Contradiction but no conflict

   There's only a problem, in the contradictory nature of different paths, if you fail to realise that their differences lie in the difference between their bases (where you begin).  Their bases are different because the relative capacities of individuals are different.  This means that what is a useful method for one person, could merely be an obstacle for another.  Once you have a fundamental understanding of this, it becomes very simple.  Then, not only will there be no conflict between different vehicles of Buddhism as to how and when they are presented but; you'll also come to understand the methods of any religion. 
This is the true basis of tolerance.  

p23, Wearing the Body of Visions, Ngakpa Chögyam, Aro Books, 1995, ISBN 1-898185-03-4

The base

"The base, or starting point, of Buddhism is a nagging feeling that something about the way we live is subtly askew – and consequent curiosity about what else might be possible. It is not that there is something particularly wrong with life: dissatisfaction with jobs, marriages, or circumstances. On the one hand, we recognise that such situations can be improved with effort. On the other hand, it seems that no amount of improvement will resolve life completely. We may have experienced some successes, yet there seems to be something tenuous about them. A repeating cycle of identifying areas of dissatisfaction and fixing them is not a history upon which we would reminisce with relish." phases-of-aro, Ngak'chang Rinpoche

I have to be simply what I am, and work with that

"It is important that one respects the base; and the base is what I am. If I have anger, then that is part of my base – I have to work with that. I cannot go into denial about being an angry person – I cannot pretend that I am not angry, that I am not always irritated. I have to accept that about myself. I cannot try to be a ‘spiritual’ person, and enter into pretence about myself. I have to be simply what I am, and work with that."

Compassion and the Nine Yanas, Ngakpa Chögyam, Aro Encyclopaedia