The genetic predispositions that influence our character traits are thus almost the same today as in Aristotle’s time. The Dalai Lama agrees with this when he states that there is no basic difference between men and women today and those in the Buddha’s time, no more than there is any basic difference between Easterners and Westerners: “We all share,” he often says, “the same human nature, feel the same emotions of joy and sadness, benevolence or anger, and are all trying to avoid suffering. Thus as human beings we are basically the same.”
