Tolerance –Part II

A tolerant person must have empathy and compassion towards other beings.  Empathy means sincerely understanding others’ feelings and thinking, and truly sharing their pains, frustration, and anger, as well as their perceptions and beliefs.  Compassion implies boundless and unconditioned love expressed through concerned attitudes, kind words and caring deeds.   A compassionate person is selfless and altruistic.

To develop empathy and compassion, every day try to put ourselves in the shoes of those who are sick or in pain and need care, and those who seem to be difficult to deal with.  Imagine you are a caregiver, learn how to express your empathy toward them.  Take care of others, including little creatures like an ant, a mosquito, or an earthworm.  Cause no harm to others, and learn to become a vegetarian.  Put yourself in others' situations in order to empathize with those who are quarrelsome and bellicose.  Learn why they live and view the world that way.  You can develop empathy by thinking about the interconnectedness among all beings on earth.  Oneness embraces no discrimination, prejudice or stereotype.  Thinking about unity or oneness, you would not utter unskilled words that may hurt or separate people.  Nor would you want to harm any when you see yourselves in others.  With compassion you would rather give than receive, whether it is material objects and money, or joy and happiness.  Compassionate people always help others in difficult times without any selfish motive.  Empathy and compassion should be subjects for daily mindful contemplation.  With practice, patience and perseverance, your ability to tolerate adversities will improve.

Tolerance

Tolerance is a powerful means to conquer all oppositions, obstacles and adversaries in life, but it is not easy to practice.   

Wars and conflicts among countries, religions, and various groups show that dialogues and negotiations are usually helpless, even useless to solve differences.  The roots of the problem of differences lie in human ignorance, hatred and greed.  To solve the problem, therefore, we need to uproot or transform these human illnesses.  One possible solution is to practice tolerance by taming the mind.  This is a huge task for each of us, at the individual level.  

The practice of tolerance demands a strong will and an selfless desire to improve oneself and the world around us.  Discipline and effort are necessary for this tolerance training.  Every second in daily life the practitioner needs to observe his/her body and verbal behaviors,as well as emotional and mental states or perceptions.  Together with the practice of no discrimination based on an understanding of the interconnectedness in the universe, a boundless love to others, and, most importantly, the practice of no self, the practitioner will gradually increase his/her ability to tolerate.  This is one goal of true meditation.