The Three Treasures of Taoism Have a Multitude of Names—What Is Their Inherent Connection?

All who follow Taoism are well aware of its "Three Treasures". Within Taoist tradition, the "Three Treasures" are known by many names: they are referred to as the Dao, the Scriptures, and the Teachers; also called Compassion, Frugality, and Humility; and further identified as Essence, Qi, and Spirit. When faced with these varying designations, novice practitioners often struggle to grasp the true meaning of the Three Treasures, unsure which guidelines to follow in their practice. In fact, the different names used for Taoism’s Three Treasures are inherently and essentially interconnected.

Taoism centers its teachings on the Dao, holding that all things under heaven are generated and transformed by the Dao, and all of existence resides within it. However, due to the Dao’s attributes of profound obscurity and non-action, it is an existence that is extremely difficult to perceive directly. Given this unique attribute of the Dao, the Taoist Patriarch put forth the following proposition in the first chapter of the Dao De Jing: "The Dao that can be spoken of is not the eternal Dao; the name that can be named is not the eternal name." This means the great Dao can only be understood when expressed in words, but since all people have inherent individual differences, their understandings of the Dao vary widely. This is the "natural" attribute of the Dao that the Taoist Patriarch put forth. Since every person’s understanding of the Dao is different, it is impossible to use the Dao expounded by the Taoist Patriarch as a direct standard to judge the Dao cultivated by later generations of practitioners. It is for this reason that taking refuge in the Three Treasures of the Dao, Scriptures, and Teachers holds such practical significance for cultivators. The most fundamental prerequisite for determining whether a person is a Taoist believer is whether they have taken refuge in these Three Treasures. The second volume of Maiwang records: "Taoism holds the Three Treasures: the Treasure of the Dao, the Treasure of the Scriptures, and the Treasure of the Teachers. The Treasure of the Dao is the Three Supreme Venerables; the Treasure of the Scriptures is the authentic scriptures of the Three Caverns and Four Supports; the Treasure of the Teachers is the host of sages across the ten directions who have attained the Dao." The first volume of Daojiao Yishu (Pivotal Doctrines of Taoism) states: "First is the Treasure of the Dao, second is the Treasure of the Supreme Scriptures, third is the Treasure of the Great Master." The Treasure of the Dao is the Supreme Ultimate Great Dao; the Treasure of the Scriptures refers to the thirty-six revered Taoist scriptures; the Treasure of the Teachers is the Great Master of the Profound Middle. The Three Treasures of the Dao, Scriptures, and Teachers represent a systematic, unbroken lineage that stretches from the obscure, primordial Dao, to the scriptures that expound the Dao, to the teachers who transmit and interpret these scriptures. Learning the scriptures from their teachers and awakening to the Dao through study of the scriptures is the process by which later generations of learners return to cultivate their innate primordial true nature from their postnatal, conditioned physical forms.

Within the Taoist belief in the Three Treasures, the Three Treasures of the Dao, Scriptures, and Teachers form the fundamental prerequisite for all authentic cultivation. They not only make clear the essential Dao lineage that a student of the Dao must inherit, but also, in just three simple terms, point the way for all people to look inward and realize the Dao within themselves. For those who have taken refuge in the Three Treasures of the Dao, Scriptures, and Teachers, the three principles taught by the Taoist Patriarch — "first is compassion, second is frugality, third is never daring to place oneself ahead of all under heaven" — as well as the Three Treasures of Essence, Qi, and Spirit within the body, serve as respective entry points for cultivating inner nature and vital essence, representing the concrete practice of dual cultivation of inner nature and vital essence. Taoist practice cannot be separated from the two core elements of body and mind, and its overarching method ultimately comes down to the single principle of the "Dao". Practice is also called "cultivating the Dao", which entails verifying and realizing the Dao through two dimensions: the clear validation of one’s unconditioned mind-nature, and the unfettered liberation of one’s physical body, in order to fully grasp what the "natural" way of our Dao truly is. When it comes to mind-nature, the values of compassion, benevolence, simplicity, and authenticity upheld by Taoism all originate from the Three Treasures of Compassion, Frugality, and Humility put forth by the Taoist Patriarch. Tracing this back to its root, it aligns perfectly with the spirit of non-action and naturalness.

Compassion refers to the loving, benevolent mindset that Taoist practitioners should maintain toward all things under heaven: the spirit of "always being good at saving others", expressed through "benefiting all things", to give all beings in the four modes of birth and six paths of existence the opportunity to hear the teachings of the Dao and awaken to them. Saving all sentient beings is the social responsibility that all religious traditions bear. Frugality, on the one hand, serves as a constraint on the material lives of Taoist practitioners, and on the other, acts as a check on their inner desires. Taoism advocates few selfish desires and simple living; only by reducing the pursuit of external desires can one turn the mind inward, without letting external things like the five colors, five sounds, and five flavors disturb the true, constant nature within the heart. From this, the connotations of humility — non-contention, lack of desire, and lack of craving — naturally emerge.

Taoist cultivators take Compassion, Frugality, and Humility as their standard for both conduct and cultivation. The core tenet of these principles is inseparable from non-action and naturalness, and their profound utility lies in embracing the feminine and avoiding contention. Being able to hold fast to one’s own constant, unchanging nature in a world where all things are in constant flux and change may seem like a practice of the mind, but it is also part of the same continuous lineage as the cultivation and refinement of the physical body. Taoism regards longevity as the highest good, which necessarily requires practitioners to minimize the depletion of the Essence, Qi, and Spirit within their bodies. The state of inner tranquility and non-action in one’s mind-nature, combined with the complete cultivation system formed by the Three Treasures within the body — refining Essence into Qi, refining Qi into Spirit, and refining Spirit to merge with the Dao — aligns perfectly with the Taoist Patriarch’s concept of "returning to the state of an infant". Taoist cultivation emphasizes returning from the postnatal, conditioned form and spirit to the innate, primordial state. When a person is born, their body is fully endowed with Essence, Qi, and Spirit; aging and eventual death are the inevitable results of the gradual depletion of these three vital forces. Because people cannot control their desires and indulge their physical forms, they sink and become trapped in the vanity of worldly affairs. Taoism regards attaining both longevity and the Dao as its ultimate pursuit. To achieve unity with the Dao, one must begin with the postnatal body and spirit, using methods of calming the mind, eliminating desires, and combining internal cultivation with external nurturing to ensure the fullness of one’s own Three Treasures of Essence, Qi, and Spirit, thereby further verifying the path to merging with the true Dao. Although these two sets of "Three Treasures" — Compassion, Frugality, and Humility, and Essence, Qi, and Spirit — address different dimensions of cultivation, both are rooted in the teachings of the Three Treasures of the Dao, Scriptures, and Teachers. In Taoism’s definition of the Three Treasures, the Treasure of the Dao is the core; the two sets of Compassion, Frugality, Humility and Essence, Qi, Spirit are distinct manifestations of the Dao’s teachings for human cultivation in the mortal world. When discussing the concrete practice of cultivating inner nature and vital essence, one cannot set aside the guiding significance of the Treasure of the Teachers and the Treasure of the Scriptures, let alone speak recklessly while departing from the great Dao. From a religious perspective, violating the Three Treasures means abandoning truth for falsehood, and separating oneself from the fundamental laws and principles that govern all things. If this happens, all attempts at genuine cultivation will become nothing but the foolish ramblings of deluded people.