Dalai Lama Tolerance Quotations

Tolerance is an important virtue of bodhisattvas .

Without mutual tolerance emerging as the foundation, terrible situations like those of Tibet and Sri Lanka, Bosnia and Rwanda, can never be effectively improved.

The antidote to hatred in the heart, the source of violence, is tolerance.

Tolerance and patience should not be read as signs of weakness. They are signs of strength.

We are beset by problems and if we look for their source, we find they arise because of our selfishness, because we tend to pursue our own interests at the expense of others. Our various religious traditions exist to help us reduce these problems. They all teach ways to overcome suffering through cultivating love and compassion, tolerance, patience and contentment.

We cannot overcome anger and hatred simply by suppressing them. We need to actively cultivate the antidotes: patience and tolerance.

If indeed the qualities such as love, patience, tolerance, and forgiveness are what happiness consists in, and if it is also true that compassion, defined as concern for others, is both the source and the fruit of these qualities, then the more we are compassionate, the more we provide for our own happiness.

Because the existing education system is oriented towards materialistic goals we need to pay special attention to inner values such as tolerance, forgiveness, love and compassion.

It is our enemies who provide us with the challenge we need to develop the qualities of tolerance, patience and compassion.

It is the enemy who can truly teach us to practice the virtues of compassion and tolerance.

Compassion and tolerance are not a sign of weakness, but a sign of strength.

Education is the way to achieve far-reaching results, it is the proper way to promote compassion and tolerance in society.

We cannot learn real patience and tolerance from a guru or a friend. They can be practiced only when we come in contact with someone who creates unpleasant experiences. According to Shantideva, enemies are really good for us as we can learn a lot from them and build our inner strength.