Lao-Tzu's Treasures—Part 1

I was given a Zen calendar last winter by a friend. Each day is a tear-off sheet that offers a quote from a wise teacher—many of them from the Zen Buddhist tradition, but many of them also are sayings from a wide variety of teachers of other traditions. The offering from a July sheet was a quote attributed to Lao-Tzu: “I have just three things to teach: simplicity, patience, and compassion. These three are your greatest treasures.”

Lao-Tzu has for many years been an inspiration for me. He was not a Zen Buddhist, but preceded Zen wisdom teachers by a few centuries. He was a Chinese Taoist sage. He gave us an abundant set of pithy messages in the classic book Tao Te Ching. His enigmatic and succinct verses have given me much food for thought over the years, as I chew on a passage, and often find that his concise message, initially enigmatic, eventually speaks volumes to me. I think that was precisely Lao-Tzu's intent.

I will take it on faith that the above quote is an accurate one. (I'm a bit skeptical, because Lao-Tzu never claimed to teach, as I recall. Similar to Socrates, he simply offered his ideas to people who could then mull them over and use them to teach themselves.) Assuming that it's a valid quotation, what did he mean by listing these particular three teachings: simplicity, patience, and compassion? I am aware that when we read English translations of an ancient master's writings from an other culture, many of those English words do not really capture the essence of the original word. But let me assume that these English translations from Chinese—simplicity, patience, and compassion—are accurate translations.

What do these three words describe? I think they express virtues. My dictionary describes virtues as “behavior showing high moral standards; a quality considered morally good or desirable in a person.” OK, so simplicity, patience, and compassion appear to be pretty good examples of virtues. But surely there are many more kinds of virtues that a person may exhibit, than just these three. How about, for example, honesty, kindness, courage, moderation, generosity, and dependability, to name just a few?

Did Lao-Tzu contend that his three treasures covered all the moral bases? He did call them the three “greatest treasures,” so maybe they are just his three greatest hits—if you strive to exhibit them, then maybe you've accomplished 90% of what it means to be a good person?

Whenever I ponder questions like these, I like to turn to a good dictionary for clarification. So here's what my Oxford American Dictionary tells me about Lao-Tzu's three treasures.

• Simplicity: the quality or condition of being easy to understand or to do; the quality of being plain or natural. Some synonyms: lucidity, clarity, unpretentious, restrained, honest, sincere, humble.
• Patience: the capacity to accept or tolerate delay and suffering without getting upset or angry; staying cool. Some synonyms: calmness, composure, equanimity, restraint, tolerance, perseverance, diligence.
• Compassion: the sympathetic pity and concern for the sufferings of others (accompanied by the urge to help them). Some synonyms: gentleness, mercy, understanding, concern, kindness, charity, benevolence.

After that bit if dictionary research, it seems to me that Lao-Tzu's three treasures sure cover a lot of moral ground—and I would bet that even if the three English words aren't exact translations for the three Chinese words he used, surely some of those synonyms must capture his meaning.

More of Lao-Tzu's treasures next time...