Three Treasures (Taoism)

The Three Treasures or Three Jewels () are basic virtues in Taoism. Although the ''Tao Te Ching'' originally used to mean "compassion", " frugality", and " humility", the term was later used to translate the Three Jewels ( Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha) in Chinese Buddhism, and to mean the Three Treasures (, , and ) in Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Tao Te Ching

"three treasures" first occurs in ''Tao Te Ching'' chapter 67, which Lin Yutang says contains Laozi's "most beautiful teachings":

Every one under heaven says that our Way is greatly like folly. But it is just because it is great, that it seems like folly. As for things that do not seem like folly — well, there can be no question about ''their'' smallness!

Here are my three treasures. Guard and keep them! The first is pity; the second, frugality; the third, refusal to be 'foremost of all things under heaven'.

For only he that pities is truly able to be brave;

Only he that is frugal is able to be profuse.

Only he that refuses to be foremost of all things

Is truly able to become chief of all Ministers.

At present your bravery is not based on pity, nor your profusion on frugality, nor your vanguard on your rear; and this is death. But pity cannot fight without conquering or guard without saving. Heaven arms with pity those whom it would not see destroyed.

Arthur Waley describes these Three Treasures as, "The three rules that formed the practical, political side of the author's teaching (1) abstention from aggressive war and capital punishment, (2) absolute simplicity of living, (3) refusal to assert active authority."

Chinese terminology

The first of the Three Treasures is (), which is also a Classical Chinese term for "mother" (with "tender love, nurturing" semantic associations). ''Tao Te Ching'' chapters 18 and 19 parallel ("parental love") with ( "filial love; filial piety"). Wing-tsit Chan believes "the first is the most important" of the Three Treasures, and compares with Confucianist ( "humaneness; benevolence"), which the ''Tao Te Ching'' (e.g., chapters 5 and 38) mocks.

The second is (), a practice that the ''Tao Te Ching'' (e.g., chapter 59) praises. Ellen M. Chen believes is "organically connected" with the Taoist metaphor ( "uncarved wood; simplicity"), and "stands for the economy of nature that does not waste anything. When applied to the moral life it stands for the simplicity of desire."

The third treasure is a six-character phrase instead of a single word: ''Bugan wei tianxia xian'' "not dare to be first/ahead in the world".
Chen notes that

The third treasure, daring not be at the world's front, is the Taoist way to avoid premature death. To be at the world's front is to expose oneself, to render oneself vulnerable to the world's destructive forces, while to remain behind and to be humble is to allow oneself time to fully ripen and bear fruit. This is a treasure whose secret spring is the fear of losing one's life before one's time. This fear of death, out of a love for life, is indeed the key to Taoist wisdom.

In the Mawangdui Silk Texts version of the ''Tao Te Ching'', this traditional "Three Treasures" chapter 67 is chapter 32, following the traditional last chapter (81, 31). Based upon this early silk manuscript, Robert G. Henricks concludes that "Chapters 67, 68, and 69 should be read together as a unit." Besides some graphic variants and phonetic loan characters, like ( "mat, this") for ( "compassion, love", clarified with the "heart radical" ), the most significant difference with the received text is the addition of (, "constantly, always") with "I constantly have three …" () instead of "I have three …" ().

English translations

The language of the ''Tao Te Ching'' is notoriously difficult to translate, as illustrated by the diverse English renditions of "Three Treasures" below.

A consensus translation of the Three Treasures could be: compassion or love, frugality or simplicity, and humility or modesty.

Other meanings

In addition to these Taoist "Three Treasures", Chinese can also refer to the Three Treasures in Traditional Chinese Medicine or the Three Jewels in Buddhism. Victor H. Mair notes that Chinese Buddhists chose the Taoist term to translate Sanskrit or ("three jewels"), and " is not at all strange that the Taoists would take over this widespread ancient Indian expression and use it for their own purposes."

Erik Zürcher, who studied influences of Buddhist doctrinal terms in Taoism, noted two later meanings of : "the Way", "the Scriptures", and "the Master" seems to be patterned after Buddhist usage; "Lord of Celestial Treasure", "Lord of Numinous Treasure", and "Lord of Divine Treasure" are the "Three Primes" of the Lingbao School.

The use of the term in Classical Chinese thought is used to explain the relationships between the ten thousand things. From the macrocosm to the microcosm the blending of Heaven and Earth leading to the interpreted meaning by humans.

Footnotes

External links

Tao Teh Ching 67
29 translations, St. Xenophon Library

{{Virtues

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Taoist ethics
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