Chapter 31 |
夫佳兵者,不祥之器,物或惡之,故有道者不處。君子居則貴左,用兵則貴右。兵者,不祥之器,非君子之器,不得已而用之,恬淡為上。勝而不美,而美之者,是樂殺人。夫樂殺人者,不可得志於天下。吉,事尚左;凶,事尚右。偏將,軍居左;上將,軍居右。言以喪禮處之,殺人眾多,以悲哀泣之,戰勝以喪禮處之。 |
fu jia bing zhe, bu |
All fine weapons are ominous. Most people reject them. |
gu you dao zhe bu chu
|
Therefore those who abide by dao will not use military force. |
jun zi ju ze gui zuo |
The junzi prefers staying with the natural way of left. |
yong bing ze gui you |
Those who use military forces prefer the counter-natural way of right. |
bing zhe, bu xiang zhi |
All weapons are ominous. They are not the kind of device that the junzi prefers to use. |
bu de yi er yong zhi, tian dan wei shang |
When you find it inevitable to use military force, just take it mildly. |
sheng er bu mei |
Using military force to win over others should not be glorified. |
er mei zhi zhe, shi le sha ren |
Glorifying military victories only reflects that you find killing people amusing. |
fu le sha ren zhe, bu ke de zhi yu tian xia |
Those who find killing people amusing will never succeed to be a leader of the world. |
ji, shi shang zuo |
Auspicious: Handle disputes in the natural way of left. |
xiong, shi shang you |
Disastrous: Handle disputes in the counter-natural way of right. |
pian jiang, jun ju zuo |
The extraordinary commander: Employ strategies to deploy the army in the natural way of left. |
shang jiang, jun ju you |
The ordinary commander: Employ strategies to deploy the army in the counter-natural way of right. |
yan yi sang li chu zhi |
The ruling codices say proceeding a mourning ceremony is when to launch the troops. |
sha ren zhong duo, yi bei ai qi zhi |
But, launching troops is a matter about killing a lot of people; therefore it ought to be weeping with grief instead of a ceremony. |
zhan sheng yi sang li chu zhi |
It ought to proceed a mourning ceremony for a military victory. |