I Have Three Treasures

answered by Laozi, "Dao De Jing", Ch. 67

기원전 6~4세기

🎬 TODAY'S FILM — IT ASKS THIS

The Road to Sampo (1975)

dir. Lee Man-hee · South Korea

Two drifting laborers with no place to settle become chance companions on a snow-covered road. Neither has a hometown to call his own nor a clear destination, yet they walk side by side without contending with one another.

THE QUESTION THE FILM ASKS

For a wanderer with neither hometown nor a place to settle, what does freedom mean?

THE CLASSIC'S ANSWER · ORIGINAL

我有三寶，持而保之：一曰慈，二曰儉，三曰不敢為天下先。

📜 THE CLASSIC'S ANSWER

I have three treasures which I hold and guard: the first is compassion, the second is frugality, the third is not daring to be first in the world.

💡 TL;DR

Laozi held three treasures: not contending, frugality, and not daring to go first.

📝The Classic Answers

Laozi held three treasures: not contending, frugality, and not daring to go first. All that remains for drifting laborers with neither a place to settle nor a place to stand is compassion, frugality, and a heart that does not contend to go first. This looks like a condition forced by poverty, but it is, in truth, a simple treasure kept precisely because nothing else is held onto. Two people walking together over the snow have no place to settle, yet neither tries to go ahead of the other. Whenever I feel I have nothing, I remember that a heart that does not contend is, in itself, already a treasure.

— ONGO · Curator

🌱Apply It Today

If you feel you have nothing today, make not contending with someone your treasure for the day.

📖 Classic Source: Laozi, "Dao De Jing", Ch. 67. Ancient text in the public domain; rendered and interpreted independently by ONGO.
The film is honored as an equal questioner; its plot is rendered only as a universal dilemma. The classic source is an ancient text (Public Domain), and the reflection is 100% original ONGO content.