Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Wen Tzu - Verse 80, Part II

from Verse Eighty
To mobilize only when it becomes unavoidable because of the aggression of enemies is called response.
~ Wen-tzu: Understanding the Mysteries ~
As noted in the series on the Tao Te Ching, resolving a conflict by violence represents a failure. However, there are times in worldly affairs when one side refuses to negotiate in good faith and they initiate some type of aggressive behavior. As Lao Tzu points out above, defense is a legitimate time to utilize force.

Of course, it should go without saying that preemptive war is not a response, but an act of aggression. In this same vein, precipitating a situation that is expected to cause an aggressive act by another also does not come under the purview of response. The US has been guilty of both over the past century.

Too many nations employ their military as an offensive weapon, not a defensive one. The conquest of various continents came about via the aggressive thrust of a sword. In the end, to paraphrase an unlikely source for me, to live by the sword is to die by the sword.

It is not the way of Tao.

This post is part of a series. For an introduction, go here.

6 comments:

  1. Great point!

    Also, an act of deception against the people of a nation is often used to get the people on the side of the government with a war agenda.

    People react to what they really do not have full knowledge of.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I agree. Unfortunately, many would argue that 9/11 and US embassy bombings overseas qualify as provocation or aggression.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AMERICAN TAOIST UP EARLY TODAY. THE COMMENTS ON VERSE 80 ARE INTERESTING BUT ARE THE SAME ONES I HAVE BEEN HEARING FOR OVER 50 YEARS, THE PROBLEM IS STILL THE SAME, ANY ONE HAVE A SOLUITION. IN MY WORLD AND OTHER TAOIST BELIEVERS WE KEEP TRYING ONE AT A TIME. THANKS AGAIN RAMBLING TAOIST FOR A THOUGHT PROVOKING BLOG.

    ReplyDelete
  4. C. Om,
    Great point! I neglected to mention that one.

    Lorena,
    True, but neither act was committed by a country and the countries we subsequently attacked were the wrong ones (e.g., most of the terrorists re 9/11 hailed from Saudi Arabia).

    Anon,
    My hope is that most of my posts are thought provoking. ; )

    ReplyDelete
  5. I think I agree with the Anon AT. We are caught between utopia and apocalypse, the latter seeming more achievable. There is no solution except as AT says, one at a time. We all die in the end anyway. I think often Lao Tzu et al. are just describing situations the way they ARE. It is only our individual, INTERNAL countries that we can control and effect the "could be."

    In the "post-heaven" state, there will always be strife, deception, pain, injustice, suffering. I try not to identify with the people who are causing it.

    ReplyDelete
  6. True, but neither act was committed by a country and the countries we subsequently attacked were the wrong ones (e.g., most of the terrorists re 9/11 hailed from Saudi Arabia).

    Thank you for saying that. It hadn't occurred to me :)

    ReplyDelete

Comments are unmoderated, so you can write whatever you want.