What are the three greatest treasures?
Many in consumer-oriented cultures would say fame, power and money.
Or diamonds, gold, and property.
In a materialist based value system you can never have too much of any of them.
Not according to the book of Eastern philosophy, the Tao Te Ching. It has a different take on the greatest treasures in life.
These are known as The Three Treasures.
These basic virtues are infinitely more beneficial to the self and others than mere material things.
They can't be bought or stolen or had by nefarious means. To acquire them is a lifetime of focused, concentrated practice.
But the benefits!
Lao Tzu said he had "just three things to teach". The Three Treasures.
They are:
1. Simplicity (an absence of luxury, pretentiousness, ornament, etc.; plainness)
2. Patience (to remain quiet, with steady perseverance, having even-tempered care and remaining diligence), and
3. Compassion (a sympathetic consciousness of others' distress together with a desire to alleviate it)
The Tao Te Ching concludes,
"Simple in actions and in thoughts,
you return to the source of being.
Patient with both friends and enemies,
you accord with the way things are.
Compassionate toward yourself,
you reconcile all beings in the world."
The Tao Te Ching (Lao Tzu) and 365 Tao: Daily Meditations (Deng Ming-Dao) have been part of my daily life for decades now. The message never changes but never stops changing as the recipient never stops changing - and, hopefully, growing.
ReplyDeleteThank you very much, Greg, Linda and Lao Tzu, I wish we all could at least try to acquire in some degree these treasures. I, for sure, I wrote the Tao Tching conclusions in my note book so everyday i will remember and try to practise it, We all need it. Keep doing your inpirational work,we need it. Thank you Greg and Linda ( all the best for you from Portugal)
ReplyDeleteI came across this today on my once-a-month (or so) visit to Facebook -
ReplyDelete""We tend to think that we are powerless, helpless, impotent. Yet the reality is that only we - as individuals working in cooperation with each other- have the power to transform our situation. Far from being helpless, we are the only source from which the necessary creativity, compassion and action can arise. The outcome of this time of planetary transition will depend on the choices we make as individuals. Nothing is lacking. Nothing more is needed than what we already have. We require no remarkable, undiscovered technologies. We do not need heroic, larger-than-life leadership. The only requirement is that we, as individuals, choose a revitalizing future and then work in community with others to bring it to fruition. By our conscious choices we can move from alienation to community, from despair to creativity, from passivity to participation, from stagnation to learning, from cynicism to caring." ~ Duane Elgin (Voluntary Simplicity)
Duane Elgin is one of my early favourites that has affected my own voluntary simplicity. Thank you so much for sharing this awesome quote with us.
Delete- Gregg