Life Oasis Three Maxims: Simple, Frugal, Steadfast · Friendly Version¶

Three Words, One Way of Living¶

Picture a community with no rulebooks, no mandatory meetings, no tasks assigned from above — and a jar of spending money sitting in the open for anyone to take without asking permission. That is the Life Oasis (Second Home), and the guide Xuefeng summed up its way of life in three words:

Simple. Frugal. Steadfast.

Simple — Less Is More¶

Xuefeng's observation: "The simpler, the more orderly; the simpler, the more efficient; the simpler, the happier people become."

He turned that insight into eight concrete practices:

No rules or regulations — trust people to act rightly on their own
Almost no meetings — just one community gathering each Friday
No assigned tasks — choose your own work, at your own pace
No formal requirements — basic courtesy and self-cultivation are enough
Money is open — placed where anyone can take what they need, no approval required
No ceremonies — no birthday parties, no holidays, no gift-giving between community members
Minimal possessions — one room, one bed, one table, one chair, one cabinet; three pairs of shoes, three outfits; everything else shared

This isn't austerity for its own sake. It's freedom — freedom from bureaucracy, from the pressure to perform, from the exhausting social accounting of who owes whom what.

Frugal — Enough Is Enough¶

Laozi listed frugality as one of life's three great treasures. For the Life Oasis it means:

"No pomp, no waste, no luxury or extravagance, no purchasing anything merely for show. The principle is utility in all things."

Two classical Chinese sayings capture the spirit:

"Eating a bowl of porridge, remember how hard the grain was grown."
"A plain earthen jar is better than gold and jade; a simple garden vegetable outdoes a feast."

Frugality here isn't about being poor. It's about not being owned by things — not spending your energy chasing what you don't need. When you stop measuring your life by what you own, something unexpected happens: life feels richer.

Steadfast — Do It Right¶

Simple and Frugal are about doing less. Steadfast is about doing it well.

Xuefeng lays out three aspects:

Solid foundations inside — your faith, your values, your skills, your integrity must be genuinely solid
No half-finished work — if you take something on, aim for excellence; leave no loose ends that others have to clean up later
Authenticity throughout — every word, action, and thought must be real; no hollow slogans, no performance

Steadfast is the safeguard. Without it, "simple" becomes careless and "frugal" becomes neglectful.

All Three Together¶

Xuefeng closes with a passage from the Heart Sutra:

"Only if we apply simplicity, frugality, and steadfastness to everything will we find: no hindrance in the mind; no hindrance, therefore no fear; far beyond all delusive thinking, here is Nirvana."

The three maxims aren't a hardship code. They're a map to a lighter life — the kind of life where nothing weighs on your mind because nothing owns your heart.