The reader should not assume that I, as the Dalai Lama, will offer any special solution. There is nothing in these pages that has not been said before. Moreover, I feel that the concerns and ideas expressed here are shared by many who are thinking and trying to find solutions to the problems that bring suffering to us humans. In offering this book for publication, at the request of my friends, I hope that it will express the thoughts of the millions of people who do not have the opportunity to speak publicly and therefore remain what I call the silent majority.

The reader should remember, however, that I received an exclusively religious and spiritual education. From my early youth, my main (and constant) field of study was Buddhist philosophy and psychology. In particular, I studied the works of religious philosophers of the Gelug school, to which the Dalai Lamas traditionally belong. But, as a strong proponent of religious pluralism, I have also studied the major works of other Buddhist traditions. However, I have relatively little knowledge of modern secular thought. However, this book is not religious. And to an even lesser extent this is a book about Buddhism. My goal is to call for a moral approach based on general rather than religious principles.