Three Treasures (Taoism)
The Three Treasures or Three Jewels (Chinese: 三寶; pinyin: sānbǎo; Wade–Giles: san-pao) are basic virtues in Taoism. Although the Tao Te Ching originally used sanbao 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 (jing, qi, and shen) in Traditional Chinese Medicine.
This article is about the "Three Treasures" in Daoism. For other uses, see Three Treasures (disambiguation).Other meanings[edit]
In addition to these Taoist "Three Treasures", Chinese sanbao 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 sanbao to translate Sanskrit triratna or ratnatraya ("three jewels"), and "[i]t is not at all strange that the Taoists would take over this widespread ancient Indian expression and use it for their own purposes."[13]: 110
Erik Zürcher, who studied influences of Buddhist doctrinal terms in Taoism, noted two later meanings of sanbao:[16] Tao 道 "the Way", jing 經 "the Scriptures", and shi 師 "the Master" seems to be patterned after Buddhist usage; Tianbao jun 天寶君 "Lord of Celestial Treasure", Lingbao jun 靈寶君 "Lord of Numinous Treasure", and Shenbao jun 神寶君 "Lord of Divine Treasure" are the Sanyuan 三元 "Three Primes" of the Lingbao School.
The use of the term San jiao 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.