70 free Buddhism trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Buddhism trivia quiz covers the world's fourth-largest religion from the life of Siddhartha Gautama in the Ganges plain 2,500 years ago to Buddhism in the modern world. It begins with the Buddha himself: his birth at Lumbini, the Bodhi Tree at Bodh Gaya, the first sermon in the Deer Park at Sarnath, the last meal from the blacksmith Cunda and his death at Kushinagar. Then it turns to the core teachings: the Four Noble Truths, the Noble Eightfold Path, the three marks of existence, karma, rebirth, nirvana and the Three Jewels. You will also find questions on history and geography: Ashoka's conversion after Kalinga, the councils and schisms, the Pali Canon, the Silk Road, Nalanda, the spread of Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana, Borobudur and Angkor, Zen and Pure Land in East Asia, the four schools of Tibetan Buddhism and the Dalai Lamas, Vesak, Ambedkar's Navayana and today's demographics. Some questions are answerable by anyone who has taken a world religions class; others will test long-time practitioners. Every answer has been checked against primary sources, chiefly the Wikipedia articles on Buddhism, the Buddha and the major sites and schools, and each explanation adds one further detail. Play, see your score, and share it with the seekers in your group chat.
30 of 70 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Buddhism is the world's fourth-largest religion, with roughly how many followers?
320 million
They make up about 4.1 percent of the global population, and Buddhism is the only major religion that shrank between 2010 and 2020.
Q 02Where was the Buddha born?
Lumbini, in present-day Nepal
He grew up in Kapilavastu near the modern Nepal-India border; Ashoka's pillar at Lumbini names it as the birthplace.
Q 03The Buddha was born into which community, governed by a small oligarchy or republic-like council?
The Shakya
His title Shakyamuni means 'Sage of the Shakyas'; the legends of a king Suddhodana and Queen Maya are considered doubtful by scholars like Gombrich.
Q 04According to legend, Queen Maya dreamed that what entered her side on the night the Buddha was conceived?
A white elephant with six tusks
Ten months later Siddhartha was born, and eight Brahmins were invited to read his future at a naming ceremony.
Q 05What were the names of the Buddha's wife and son according to the early texts?
Yasodhara and Rahula
Rahula later joined the monastic order his father founded.
Q 06Under which two meditation teachers did Gautama first study before abandoning their methods?
Alara Kalama and Uddaka Ramaputta
He learned the 'sphere of nothingness' from one and 'neither perception nor non-perception' from the other, then turned to severe asceticism.
Q 07What species of tree is the Bodhi Tree under which the Buddha attained awakening?
A sacred fig, Ficus religiosa
Its heart-shaped leaves became a symbol of wisdom in Buddhist art.
Q 08A village girl named Sujata is remembered for offering the Buddha what before his awakening?
Milk and rice pudding
The gift ended his period of extreme fasting and confirmed the Middle Way.
Q 09In the legendary biographies, which ruler of the desire realm tried to stop the Buddha's awakening?
Mara
The Mahavastu, Nidanakatha and Lalitavistara all describe his assault.
Q 10Where did the Buddha give his first sermon after enlightenment?
Sarnath, the Deer Park near Varanasi
The Lion Capital that Ashoka raised there in 250 BCE is now the State Emblem of India.
Q 11At what age did the Buddha die, at Kushinagar?
80
His last meal was an offering from a blacksmith named Cunda; Theravadins say it was pork, Mahayanists say a mushroom or truffle.
Q 12Which of the Buddha's cousins attempted to take over the sangha and formed a rival sect?
Devadatta
His schism was one of the most troubling events of the Buddha's old age; Ananda, another cousin, was the Buddha's attendant.
Q 13According to the second Noble Truth, dukkha arises with tanha, a word literally meaning what?
Thirst
It is translated as craving, desire or attachment; the third truth says dukkha ends when tanha is let go.
Q 21What are the Three Jewels in which all Buddhists take refuge?
Buddha, Dharma and Sangha
Tibetan Buddhism sometimes adds a fourth refuge: the lama.
Q 22The Dharma is likened to what object, 'for crossing over' but not for holding on to?
A raft
It is a pragmatic teaching to be practised, not a belief to be clung to.
Q 23What is the Sangha?
The monastic community of monks and nuns
'Without the Sangha there is no Buddhism', writes Gethin; laypeople gain merit by supporting it.
Q 14Which of these is NOT one of the eight practices of the Noble Eightfold Path?
Right prayer
The eight are right view, resolve, speech, conduct, livelihood, effort, mindfulness and samadhi.
Q 15What does the word nirvana literally mean?
Blowing out
It refers to the extinguishing of the passions, and Theravada sees it as the way out of samsara.
Q 16The Middle Way is described as a path between sensory indulgence and what?
Extreme asceticism
The Buddha also framed it as a middle course between eternalism and nihilism.
Q 17Anicca, dukkha and anatta are collectively known as what?
The three marks of existence
They mean impermanence, unsatisfactoriness and non-self; some schools add nirvana's peace as a fourth seal.
Q 18Buddhist texts describe rebirth in how many realms of existence?
Six
Three are good (heavenly, demi-god, human) and three evil (animal, hungry ghost, hell).
Q 19What is the literal meaning of samsara?
Wandering
The cycle of rebirth is perpetuated by desire and ignorance and is itself considered dukkha.
Q 20In Buddhist karma theory, unlike Jainism, what is essential to bring about a karmic result?
Intent
Even ill or good thoughts without physical action create karmic seeds.
Q 24How many precepts form the minimal standard of morality for Buddhist laypeople?
Five
Monastics take eight or ten precepts plus the detailed rules of the Vinaya.
Q 25What is the meaning of the term Tripitaka, used for the canonical collections of Buddhist texts?
Three baskets
The Pali version divides into the Vinaya (monastic rule), Sutta (discourses) and Abhidhamma (doctrine).
Q 26Where were the first Buddhist canonical texts probably written down, some 400 years after the Buddha?
Sri Lanka
Until then the teachings were transmitted orally in Prakrit languages such as Pali.
Q 27The Theravada school's Pali Tipitaka holds what distinction?
Only complete Buddhist scriptures surviving in an Indic language
Many other early schools' texts survive only in Chinese translation.
Q 28The Dhammapada, verses attributed to the Buddha, belongs to which division of the Pali Canon?
Khuddaka Nikaya
Its concise verses distil the teaching into a form 'available to anyone', in Glenn Wallis's words.
Q 29Which brutal war, fought in his eighth regnal year, preceded Ashoka's turn toward Buddhism?
Kalinga
His edicts afterward made 'dhamma', righteous conduct, their central theme.
Q 30Ashoka's daughter Sanghamitta carried a sapling of the Bodhi Tree to which island in 288 BCE?
Sri Lanka
Planted at Anuradhapura, it is regarded as the oldest living human-planted tree with a known date.