Fine weapons of war auger evil.
Even things seem to hate them.
Therefore, a man of Tao does not set his heart upon
them.
In ordinary life, a gentleman regards the left side as
the place of honour.
In war, the right side is the place of honour.
As weapons are instruments of evil,
They are not properly a gentleman’s instruments;
Only on necessity will he resort to them.
For peace and quiet are dearest to his heart,
And to him even a victory is no cause for rejoicing.
To rejoice over a victory is to rejoice over the
slaughter of men!
Hence a man who rejoices over the slaughter of men
cannot expect to thrive in the world of men.
Oh happy occasions the left side is preferred:
On sad occasions the right side.
In the army, the Lieutenant Commander stands on the
left,
While the Commander-in-Chief stands on the right.
This means that war is treated on a par with a funeral
service.
Because many people have been killed, it is only right
that survivors should mourn for them.
Hence, even a victory is a funeral.
When the sun reaches a certain height in the sky, the first flowers of
the year – the snowdrops – will blossom.
There is a flow to events and the ascent of the sun leads to the
appearance of the snowdrop. Likewise,
when weapons of war appear in nature, fear and loathing will appear in the
hearts and minds of men and all living things. This is the law. Fear and loathing are not what we wish to
have in our hearts – all men and women are alike in this respect.
The wise person, therefore, learns how not to encourage fear and
loathing in his heart and the hearts of other people. He knows to avoid the production and the use
of fearful weapons. Like an illness, he
knows to avoid such things. And, as we
saw in the previous chapter, if he was not able to avoid the arising of weapons
in the flow of events, then this a source of regret and an invitation to
examine the correctness of his conduct.
In ordinary life, a gentleman regards the left side as
the place of honour.
In war, the right side is the place of honour.
Through the eyes of the Taoist sage, even the customs of mankind contain
a natural authentic truth and reflect the wisdom of the Tao itself. The switching over of the place of honour
reflects both the awry nature of war, while recognising that the war, once
commenced, is a reality that must be accepted.
There is honour in the fight against evil, but it is a negative honour.
The just war is the action of correcting that which should never have needed
correction.
In the army, the Lieutenant Commander stands on the
left,
While the Commander-in-Chief stands on the right.
This means that war is treated on a par with a funeral
service.
We did not want this person to die, but still we maintain honour and
propriety in our obsequies. In the case
of war, we must treat the whole matter as if it was the funeral of a person who
might have been saved had we not been negligent. As we can see, triumphalism and glory in war
is very far from the manner appropriate to the Taoist sage.
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