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Tao Te Ching · 31 of 81

Chapter 31

Now arms, however beautiful, are instruments of evil omen, hateful, it may be said, to all creatures. Therefore they who have the Tao do not like to employ them.

The superior man ordinarily considers the left hand the most honourable place, but in time of war the right hand. Those sharp weapons are instruments of evil omen, and not the instruments of the superior man;—he uses them only on the compulsion of necessity. Calm and repose are what he prizes; victory (by force of arms) is to him undesirable. To consider this desirable would be to delight in the slaughter of men; and he who delights in the slaughter of men cannot get his will in the kingdom.

On occasions of festivity to be on the left hand is the prized position; on occasions of mourning, the right hand. The second in command of the army has his place on the left; the general commanding in chief has his on the right;—his place, that is, is assigned to him as in the rites of mourning. He who has killed multitudes of men should weep for them with the bitterest grief; and the victor in battle has his place (rightly) according to those rites.

Asked of Guide

Why does Lao Tzu say the victor should weep for the men he has killed?

Lao Tzu shows the victor’s grief as moral consistency: victory that depends on slaughter demands mourning because those slain remain human. The chapter says “He who has killed multitudes of men should weep for them with the bitterest grief,” tying the rites of mourning to the rites of command and treating killing as an act that calls for remorse.

This weeping marks the Taoist refusal to glorify force; the superior man prizes “calm and repose” and uses weapons only from necessity. Compare Chuang Tzu, who also treats spontaneous, nameless virtue as the proper order—action that preserves life rather than delights in destruction.

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Echoes elsewhere

Chuang Tzu · Taoismsweet dew, which, without the directions of men, reaches equally everywhere as of its own accord. 4. As soon as it proceeds to action, it has a name. When it once has that name, (m Cosmic Consciousness · Esotericwhich, without the directions of men, reaches equally everywhere as of its own accord [166: 74]. To him who holds in his hands the Great Image (of the invisible Tâo) the whole worl The Sayings of Lao Tzu · Taoismin sending down sweet dew, and the people would be righteous unbidden and of their own accord. As soon as Tao creates order, it becomes nameable. When it once has a name, men will Tertium Organum: The Third Canon of Thought · Esotericcall it the form of the formless, the image of the imageless, the fleeting and the indeterminable. There is something chaotic, yet complete, which existed before heaven and earth.