Treasuring the Three Treasures

[Sahaj Nath]

How important are the Three Treasures to your daily life? What do they mean to you? How are they factored into your regular practice?

 

 

i hope at least a few of you will respond. i want to get a sense of how a broad range of cultivators (hard to get more broad than the folks represented here @ TTB) employ their knowledge of the Three Treasures.

 

 

it's a really general and open inquiry, so please feel free to go anywhere with your response.

Edited May 11, 2008 by Hundun

[Cameron]

Such a huge topic. I spoke with a Longmen Pai Taoist about this a few weeks ago and her response was something like "fullness of jing leads to qi, fullness of qi leads to shen, fullness of shen leads to Tao, and that's where we want to be"

 

I am still pretty shaky on it myself. There is that famous Taoist painting, I forgot the name. With the yin yang symbol and water wheels at the bottom and you go up and I think there is a monk in meditation and then Bodhidharma and Lao Tzu at the top. In any case, I would be interested in hearing others views on this.

[mantis]

[Cameron]

That's it

 

Now...what does it mean?

[mantis]

only part i understand is that on the bottom the two monks are trying to tame the waters (sexual water)

 

we should try to decipher it!

[Cameron]

Yes, you would think the water refers to sexual fluids. Though I don't really know if that's correct.

[Procurator]

How are they factored into your regular practice?

simple. no them three - no practice.

[Patrick Brown]

Hmm that painting looks like it has something to do with moving/raising the vital energy through the chakras. Looks like a fairly contemporary painting so the system may not be based on any archaic knowledge and may simply be a personal perspective.

 

As for the three treasures:

 

Briefly the doctrine says that a Buddha has three kayas or bodies: the nirmanakaya or created body which manifests in time and space; the sambhogakaya or body of mutual enjoyment which is an archetypal manifestation; and the Dharmakaya or reality body which embodies the very principle of enlightenment and knows no limits or boundaries.

 

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trikaya

[de_paradise]

I clench my teeth when I crap to not loose shen.

 

I find the words "jing" and "chi" to be reductionist and therefore lead to confusion. Well, if you are happy with three varieties of stuff on this road of neverending refinement, then you'll probably be happy with next to useless descriptive words like "upward" or "downward"

 

Even "treasures" makes me flinch, because I think of pirate treasure or Alibaba, not refined endocrine solutions and infintesimially small bio-particles that respond to thought.

 

I still wonder what the circulating slime that washed through my mouth as my body got spiritually lipo-suctioned was, and whatwherefore.

[YMWong]

The Three Treasures take different shape on the path of a Daoist.

 

At the beginning they are those from Laozi's Chapter 67:

 

I have three treasures that I hold and cherish.

 

The first is compassion,

 

The second is frugality,

 

The third is not daring to put myself ahead of everybody.

 

 

 

Having compassion, I can be brave.

 

Having frugality, I can be generous.

 

Not daring to put myself ahead of everybody

 

I can take the time to perfect my abilities.

 

Now if I am brave without compassion

 

Generous without frugality, or

 

Go to the fore without putting my own concerns last,

 

I might as well be dead.

 

 

 

If you wage war with compassion you will win.

 

If you protect yourself with compassion you will be impervious.

 

Heaven will take care of you,

 

Protecting you with compassion.

 

[Muller]

 

Further down in the path they are:

 

-Dao (Tao)

-Jing (the scriptures)

-Shi (the teacher)

 

Only later they can be jing/qi/shen.

 

YM

[Patrick Brown]

Very nice translation. Yes I agree and work at such things.

[joeblast]

Yes, you would think the water refers to sexual fluids. Though I don't really know if that's correct.

here's what I see...what do I know

 

The two monks are not monks - they are a boy and a girl, and they are working the paddle to paddle the water upwards - meaning the combination of yin and yang that will allow the water to rise.

 

There also seems to be a dual flow in there, something golden flowing down from the top as the water courses upward.

 

hmm...temples located at tricky gates?

 

Looks like there are periodic outlets at certain points where the water will overflow and nourish, of sorts...

 

There appears to be a large temple that is along the path of the heart and mind.

 

I'm a little confused as the the meanings of where the farmer is plowing and where the ...seamstress is spinning? it looks like one of those waterfalls is being used to spin something that is being used by the heart. Are the two fires actually the same fire but at different times (i.e. planting and harvesting?)

 

The monk with his hands raised is the tongue? raising to connect?

 

ok, that's all for now...

[Patrick Brown]

The two monks are not monks - they are a boy and a girl, and they are working the paddle to paddle the water upwards - meaning the combination of yin and yang that will allow the water to rise.

Yes that sounds right like the Ida and Pingala.

 

Diagram here for those unfamiliar with the Kundalini: http://www.tantra-kundalini.com/nadis.htm