I have been motivated to write this book mainly by two feelings: admiration and exasperation. My admiration is for the Buddha, whom I consider to be one of the greatest thinkers ñ and greatest personalities ñ of whom we have record in human history. Ranking people in an order of merit is a pursuit fit only for parlour games, but I maintain that the Buddha belongs in the same class as Plato and Aristotle, the giants who created the tradition of western philosophy. I think that his ideas should form part of the education of every child, the world over, and that this would help to make the world a more civilized place, both gentler and more intelligent.