The World Of Buddhism Trivia Quiz

Answer: a prince

He is supposed to have lived from 563 till 483 BC. He left his father King Shuddodana's Palace in Kapilavastu when he was thirty.

Answer: nirvana

Mahayana is the Higher Vehicle ; atman, which is etymologically related to German Atem and Dutch adem (breath), means soul. Karma is somehow the sort of behaviour and actions that lead to a person's reincarnation. To break through the eternal circle of reincarnations and to reach the happy state of tranquility that is called nirvana, one must break through one's karma.
Note: though nirvana seems to be the more frequent English orthography, instances of nirwana are not unusual either.

Answer: in the Himalayas

Gautama was born as a member of an aristocratic family that ruled the small Kingdom of the Sakyas in the foothills of the Himalayas.
The exact place of birth is supposed to have been Lumbini. Kusinagara is where he died. Buddh Gaya is the place of his Enlightenment.
Sarnath is where he gave his first sermon. Sravasti, Vaisali, Rajagrha were other important places in the Buddha's career.

Answer: King Ashoka the Great of India

Ashoka ruled from 268 till 232 and converted himself to Buddhism in 269. There was no King Boddhisattva. "Boddhisattva" is the term used in Buddhism to describe somebody who spends his life on the salvation of others. The Emperors of Japan are not Buddhists.

Answer: 80

He is supposed to have lived from ca. 563 BC till 483 BC.

Answer: Tantric Buddhism

Mahayana Buddhism is also called "Higher Vehicle" Buddhism and originated in the 2nd century AD. Tantric Buddhism dates back to 700 AD. The Theraveda Buddhism was a development from the 2nd Buddhist Council at Vaisali in 373 BC. The Sangha or Community of Monks split in two branches: the mahasanghikas and the more conservative shtaviras. From the views of the shtaviras, the Theraveda tradition was born.

One of the areas where the Theraveda style of Buddhism became very strong was Sri Lanka, especially from 1160 on when the Mahavihara Monastery's supremacy over its old rival the Abhayagiri Monastery was definitely established.

Answer: Northern India

The style of Buddhism that dominates in Tibet is Tantric Buddhism. The Dalai Lama was fleeing a Chinese invasion.

Answer: Samye

Darjeeling is a centre for tea rather than for Buddhism. Kathmandu is the capital of Nepal. Ganden is a very important monastery in the history of Tibetan Buddhism and was founded by the reformer Tsongkhapa in 1409. Samye was the first Buddhist monastery built in Tibet (8th century).

It was here that the great debate took place between Indian and Chinese Buddhism. Indian Buddhism was preferred. The Samye monastery was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution.

Answer: Java

The Temple of Borobudur was built in the 9th century. Later, Islam took over as the ruling religion in what is now Indonesia.

Answer: Cambodia

Angkor was the capital of the Khmer realm that had been founded by King Jayavarman II in 802. Hinduism was the state religion of the Khmers, and the Khmer Kings were seen as reincarnations of Shiva. Soon Buddhist and Hindu ideas got mixed up, and the Khmer Kings were also seen as reincarnations of Buddha. Khmer rule ended in the thirteenth century, and Theraveda Buddhism took over. In the 1970s the communist Red Khmer tried to destroy all forms of religion, which led to a civil war which caused some millions of casualties.

There is a political problem here. The land where Angkor Wat is situated is a bone of contention between Thais and Cambodians.The cause is the colonial policy of the French who had expanded the territory of Cambodia. When later a court ruling deemed the territory of Angkor Wat to be Thai, another court overturned that decision. The Thai are not happy with the present regulation.