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