Translation
For the good person, weapons are inauspicious tools – even evil.
Hence, one who has the way gets along without them.
A person of noble character dwells normally noble left,
The use of weapons normally noble right.
Weapons are inauspicious tools,
Not the tools of a person of noble character,
Having no alternative but to use them,
Indifferent to fame or gain, to lightly act is best.
Victorious but not beautiful,
That beauty in cheerfully killing people.
Man cheerfully killing people, normally never get their way in the world.
Auspicious affairs still left, burial affairs still right.
The partisan general dwells on the left, the superior general dwells right.
Speaks at funeral places.
Murder of many, takes sorrowful tears, defeat takes management of the mourning rites.
1) husband (man) good (fine; beautiful) weapons (army; troops) (者) no (not) auspicious (propitious; lucky) of utensil (ware; talent), matter (the outside world) perhaps (or; either…or…; > someone) evil (vice; wickedness; fierce; ferocious) of, 夫佳兵者不祥之器，物或恶之，(fū jiā bīng zhĕ bù xiáng zhī qì, wù huò ĕ zhī,)
2) incident (cause; intentionally; hence) have (exist) road (way, principle; speak; think) (者) no (not) get along with (be situated in; deal with _ place; point; part) 故有道者不处。(gù yŏu dào zhĕ bù chŭ.)
3) a man of noble character (gentleman) dwell (live; stay; store up) standard (norm; rule > imitate; follow) expensive (precious; noble; > your) left (east; heretical; wrong; different), 君子居则贵左，(jūn zĭ jū zé guì zuŏ,)
4) use (apply <frml> hence) weapons (army; troops) standard (norm; rule > imitate; follow) expensive (precious; noble; > your) right (west; right thinking). 用兵则贵右。(yòng bīng zé guì yòu.)
5) weapons (army; troops) (者) ominous (inauspicious) of utensil (ware; talent), 兵者不祥之器，(bīng zhĕ bù xiáng zhī qì,)
6) wrong (not conform to <infrml> must) a man of noble character (gentleman) of utensil (ware; talent), 非君子之器，(fēi jūn zĭ zhī qì,)
7) act against one’s will (have no alternative but to; have to) <conj.> and (yet, but) use (apply <frml> hence) of, 不得已而用之，(bù dé yĭ ér yòng zhī,)
8) indifferent to fame or gain (quiet; tranquil; calm; not care at all) thin (light; tasteless; weak) do (act as; be, mean; support) upper (higher; superior). 恬淡为上。(tián dàn wéi shàng.)
9) victory (success; surpass; be superior to; get the better of; superb) <conj.> and (yet, but) no (not) beautiful (good), 胜而不美，(shèng ér bù mĕi,)
10) <conj.> and (yet, but) beautiful (good) of (者), <grm> is (yes <frml> this; that) happy (cheerful) kill (murder) human (man; people). 而美之者，是乐杀人。(ér mĕi zhī zhĕ, shì lè shā rén.)
11) husband (man) happy (cheerful) kill (murder) human (man; people) (者), standard (norm; rule > imitate; follow) no (not) can get will (aspiration; ideal; mark; sign) in (at, to, from, by, than, out of) land under heaven already (indeed; really; how). 夫乐杀人者，则不可得志于天下矣。(fū lè shā rén zhĕ, zé bù kĕ dé zhì yú tiān xià yĭ.)
12) lucky (auspicious; propitious) matter (affair; thing; business; involvement) still (yet; esteem, set great store by) left (east; heretical; wrong; different), unlucky matters (death, burial) still (yet; esteem, set great store by) right (west; right thinking). 吉事尚左，凶事尚右。(jí shì shàng zuŏ xiōng shì shàng yòu.)
13) leaning (partial) support (bring; handle, will> lead, command) army (troops) dwell (live; house; store up) left (east; heretical; wrong; different), upper (higher; superior) support (bring; handle, will> lead, command) army (troops) dwell (live; house; store up) right (west; right thinking). 偏将军居左，上将军居右。(piān jiàng jūn jū zuŏ, shàng jiàng jūn jū yòu.)
14) speech (word; say; talk) use (<v> take <p> according to; because of <adj> so as to <conj> and) obsequies (funeral) get along with (be situated in; deal with _ place; point; part) of. 言以丧礼处之。(yán yĭ sāng lĭ chŭ zhī.)
15) kill (murder) human (man; people) of many (numerous; crowd; multitude), use (<v> take <p> according to; because of <adj> so as to <conj> and) grieved (sorrowful) weep (sob; tears) of, defeat (triumph over; vanquish; overcome) use (<v> take <p> according to; because of <adj> so as to <conj> and) obsequies (funeral) get along with (be situated in; deal with _ place; point; part) of. 杀人之众，以悲哀泣之，战胜以丧礼处之。(shā rén zhī zhòng, yĭ bēi āi qì zhī, zhàn shèng yĭ sāng lĭ chŭ zhī.)
Third Pass: Chapter of the Month
Corrections?
A major one would be in order, depending on how you correlate ‘left’ and ‘right’. For now, I’ll play it safe and just make my case for a change.
YouTube Recordings:
https://youtu.be/EfUTrnxPjQA is the link to the complete audio recording of our monthly Sunday meeting. For the nicely edited version, go to Kirk Garber’s YouTube channel. The edited version comes in two parts: The first and shorter Commentary part begins with a chapter reading followed by attendees’ commentary, if any. The second and longer Open Discussion part offers attendees’ observations on how the chapter relates to their personal experience.
Reflections:
For the good person, weapons are inauspicious tools – even evil.
Hence, one who has the way gets along without them.
When I have inner security and my feet on the ground, my actions in the world tend to be good and balanced. With emotional equanimity, I am able to consider softer tools to apply in managing my affairs that don’t have negative repercussions.
A person of noble character dwells normally noble left,
The use of weapons normally noble right.
Weapons are inauspicious tools,
Not the tools of a person of noble character,
It sounds like the noble left corresponds to when we have our feet on the ground, balanced, and secure. The noble right would logically correspond to the opposite. Does it? Or did the whole left / right get misinterpreted at some distant point in the past? More on this later.
Having no alternative but to use them,
Indifferent to fame or gain, to lightly act is best.
The beauty of the Tao Te Ching lies in how balanced and true to nature’s reality it is, as when it points out here that the use of weapons are not the first choice, but rather the last choice of a person of noble character. For instance, reality calls for the noble bear to protect its cubs, and will use its teeth and claws as needed. Of course, the wars humans wage are ignoble insane extremes, but these are merely a natural consequence of the tradeoff our species unwittingly made long ago. (See The Tradeoff.)
Certainly, some wars are unavoidable, as in against Hitler’s madness. Only in the eye of a blind idealist are all wars avoidable… through turning the other cheek or what not. As chapter 5 notes, The universe is not benevolent, and all things serve as grass dogs (‘sacrificial lambs’). The wise person is not benevolent, and the people serve as grass dogs. Here again we see the Tao Te Ching almost as a spokesman for Nature. Absent here is any hint of a benevolent deity favoring humanity over other creatures.
Chapter 80 does offer us a solution to war. It begins with, Reduce the size and population of the state. Then a few lines down we see, Bring it about that the people will return to the use of the knotted rope. That last line sounds like a pie in the sky call to return to our hunter-gatherer ways. But, it might not be necessary to go all the way back. In the long-term this return is bound to come to pass as I described in The Tradeoff.
Victorious yet not beautiful,
Yet of beautiful this cheerfully killing people.
Man cheerfully killing people, normally never get their way in the world.
This may reveal a dreadfully balanced view… and one that we have great difficulty appreciating. It reminds me of the beginning of the Bhagavad Gita where Arjuna throws down his weapons and refuses to fight at first. Alas, there are the natural dynamics of nature the make war inevitable. Doing one’s duty, even if that be cheerfully killing people is a natural beauty, despite how dreadful this feels to us. While cheerfully killing people is an objectively natural wonder, so to speak, the subjective reality of individuals cheerfully reveling in mayhem normally never get their way in the world. As usual, there are two sides to this coin.
Auspicious affairs revere left, burial affairs revere right.
Auspicious affairs are positive circumstances and so correlate to the Yang side of life’s equation. Burial affairs are the reality of circumstances already played out… This is the mournful reality of reality, and perhaps aligns with Buddha’s First Noble Truth on sorrow. As such, Burial affairs correlate to the Yin side of life. By reversing left and right in this line and the next, we can repair this irregularity. Allow me to explain more…
It feels to me like someone screwed up transcribing or interpreting this somewhere down the line centuries or millennia ago. I see a core inconsistency in the way left / right play out here, as correlations makes clear (see Tools of Taoist Thought: Correlations).
Briefly, yin is yin and yang is yang, and never the twain shall meet, at least until profound sameness overtakes perception.
Yin ≅ left, negative, passive, burial affairs, soft weapons, superior general (statesman like),
Yang ≅ right, positive, active, auspicious affairs, hard weapons, partisan general (tribal),
Interestingly, some words, like love and possibly noble, can correlate to both yin and yang. All our linguistic inconsistencies allow our very intelligent mind to be exceedingly ‘flexible’ in rationalizing what it needs or fears to see. As chapter 18 notes, When intelligence increases, there exists great falseness. D.C. Lau put it a little more bluntly, When cleverness emerges, there is great hypocrisy. This is not surprising as all word meaning pivots on emotion, and emotion is naturally irrational — especially the roots of emotion, need and fear. Ah, the stories we tell ourselves to be right with life, so to speak.
The partisan general dwells on the left, the superior general dwells right.
Speaks at funeral places.
Partisans will be more reactive and aggressive by nature and so correlate to the noble right instead, i.e., The use of weapons normally noble right. The superior general is a statesman that sees beyond the narrow partisan horizon. As a good person, he correlates to the left, i.e, A person of noble character dwells normally noble left. On the other hand, you could say that this as hinting that: for the sake of greater balance, the partisan subconsciously yearns to dwell on the left, and the superior subconsciously yearns to dwell on the right. However, that seems to be a stretch.
Murder of many takes sorrowful tears, defeat takes management of the mourning rites.
Yes!
Second Pass: Work in Progress
Issues:
Lines 3, 4, 12, 13: These lines all refer to left and right as a kind of cultural protocol. It is a little hard to relate to in modern times. I’ll comment a little bit more in my Commentary section below.
Line 9 and 10: This line begs for the most subtle impartial view one can muster. I’ll address this more in the Commentary below. The words (characters) break down this way:
9—> victory (success; surpass; be superior to; get the better of; superb) <conj.> and (yet, but) no (not) beautiful (good), 胜而不美，(shèng ér bù mĕi,)
10—> and <conj.> (yet, but) beautiful (good) of (者), <grm> is (yes <frml> this; that) happy (cheerful) kill (murder) human (man; people). 而美之者，是乐杀人。(ér mĕi zhī zhĕ, shì lè shā rén.)
Line 11: No matter how you see lines 9 and 10, this line brings it back to a more sensible realm.
11—> husband (man) happy (cheerful) kill (murder) human (man; people) (者), standard (norm; rule > imitate; follow) no (not) can get will (aspiration; ideal; mark; sign) in (at, to, from, by, than, out of) land under heaven already (indeed; really; how). 夫乐杀人者，则不可得志于天下矣。(fū lè shā rén zhĕ, zé bù kĕ dé zhì yú tiān xià yĭ.)
Commentary:
The noble left vs. noble right (Line 3 and 4) is presumably is traditional a Chinese culture protocol. Even so, it is interesting to note how ‘left’ and ‘right’ in Chinese imply similar characteristics as in the West. Compare these:
zuǒ (左) the left side; the left; east; queer; unorthodox; heretical; wrong; incorrect; different; contrary; opposite.
yòu (右) the right side; the right; west; the right side as the side of precedence; the right (thinking or points of view).
Obviously, biology accounts for how well East meets West here. Indeed, biology, by way of emergent properties, accounts for everything in the final analysis, in my view. Perhaps this research, Honeybees use right antennae to tell friend from foe , may offer some hint of what lies beneath the “left” vs. “right” aspect of life. They state, for example,
The study also helps scientists understand a “big and interesting question: Why are our brains asymmetric?” says honeybee physiologist Julie Mustard of Arizona State University in Tempe. “The idea is that asymmetries allow the brain to have more area for processing complex information.”
Now, you’d think that we and bees are light-years apart, right? Not so, which is one of the most beautiful things about nature. We share so much in common with even plants, at the cellular (i.e., Eukaryote) level. One thing is clear to me; nature is a master of efficiency. It reallocates fundamental shared characteristics to the job and species at hand.
The differences we see are illusionary; they are projections—reflections of what we need or fear to see, either from a practical or an emotional agenda. Considering how much need and fear drive perspective, it comes at no surprise that a truly ecumenical point of view takes some courage to entertain. It is so much more ‘interesting and comfortable’ to see black and white distinctly… until it isn’t! Then one looks deeper. Chapter 56 speaks to where this leads…
Victorious yet not beautiful, Yet of beautiful this cheerfully killing people (line 9 & 10) exemplify the difference between secular learning and spiritual learning. Here, the words don’t teach us anything really; they really serve to mirror our own hypocrisy. Chapter 19 sheds light…
Suggested Revision:
For the good person, weapons are inauspicious tools – even evil.
Hence, one who has the way gets along without them.
A person of noble character dwells normally noble left,
The use of weapons normally noble right.
Weapons are inauspicious tools,
Not the tools of a person of noble character,
Having no alternative but to use them,
Indifferent to fame or gain, to lightly act is best.
Victorious yet not beautiful,
Yet of beautiful this cheerfully killing people.
Man cheerfully killing people, normally never get their way in the world.
Auspicious affairs revere left, burial affairs revere right.
The partisan general dwells on the left, the superior general dwells right.
Speaks at funeral places.
Murder of many takes sorrowful tears, defeat takes management of the mourning rites.
First Pass: Chapter of the Week
The left and right referred to here makes translating this in context with modern culture difficult. True, correlations do provide a glimpse at possible subtle connections between left and right and life, but those may prove even more indistinct and shadowy. Briefly: left correlates loosely to death, humble, mature, listens, mysterious, sameness, follows, etc., while right correlates loosely to arrogant, juvenile, speaks, obvious, difference, leads, etc. To pursue this avenue, see Using Yin and Yang to Pop Preconceptions
The left and right ‘rules’ were cultural standards for normalcy in ancient China. Codes of behavior like this make civilizations of large populations possible. Rules, arbitrary as they may be, give a sense of emotional comfort and security. Everyone following the rules imparts a sense of mutual understanding. Sure, it is only skin deep, but skin deep is deep enough, as we seldom look beneath the surface anyway. Such cultural norms are also symptomatic of how socially insecure we truly are. We are terrified of making mistakes, of looking foolish, of shame. My, what a profoundly social animal we are.
It is natural for the superior general to take charge of life’s most serious matters (e.g., This means that it is mourning rites that are observed). Like they say, “if you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen”. ‘Taking the heat’ is simply being able to boldly make decisions and lead the way. That is the stuff of leadership. Ironically, making the wise ‘right’ decision is not a priority (at least until after a wrong decision has been made and everyone has been led off a cliff). Only in hindsight do we know who was truly the superior general.
Why would one use weapons anyway? To gain an advantage. This is clearly symptomatic of the survival instinct. Viewed broadly, words, clothes, political pull, social contacts, expertise, and such, are also weapons to achieve gain or fame. Rising above the need for fame or gain to the point of superior indifference is rare, I expect. Notice, however, it does not say absolute, perfect indifference. Superior indifference conveys a more flexible view. For example, my indifference now is superior to when I was a young man. Survival and ascendancy were high on my list of needs back then. The closer I approach the end of life, the less important that naturally becomes (thankfully).
A larger view of being victorious must also include an inevitable and corresponding defeat. All gains and successes ‘here’ entail losses and failures ‘elsewhere’. To paraphrase: Victory and defeat off-set, produce, and complement each other. The universe is One whole becoming. Adding to ‘this side’ entails removal from ‘that side’. There are no free lunches; everything is paid for in full. Any dream of bypassing that natural balance comes to naught.
So what? At least you get to enjoy the illusion of winning victorious success, right? In my heart of hearts I don’t think so. In every such self satisfied smile I see its opposite. That people prefer by-paths is driven by a lack of contentment. The ‘hole’ (the void) is there and we rush to fill it in. In that process, we tend to notice the filling action rather than the hole that causes it and drives it. Observation-wise isn’t this putting the cart before the horse? How can life ever be fully lived when that is the case? On the other hand, they say ignorance is bliss. Alas no; if it was, we would never be eager to know.