Q 01/05

Buddhism is the world's fourth-largest religion, with roughly how many followers?

A) 1.2 billion

B) 80 million

C) 320 million

D) 150 million

Answer · why

C) 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 02/05

Where was the Buddha born?

A) Bodh Gaya, in present-day India

B) Sarnath, near Varanasi

C) Lumbini, in present-day Nepal

D) Kandy, in Sri Lanka

Answer · why

C) 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 03/05

The Buddha was born into which community, governed by a small oligarchy or republic-like council?

A) The Maurya

B) The Licchavi

C) The Kuru

D) The Shakya

Answer · why

D) 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 04/05

According to legend, Queen Maya dreamed that what entered her side on the night the Buddha was conceived?

A) A golden deer with silver antlers

B) A lotus made entirely of light

C) A white elephant with six tusks

D) A serpent crowned with seven heads

Answer · why

C) 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 05/05

What were the names of the Buddha's wife and son according to the early texts?

A) Maya and Ananda

B) Sujata and Nanda

C) Yasodhara and Rahula

D) Gopa and Devadatta

Answer · why

C) Yasodhara and Rahula

Rahula later joined the monastic order his father founded.