Lao Tzu says “Simplicity, patience, compassion. These three are your greatest treasures.”

Lao Tzu outlines what he calls the three

treasures - three values, or qualities of mind, that are key to living a simple life of virtue,

integrity and living in natural harmony with the Tao. These three treasures are compassion,

moderation and humility. As simple as it sounds, cultivating all the three jewels does not come

easy.

The first of the Three Treasures is Compassion, which also means love or kindness,

and is one of the most prominent beliefs in Taoism. It is selfless love for all others

which includes giving others happiness as well as removing their suffering. Most

people have love and compassion that is very conditional in nature and the transaction goes

something like this - “If you behave the way I like, I will treat you well; if you don't,

then I won't treat you well”. When you put such conditions in place, you feed off judgment, greed,

competition and negative comparison.

When this happens, compassion goes out the window and we become disconnected and alienated from our

fellow man, which almost inevitably leads to isolation, conflict, and potential disaster.

The compassion called for by Taoists is impartial, expects nothing in return, and is not possessive.

People who only have conditional love are selfish, and they tend to have frequent conflicts with

others.

One can practice compassion in many ways, starting from the simplest day-to-day activities. It could

be as simple as remembering to smile and say hi to your colleagues after entering your workplace,

or holding the door open for the person behind us, etc. Every morning thinking about how we can

help the people around us, how you can practice compassion by your speech, actions and thoughts,

without any expectations. If we are more compassionate, we find more happiness and

less conflict in life.

The second jewel of Taoism is moderation. Taoism believes that everything in life is connected,

and thus allowing ourselves to focus on our fear and greed causes imbalance and will adversely

affect our deepest selves and everyone around us.

When we want something expensive, we tend to get stressed and work harder than we normally do to

attain it. After we attain that thing, we then need to work even harder to maintain it or the

lifestyle it allows, and then we become stressed about losing that, too! On the other hand,

adopting a moderate lifestyle breeds simplicity. Simplicity is all about knowing exactly what you

want, and critically, what you don’t want. When we live in moderation, when we recognize our needs

are few, we can relax and be present.

The best way to practice a moderate lifestyle is by being more mindful of how much we spend

and how many resources we use. Once we have an estimate, we can then find ways to be more frugal.

It could then mean doing the simplest things like not wasting your food or not throwing away unused

clothes but instead donating or recycling them, by not leaving the tap running while brushing

your teeth or cleaning your car with a bucket of hot, soapy water instead of driving to the

car wash. People who live in moderation tend to use little for themselves but are happy to spend

lots on others.

Humility is the third jewel of Taoism. In Chinese, this jewel of humility is translated as "dare not

be first”. Not concerning oneself with being the first to do something is the Taoist way

to avoid premature death. Competing will not only shorten your life but often requires too much risk

and energy which will only increase unrelenting stubbornness, which in turn can create conflict

and even ruin relationships.

On the other hand, when we yield, meaning when we let go of what we want and let others have

what they want enables us to choose a content and quiet life over a competitive and difficult one.

So a humble person is a person who is happy to yield to others. A yielding person will not only

give more to others and take less for themselves, but will also never show off or step on others.

Instead, they praise others' goodness to raise them up. They are not interested in fighting

for the top spot. If there is someone else who is more worthy of the position,

they would happily yield to them. They care about benefiting all things without

conflict.

These three invaluable treasures - Compassion, Moderation and humility are gifts from Lao Tzu

and when we cultivate each of the jewels, we will not only bring simplicity, happiness,

love, and success into our life but we also bring peace and prosperity to the world.