30

Use the Tao to assist your lord don’t use weapons to rule the land such things have repercussions where armies camp brambles grow best to win then stop don’t make use of force win but don’t be proud win but don’t be vain win but don’t be cruel win when you have no choice this is to win without force virility leads to old age this isn’t the Tao what isn’t the Tao ends early

SUNG CH’ANG-HSING says, “A kingdom’s ruler is like a person’s heart: when the ruler acts properly, the kingdom is at peace. When the heart works properly, the body is healthy. What enables them to work and act properly is the Tao. Hence, use nothing but the Tao to assist a ruler.”

LI HSI-CHAI, quoting Mencius (7B.7), says, “‘If you kill someone’s father, someone will kill your father. If you kill someone’s brother, someone will kill your brother.’ This is how things have repercussions.”

CH’ENG HSUAN-YING says, “The external use of soldiers and arms returns in the form of vengeful enemies. The internal use of poisonous thoughts come back in the form of evil rebirths.”

WANG AN-SHIH says, “Humankind’s retribution is clear, while Heaven’s retribution is obscure. Where an army spends the night, brambles soon appear. In an army’s wake, bad years follow. This is the retribution of Heaven.”

WANG CHEN, paraphrasing Suntzu Pingfa (2.1), says, “To raise an army of a hundred thousand requires the daily expenditure of a thousand ounces of gold. And an army of a hundred thousand means a million refugees on the road. Also, nothing results in greater droughts, plagues, or famines than the scourge of warfare. A good general wins only when he has no choice, then stops. He dares not take anything by force.”

MENCIUS says, “Those who say they are great tacticians or great warriors are, in fact, great criminals” (Mencius: 7B.2–3).

LU HUI-CH’ING says, “To win means to defeat one’s enemies. To win without being arrogant about one’s power, to win without being boastful about one’s ability, to win without being cruel about one’s achievement, this sort of victory only comes from being forced and not from the exercise of force.”

SU CH’E says, “Those who possess the Tao prosper and yet seem poor. They become full and yet seem empty. What is not virile does not become old and does not die. The virile die. This is the way things are. Using an army to control the world represents the height of strength. But it only hastens old age and death.”

HO-SHANG KUNG says, “Once plants reach their height of development, they wither. Once people reach their peak, they grow old. Force does not prevail for long. It isn’t the Tao. What is withered and old cannot follow the Tao. And what cannot follow the Tao soon dies.”

WU CH’ENG says, “Those who possess the Way are like children. They come of age without growing old.”

LAO-TZU says, “Tyrants never choose their death” (Taoteching: 42).

It isn’t the Tao that ends early, for the Tao has no beginning or end. I have not followed the Kuotien texts in omitting lines four and five, or lines eleven, thirteen, fourteen, and fifteen, or in placing line three at the end of this verse. However, I have gone along with the Kuotien and also the Mawangtui texts in omitting lines six and seven of the standard edition: “in an army’s wake / bad years follow.” I have also followed the Mawangtui sequence of lines eight through ten. The last three lines also appear in verse 55. Since these lines aren’t present in the Kuotien texts, some commentators have suggested that they might have been interpolated here as a commentary. However, they are present in both Mawangtui texts and all standard editions. Hence, I’ve retained them.