Chapter 31 — Laying down arms偃武
1Arms are tools of ill omen
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，則不可以得志於天下矣。吉事尚左，凶事尚右。偏將軍居左，上將軍居右，言以喪禮處之。殺人之眾，以哀悲泣之，戰勝，以喪禮處之。
Fine arms are tools of ill omen. Things may well loathe them, so one who has the Dao does not dwell there. The noble one honors the left at ordinary times, and honors the right when he uses arms. Arms are tools of ill omen and not the tools of a noble one, so he uses them only when he must, and calm restraint is best. He wins and does not call it beautiful, and one who calls it beautiful delights in killing people. One who delights in killing people cannot gain his will in all under heaven. Good affairs honor the left, and ill affairs honor the right. The lieutenant general stands on the left and the senior general stands on the right, which means that they take their places by the rites of mourning. When many people have been killed, weep for them in grief, and when a battle is won, take your place by the rites of mourning.
note 19
佳，飾也。祥，善也。兵者，驚精神，濁和氣，不善人之器也，不當修飾之。
Jia (佳) means to adorn. Xiang (祥) means good. Arms startle the spirit and muddy the harmonious vapor, so they are the tools of one who is not good, and they ought not to be adorned.
兵動則有所害，故萬物無有不惡之者。
When arms move, there is always something they harm, and so among the ten thousand things there is none that does not loathe them.
有道之人不處其國。
One who has the Dao does not dwell in such a state.
貴柔弱也。
He honors what is soft and weak.
貴剛強也，此言兵道與君子之道反，所貴者異也。
He honors what is hard and strong. This means that the way of arms is the opposite of the way of the noble one, so that what each honors is different.
兵，革者。不善之器也。
Arms and weapons are tools that are not good.
非君子所貴重之器也。
They are not the tools that a noble one honors and holds dear.
謂遭衰逆亂禍，欲加萬民，乃用之以自守。
It means that when one meets the calamity of decline, revolt and disorder, and it is about to reach all the people, only then does he use arms to guard himself.
不貪土地，利人財寶。
He does not covet the land of others, and does not count the goods and treasures of others a gain.
雖得勝而不以為利己也。
Even if he wins, he does not make it out to be a gain for himself.
美得勝者，是為喜樂殺人者也。
To call a victory beautiful is to rejoice in killing people and to delight in it.
為人君而樂殺人者，此不可使得志於天下矣，為人主必專制人命，妄行刑誅。
One who becomes a ruler and delights in killing people cannot be allowed to gain his will in all under heaven, for once he is ruler he is sure to do as he pleases with people's lives and to punish and put them to death at will.
左，生位也。
The left is the position of giving life.
陰道殺人。
The way of yin (陰) kills people.
偏將軍卑而居陽者，以其不專殺也。
The lieutenant general is of lower rank, yet he stands in the position of yang (陽), because he does not do the killing as he himself wills.
上將軍尊而居陰者，以其專主殺也。
The senior general is of higher rank, yet he stands in the position of yin, because he takes charge of the killing as he himself wills.
上將軍居右，喪禮尚右，死人貴陰也。
The senior general stands on the right because the rites of mourning honor the right, and because the dead hold yin honorable.
傷己德薄，不能以道化人，而害無辜之民。
He grieves that his own virtue was thin, that he could not change people by the Dao, and that he harmed guiltless people.
古者戰勝，將軍居喪主禮之位，素服而哭之，明君子貴德而賤兵，不得以而誅不祥，心不樂之，比於喪也，知後世用兵不已故悲痛之。
In antiquity, when a battle was won, the general took the place of the chief mourner (喪主), put on plain white clothes and wept. This makes clear that the noble one honors virtue and holds arms cheap: he punishes what is not good only because he cannot avoid it, and takes no delight in it in his heart, and so it is likened to mourning (喪). Knowing that later ages would not cease from the use of arms, he grieved and sorrowed over it.