Chapter 12: Quiz review part 1
Venerable Thubten Samten 
Aryadeva's 400 Stanzas 
Apr 16, 2015 The first part of the review of the quiz questions for Chapter 12: Refuting wrong views. Part of a series of talks on Aryadeva's Four Hundred Stanzas on the Middle Way.
Review of questions 1 through 8
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What are the 3 qualities of a person who is suitable to listen to teachings on emptiness? What are the 5 qualities of such a listener?
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What are the 10 qualities of a qualified Mahayana spiritual mentor?
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All non-Buddhists and followers of lower Buddhist tenets agree that one attains nirvana by giving up attachment to everything associated with afflictions. Why, then, do they dislike it when the Buddha says the person and the aggregates are empty of inherent existence?
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How does having an understanding of emptiness help us to have strong confidence and certitude in the Buddha’s teachings?
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What are evident (obvious) phenomena, slightly obscured (hidden) phenomena, and very obscured phenomena? Make examples of each. Which one is emptiness? What types of cognizers is each one not invalidated by?
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What kind of reliable cognizer can know each of these?
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To correctly infer that a scriptural passage is accurate and free from fault, we must test it by means of a three-fold analysis. What are the three points (the last point has two parts)?
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What does Verse 283 mean? Who has no fear of emptiness? Who has no fear?
101 Aryadeva’s 400 Stanzas: Chapter 12 quiz part 1 (download)
Venerable Thubten Samten
Venerable Samten met Venerable Chodron in 1996 when the future Venerable Chonyi took the future Ven. Samten to a Dharma talk at Dharma Friendship Foundation. The talk on the kindness of others and the way it was presented is deeply etched in her mind. Four Cloud Mountain retreats with Ven. Chodron, eight months in India and Nepal studying the Dharma, one month of offering service at Sravasti Abbey, and a two month retreat at Sravasti Abbey in 2008, fueled the fire to ordain. This took place August 26, 2010 (see photos). This was followed by full ordination in Taiwan in March, 2012 (see photos), becoming Sravasti Abbey's sixth bhikshuni. Right after finishing a Bachelor of Music degree, Ven. Samten moved to Edmonton to pursue training as a corporeal mime artist. Five years later, a return to university to obtain Bachelor of Education degree opened the door to teaching for the Edmonton Public School board as a music teacher. Concurrently, Ven. Samten became a founding member and performer with Kita No Taiko, Alberta's first Japanese drum group. Ven. Samten is responsible for thanking donors who make offerings online; assisting Venerable Tarpa with developing and facilitating the SAFE online learning courses; assisting with the forest thinning project; tracking down knapweed; maintaining the Abbey database and answering email questions; and photographing the amazing moments that are constantly happening at the Abbey.
