To me there is no difference whether president, beggar, or king.

In some places, there's the concept of one religion, one truth. In the Muslim world, there's the notion of Allah. The Western, multireligious modern society is some kind of a challenge to this. These, I feel, are the main causes [for terrorism], and, when combined with lots of anger and frustration, cause a huge amount of hate.

Our purpose in life is to be happy. From the very core of our being, we simply desire contentment.

I have always had this view about the modern education system: we pay attention to brain development, but the development of warmheartedness we take for granted.

Although we are all the same in not wanting problems and wanting a peaceful life, we tend to create a lot of problems for ourselves. Encountering those problems, anger develops and overwhelms our mind, which leads to violence. A good way to counter this and to work for a more peaceful world is to develop concern for others. Then our anger, jealousy and other destructive emotions will naturally weaken and diminish.

Warm-heartedne ss and concern for others’ well-being are a condition for happiness, whether you are religious or not.

Anger and hatred lead to fear; compassion and concern for others allow us to develop self-confidence, which breeds trust and friendship.