"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==