) Bodhnath
  • 49. Which Nepali artist carved the statue of Chenresig?
A) Thro-wo
B) Songtsen Gampo
C) Wencheng
D) Akshobya
  • 50. In Tibetan iconography, who is Queen Bhrikuti usually represented as?
A) Green Tara
B) Shakyamuni Buddha
C) Avalokiteśvara
D) White Tara
  • 51. What was the name of the Indian statue of Akshobya Buddha housed in the Jokhang?
A) Mar-po-ri
B) Tsulag Khang
C) Mikyo Jowo
D) Thungji Chen-po
  • 52. Which structure was later rebuilt into the thirteen-storey Potala?
A) The Red Palace
B) The Tsulag Khang
C) The Licchavi Monastery
D) The Jokhang Temple
  • 53. Who was a prominent translator active in western Tibet during the 11th century?
A) Rinchen Zangpo
B) Atiśa
C) Naropa
D) Milarepa
  • 54. In what year did Atiśa arrive in Tibet?
A) 1055
B) 1182
C) 1042
D) 982
  • 55. Atiśa was a renowned exponent of which form of Buddhism?
A) Zen
B) Theravada
C) Mahayana
D) Pāla
  • 56. Who founded the Kadampa school?
A) Marpa Lotsawa
B) Rinchen Zangpo
C) Khön Könchok Gyelpo
D) Dromtonpa
  • 57. The Sakya school is also known as what?
A) New Translation school
B) Oral Tradition school
C) Grey Earth school
D) Lineage of the Word
  • 58. The Sakya lineage traces itself back to which mahasiddha?
A) Naropa
B) Tilopa
C) Virūpa
D) Atiśa
  • 59. Which school is known as the Lineage of the Buddha's Word?
A) Kadampa
B) Kagyu
C) Dagpo
D) Sakya
  • 60. Who was a famous 11th-century mystic of the Kagyu school?
A) Milarepa
B) Rinchen Zangpo
C) Atiśa
D) Virūpa
  • 61. From which Indian university did Atiśa come?
A) Vikramashila
B) Bodh Gaya
C) Nalanda
D) Taxila
  • 62. The Dagpo Kagyu lineage traces back to which Indian master via Marpa and Milarepa?
A) Naropa
B) Virūpa
C) Tilopa
D) Atiśa
  • 63. Which state possibly first spread Tantric-style Tibetan Buddhism to the Mongols?
A) Kham
B) Amdo
C) Western Xia
D) Karakorum
  • 64. What status were Buddhist monasteries in Karakorum granted?
A) Tax exempt status
B) Official state religion status
C) Land ownership status
D) Military immunity
  • 65. In what year did the Mongols first invade Tibet?
A) 1241
B) 1246
C) 1244
D) 1240
  • 66. In what year did Sakya Paṇḍita meet Prince Köten in Liangzhou?
A) 1244
B) 1246
C) 1247
D) 1249
  • 67. How did the Mongols reinforce their administrative rule over Tibet?
A) Rare military intervention
B) Constant occupation by large garrisons
C) Total destruction of monasteries
D) Forced conversion to Mongol paganism
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