Tolerance

“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.” – M. K. Gandhi

If there is one disturbing trend that has become increasingly prevalent in our society currently, it has to be intolerance. We see people responding in a violent manner to criticism or comments, which may or may not be true. Either a criticism is right, in which case the concerned people should do their level best to address it, or it is wrong, in which case the concerned people should choose to ignore it. Mainly the criticism or comment, directed against people in power or people who have a religious following, invites such response. How to handle such a situation is probably best illustrated by a story about Buddha, which I read recently. Here’s how it goes:

Once, Buddha was in town to spread his message of peace and non-violence. There were several who did not approve of this. One such person, who disagreed with Buddha’s view on patience and tolerance, decided to teach him a lesson. It is said that Buddha would start his day by taking a dip in the pond at the dawn, to signify physical purity. While he was walking out of the pond, the cynic who was determined to teach Buddha a lesson, spat on him. Buddha smiled and went right back into the pond and took another dip. Again while he was going back, this misanthropist spat on Buddha, with an expectation to start a verbal tussle. Buddha again smiled and went right back to the pond and took a dip once more. This happened more than fifty times, before one of his disciples; saw this disturbing occurrence again and again. He came to Buddha’s defense, by trying to fight the cynic. Buddha said to his disciple that “It is his determination to make me physically impure and it is my determination to keep myself physically pure. My aim will not be achieved by fighting him, but by being determined to what I am doing. Allow him to do what he is doing and allow me to do what I am doing. Let sanity prevail.” Realizing that Buddha would not fight back, the cynic continued spitting on Buddha, until finally Buddha had taken his ritually established dip, for the 108^th time. That is when he asked Buddha, “How come you don’t want to stop me? Why don’t you react? I am feeling frustrated about your inaction, and have no further desire to spoil your ritual.” Buddha said to him, “You answered your own questions. By not reacting, I killed your desire to disturb my ritual. By fighting, I would have merely stopped you from disturbing my ritual. So, I have accomplished a greater task by my approach of tolerance.” It is said that the same man became one of Buddha’s foremost disciples, and continued living the rest of his life, practicing and preaching non-violence and tolerance.

I think the world would have been a better place to live in, had most people focused on transforming or reforming a person than merely trying to curtail a person from doing wrongs, using brute force. When I started writing this article, I thought this story was apt for the current times. However by the end, I realized that there is a timeless lesson elaborated in it.