Three Treasures (Taoism)
English translations
The language of the Tao Te Ching is notoriously difficult to translate, as illustrated by the diverse English renditions of "Three Treasures" below.

Three Treasures (Taoism)

Section Title: English translations
Table Section Text: The language of the Tao Te Ching is notoriously difficult to translate, as illustrated by the diverse English renditions of "Three Treasures" below.

Translation	Sanbao 三寶	Ci 慈	Jian 儉	Bugan wei tianxia xian 不敢為天下先

Balfour (1884:41)	three things which I regard as precious	compassion	frugality	not venturing to take precedence of others — modesty

Legge (1891:110)	three precious things	gentleness	economy	shrinking from taking precedence of others

Lin (1948:291)	Three Treasures	Love	Moderation	Never be the first in the world

Erkes (1950:117)	three jewels	kindness	thriftiness	not daring to play the first part in the empire

Waley (1934:225)	three treasures	pity	frugality	refusal to be 'foremost of all things under heaven'

Wu (1961:97)	Three Treasures	Mercy	Frugality	Not daring to be First in the World

Chan (1963:219)	three treasures	deep love	frugality	not to dare to be ahead of the world

Lau (1963:129)	three treasures	compassion	frugality	not daring to take the lead in the empire

English & Feng (1972:n.p.)	three treasures which I hold and keep	mercy	economy	daring not to be ahead of others — humility

Wieger & Bryce (1984:34)	three things	charity	simplicity	humility

Mitchell (1988:110)	three treasures which I preserve and treasure	compassion	frugality	daring not to be first in the world

Henricks (1989:38)	three treasures	compassion	frugality	not presuming to be at the forefront in the world

Chen (1989:208)	three treasures	motherly love	frugality	daring not be at the world's front

Mair (1990:41)	three treasures	compassion	frugality	not daring to be ahead of all under heaven

Muller (2004:n.p.)	three treasures	compassion	frugality	not daring to put myself ahead of everybody

Sentence(s)

The three treasures are pity, frugality, and refusal to be 'foremost of all things under heaven'.

final_sentence: The three treasures are pity, frugality, and refusal to be 'foremost of all things under heaven'.