Self-compassion can improve mental health and enable individuals to develop aspects of prosocial motivation such as forgiveness. Self-compassion is associated with forgiveness; however, cognitive and emotional mechanisms underlying this association remain underexplored. Based on Worthington’s stress-and-coping theory of forgiveness, we examined the roles of rumination and anger—two typical psychological responses to interpersonal transgressions—in the relationship between self-compassion and forgiveness. By analyzing a sample of 358 Chinese college students (132 male students, mean age = 19.18 years), we determined that self-compassion and forgiveness were negatively associated with anger and rumination. Structural equation modeling results revealed that self-compassion was associated with forgiveness directly and indirectly through decreased anger and rumination. Furthermore, rumination was associated with forgiveness indirectly through anger. These findings indicate that anger is a proximal predictor of forgiveness. The results of the present study suggest that increasing self-compassion, reducing rumination, and alleviating anger are substantial and interventive processes for cultivating forgiveness.