Page 366 - A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols BIG Book

A-Z 359

Like all uneven numbers, three is masculine and a very important number in Chinese
thought. From the basic trinity of heaven, earth and man (san cai), a
multitude of trinities are derived. For example, early Han speculation distinguished three
successive historical periods having the properties of ‘loyalty’ (zhong), ‘respect’ (jing)
and ‘refinement’ (wen) and corresponding to the ‘First Three Dynasties’ – Xia, Shang
and Zhou.
According to the ‘Book of Rites’ (Li-ji), man, by virtue of his intermediate position
between heaven and earth, corresponds to the number three. Bhaisajya, Sakya-muni-
Buddha and Amitabha (the Buddha yet to come) are seen as the ‘three precious things’
(san bao) and these are often represented together in Buddhist temples, with
Buddha in the middle and Amitabha to his right. But the ‘three precious things’ are also
often taken to be Buddha, his teaching and the community of monks.

The three wishes: happiness or good fortune (a child with a peach and a
bat), long life (the god of longevity) and riches (deer)

Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism are seen as the ‘three teachings’ (san jiao) and
they are summarised in the expression ‘The three teachings are one.’ This claim tends,
however, to obscure the fact that, as state religion, Confucianism was in a very different
position from the other two. It i s true, though, and the expression underlines it, that all
three religions have a part to play in human life: Confucianism is the religion of filial
piety ( xiao); popular Taoism has to do with the individual’s position in the
community, with whose ceremonial purification it is charged; finally, Buddhism is a way
of looking at death and at the meaning of life in general. Buddha, for example, should not
be pestered with trivial complaints and desires: what he has to decide is whether a man
should be reborn on the same level or as an animal, and whether a spirit should suffer in
purgatory or go straight to paradise.
The Buddhist canon is divided into ‘three baskets’ (tripitaka). The tree plants which
symbolise long life – the bamboo, the pine and the plum-tree – are very commonly
lumped together as ‘the three friends’.
For hundreds of years, the ‘Three Character Classic’ (San zi jing) was the book from
which Chinese children first learned their written Chinese. It was a work inculcating
Confucian morality and consisting of simple sentences each of which had three