GS: Hindi / English · Language questions stay in their original language.
120 questions · 120 marks · 2 hours
Choose one option per question.
Tap an option to check it, or open “See answer”.
Correct answer: (A) Elephant
Here nāga is meant in the sense of the elephant, the figure of strength and patience.
Correct answer: (C) Renunciation of home
The Great Renunciation means the Buddha's leaving his home.
Correct answer: (A) Sarnath
Sarnath is known for the First Turning of the Wheel of Dhamma, where the Buddha preached his first sermon.
Correct answer: (C) Ajatasatru
The First Council was held under the patronage of Ajatasatru of Magadha.
Correct answer: (A) Vasala Sutta
“Not by birth is one an outcast, nor by birth a Brahmin” is from the Vasala Sutta.
Correct answer: (C) Fool
In the Bala Vagga ‘bala’ means a fool, not one young in years.
Correct answer: (B) Importance of the mind
The Yamaka Vagga of the Dhammapada is about the importance of the mind, and it opens with “Manopubbaṅgamā dhammā”.
Correct answer: (B) Wise being
A Bodhisattva is a being set towards bodhi, that is a wise being.
Correct answer: (A) Tripitaka
The literature recited at the First Council is what is called the Tripitaka.
Correct answer: (B) Kusinara
The Buddha's Mahaparinibbana took place at Kusinara.
Correct answer: (B) Anupitaka literature
The Milindapañha falls outside the Tripitaka, so it is classed as Anupitaka literature.
Correct answer: (E) None of the above
The Second Council was held at Vaishali in the reign of Kalashoka, who is not among the options—so the answer is ‘None of the above’.
Correct answer: (B) 15
The Khuddaka Nikaya includes fifteen texts.
Correct answer: (C) 500
Five hundred arahants took part in the First Buddhist Council.
Correct answer: (C) The cessation of suffering
The Third Noble Truth is dukkhanirodha, the cessation of suffering.
Correct answer: (C) 45 years
After his enlightenment the Buddha taught the Dhamma for forty-five years.
Correct answer: (A) Sphere of nothingness
The third of the formless absorptions is ākiñcaññāyatana, the sphere of nothingness.
Correct answer: (E) None of the above
The fourth factor of the Noble Eightfold Path is sammā-kammanta, right action, which is not among the options—so the answer is ‘None of the above’.
Correct answer: (B) Vibhavani
The commentary on the Abhidhammatthasangaha is the ‘Vibhavani’.
Correct answer: (B) Porana
The monk Porana did not accept the recitation made at the First Council.
Correct answer: (B) Yamaka Vagga
“Manopubbaṅgamā dhammā manoseṭṭhā manomayā” is the first verse of the Yamaka Vagga of the Dhammapada.
Correct answer: (C) Mahaparinibbana Sutta
The account of the Buddha's last days is found in the Mahaparinibbana Sutta.
Correct answer: (E) None of the above
The patron of the Third Buddhist Council was Emperor Ashoka, who is not among the options—so the answer is ‘None of the above’.
Correct answer: (C) Paramatthamañjusa
The commentary on the Visuddhimagga is the ‘Paramatthamañjusa’.
Correct answer: (A) Anuruddha
The Abhidhammatthasangaha was composed by Anuruddha.
Correct answer: (C) Dependent origination
“When this is, that is; with the arising of this, that arises” states the doctrine of dependent origination, paṭiccasamuppāda.
Correct answer: (A) Fourfold
The Abhidhamma describes four ultimate realities—consciousness, mental factors, matter and nibbana.
Correct answer: (C) Nibbana
As the ocean has the one taste of salt, so the Buddha's word has the one taste of liberation—the greatness expressed here is that of nibbana.
Correct answer: (A) Nibbana
‘Without attachments’ means one who has reached nibbana, and such a one does not grieve.
Correct answer: (B) Eye-consciousness
Dependent on the eye and forms arises eye-consciousness.
Correct answer: (C) The Buddha
Pali literature collects the teachings of the Buddha.
Correct answer: (A) First Council
The Dhamma and the Vinaya were recited at the First Council.
Correct answer: (C) Five
The Sutta Pitaka is divided into five Nikayas—Digha, Majjhima, Samyutta, Anguttara and Khuddaka.
Correct answer: (C) Thirty-four
The Digha Nikaya collects thirty-four suttas.
Correct answer: (A) Mulapariyaya Sutta
The first sutta of the Majjhima Nikaya is the Mulapariyaya Sutta.
Correct answer: (B) Appamada Vagga
The second chapter of the Dhammapada is the Appamada Vagga.
Correct answer: (A) Yamaka Vagga
“Hatreds are never appeased by hatred” belongs to the Yamaka Vagga.
Correct answer: (B) Anupitaka
The Milindapañha is included in the Anupitaka.
Correct answer: (E) None of the above
Siddhartha Gautama was twenty-nine at the Great Renunciation, which is not among the options—so the answer is ‘None of the above’.
Correct answer: (B) Third
In the Four Noble Truths the cessation of suffering stands third.
Correct answer: (A) Twenty
The Yamaka Vagga of the Dhammapada collects twenty verses.
Correct answer: (E) None of the above
Sujata prayed to the tree for a son, which is not among the options—so the answer is ‘None of the above’.
Correct answer: (A) Vaishakha full moon
Sujata offered the milk-rice to the Great Being on the Vaishakha full moon.
Correct answer: (C) Punna
The name of Sujata's maid was Punna.
Correct answer: (C) Ornaments
On being told, Sujata in her joy gave her maid ornaments.
Correct answer: (A) Gold
Sujata gave the Bodhisattva the milk-rice in a golden bowl.
Correct answer: (C) Nerañjara
The Bodhisattva set the bowl of milk-rice down on the bank of the Neranjara.
Correct answer: (C) Forty-nine
The Bodhisattva divided that milk-rice into forty-nine balls.
Correct answer: (C) Facing east
For enlightenment the Bodhisattva took his seat facing east.
Correct answer: (C) Fourteen
That seat of the Bodhisattva is said to have been fourteen cubits long.