A Discussion on Tolerance

Tolerance is a moral virtue that entails the capacity to forgive and to accommodate slander, violation, and harm imposed by the external world. It is the ability to embrace all beings and circumstances with a broad and magnanimous heart.

Tolerance originates from the innate goodness embedded deep within the human mind. It enables individuals to preserve benevolent intentions and moral clarity, preventing them from becoming emotionally agitated or consumed by anger when confronted with injury or injustice. Through tolerance, interpersonal conflicts and harmful frictions can be reduced; more importantly, it serves a transformative and educative function, guiding people toward the accumulation of virtue and the practice of goodness.

As one’s spiritual standards are refined through sustained self-cultivation, and as one’s moral realm gradually ascends, one’s capacity for tolerance likewise expands, accompanied by the elevation of moral character. When tolerance reaches a certain level of maturity, it possesses the power to morally influence and transform those nearby, allowing this virtue to circulate widely within human relationships and social life.

In contemporary society, however, tolerance is increasingly neglected. This neglect stems largely from a diminishing understanding of its true meaning. Many mistakenly regard tolerance as a form of self-humiliation or self-sacrifice, believing it to be a weakness through which harm is passively exchanged for forbearance. In reality, tolerance is a painful internal process—one that requires the individual to release, accept, and internalize experiences of violation. Yet most people find it exceedingly difficult to relinquish personal interests and emotional attachments, or to abandon the seven emotions and six desires that bind the human heart. Few are willing to voluntarily endure the profound physical and psychological suffering that genuine tolerance demands. As a result, tolerance has gradually declined as a social virtue. What now prevails are struggle, resentment, and retaliation, while those capable of forgiving the faults of others become increasingly rare.

Moral character itself exists in hierarchical stages. When an individual’s moral cultivation has not yet reached a higher level, universal tolerance remains unattainable. The prerequisite for tolerance lies in the relinquishment of selfishness and the prioritization of others’ well-being—an act that often entails great inner suffering and is therefore difficult to accept. This reveals the immense challenge inherent in cultivating a tolerant mind. Human impulsivity frequently leads individuals to act before reflection and before tolerance has any opportunity to intervene. Only afterward, when consequences unfold and failures emerge due to insufficient tolerance, do people experience regret. It is often in such painful moments that individuals recognize the necessity of deliberation, of confronting perceived injustice with a tolerant heart, of self-reflection, and of moral restraint. Yet those who truly internalize this realization are few. Most, after briefly acknowledging the lesson, quickly revert to complacency, refusing to seriously examine the deeper significance of tolerance. They continue to pursue personal gain, allowing even trivial matters to provoke rage, generate malicious intent, and awaken harmful impulses. All of this arises from a fundamental deficiency of tolerance.

Since ancient times, tolerance has been vividly exemplified within Chinese civilization. From the historical episode of Lian Po bearing reeds upon his back to seek forgiveness, to the well-known saying that “the prime minister’s belly is large enough to hold a boat,” to Zhuangzi’s assertion that “to be constantly tolerant toward things and not to diminish others is the highest state,” Chinese intellectual tradition has consistently emphasized the cultivation of tolerance. These teachings warn that when tolerance is insufficient and the desire for revenge arises, retaliation becomes a double-edged sword—one that harms others while inevitably inflicting damage upon oneself.

Thus, the significance of tolerance extends far beyond the resolution of minor interpersonal conflicts. It bears directly upon the question of whether society as a whole—and indeed humanity at large—can develop peacefully and harmoniously.

Accordingly, individuals should gradually relinquish excessive attachment to personal interests and reputation, reduce worldly desires, and continuously temper themselves through lived experience. One must not respond to the loss of immediate self-interest incurred through tolerance with anger or resentment. Instead, consistent self-reflection is required—acting in accordance with moral teachings, prioritizing altruism, cultivating goodness, maintaining right mindfulness, and engaging in right conduct. Only through the intergenerational transmission of this noble virtue can true tolerance be realized. In doing so, a nation preserves its cultural psychology of forbearance, and society as a whole may come to embody elevated moral qualities.

Tolerance, as a profound and beautiful virtue, merits continuous contemplation and practice. Through it, benefits may extend to future generations, and its moral influence may endure across ages.