Line by Line - Verse 31, Lines 1-2

Now arms, however beautiful, are instruments of evil omen, hateful, it may be said, to all creatures. Therefore they who have the Tao do not like to employ them.
~ James Legge translation, from The Sacred Books of the East, 1891 ~

Good weapons are instruments of fear; all creatures hate them.
Therefore followers of Tao never use them.
~ Gia-fu Feng and Jane English translation, published by Vintage Books, 1989 ~

A strong military, a tool of misfortune
All things detest it
Therefore, those who possess the Tao avoid it
~ Derek Lin translation, from Tao Te Ching: Annotated & Explained, published by SkyLight Paths, 2006 ~

Weapons are terrible things.
If you want to get right with Tao, reject weapons.
~ Ron Hogan rendition, from Beatrice.com, 2004 ~

As a pacifist, it would be easy for me to claim -- viz-a-viz lines such as these -- that philosophical Taoism is a pacifist philosophy as well. While it indeed would be easy, it also wouldn't be very honest!

What I think Lao Tzu is pointing out is that war (conflict) represents a failure. It is fueled by the desire of the ego. When we want certain things, we often eschew cooperation and negotiation; instead we try to take by force what we desire.

Human beings aren't perfect and so conflict is inevitable. This is why other parts of the TTC talk about battle strategies. Yes, it is far better not to fight at all, but, if we do fight, we should fight to win.

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