This book will help people reduce harm to themselves and others. Here’s an excerpt from the book explaining why we might take sacred vows: Why Vow? The Truth of Suffering We might take a vow, such as the vow not to harm, because we understand that we suffer. The Buddha taught the Four Noble Truths. I’ve written about this elsewhere, as have many others. The first of these is the Truth of Suffering. Suffering happens on different levels. We suffer when we get a little bump on the head. That’s the suffering of, well, suffering. We also suffer when things change. This is called the suffering of change. We get a good feeling, but it doesn’t last. We find the perfect lover—they find someone else. We’re young and virile at one point in life. Then we get old and flabby. Any time, without warning, we can be healthy, and then get sick. We can be alive, then not alive.