Tao Te Ching Ch 30

The Door of all Wonders: 

The Commentary on the Tao Te Ching

by Nirguna, Chor-kok Lam

 Chapter 30

The one who upholds the Truth to assist the ruler

does not intimidate the world by army.

Taking arm force is something liable to be returned.

Where troops have encamped, there will brambles grow.

In the wake of the mighty army, famines follow without fail.

The one who makes good use of arm force aims at bringing the war

to a conclusion and dare not thereby intimidate.

Bring it to a conclusion but do not boast.

Bring it to a conclusion but do not brag.

Bring it to a conclusion but do not be arrogant.

Bring it to a conclusion but do not be overly done.

Bring it to a conclusion but do not intimidate.

A creature becomes too strong will get old soon,

which is known as going against the Truth.

Going against the Truth will come to an early end.

Review

    Here in this Chapter Lao Tzu tells us that warfare is woeful to humankind which people abiding in the Truth will never assist their rulers to boast their brilliance by starting war. To start a battle is an issue which should be handled with great caution because everyone will taste the return of the war.

“The one who upholds the Truth to assist the ruler

does not intimidate the world by army.

Taking arm force is something liable to be returned.”

    This is the functioning of the Law of Karma, in other words, the law of cause and effect. “Karma” in Sanskrit means “deeds” by thought, speech and action. Whatever we think, do or speak is the cause, sooner or later, we will receive the consequence of what we thought, spoke and did. It is clearly told in the Upanisad-s, the ancient Hindus scriptures about the spiritual insights of the ancient sages especially living in the forests. Buddhism is another interpretation of the insights in the Upanisad-s which has also followed the teaching of the Law of Karma telling us good deeds brings good effects while bad deeds brings bad effects. In the Quran, Allah also clearly tells us that He will definitely reward whatever we do in our life. Good deeds will have good rewards while bad deeds will have bad rewards. Allah never fails in His promise while we as human seldom fulfill all our promises. Allah is the Giver of the Law of Karma in order to uphold compassion and righteousness for all beings. Everyone should bear the consequence of the deeds of his own and other people collectively in the society. So what is the return of warfare without fail? Here Lao Tzu says:

“Where troops have encamped, there will brambles grow.

In the wake of the mighty army, famines follow without fail.”

    Warfare aims at destruction which the nature has got harmed and innocent people inevitably got inflicted. After the warfare, people will suffer. Famines will follow as farming cannot be recovered soon. Therefore, Lao Tzu advises people to deal with warfare as the last resort when it cannot be avoided. Lao Tzu tells people the principle of warfare:

“The one who makes good use of arm force aims at bringing the war

to a conclusion and dare not thereby intimidate.

Bring it to a conclusion but do not boast.

Bring it to a conclusion but do not brag.

Bring it to a conclusion but do not be arrogant.”

    In our past history, great emperors would use their strong arm force to conquer other countries by massacring people and annexing their lands and properties. Seldom was the arm force aimed at the righteous cause and stopped battling when the aim was attained without slaughtering further and seizure of possessions. Seldom are the arm forces that do not intimidate, do not boast and do not brag. Invaders are normally aggressive and arrogant. They do not have any compassion for humanity as a whole. Who has followed the principle of warfare told by Lao Tzu?

    Surprisingly our mankind did have that example only people do not make it known widely. It is the establishment of Islam in Arabic Peninsular. More than 1400 years ago, in 610 AD, Muhammad Mustafa in his forty years of age received the revelation from the Almighty God, Allah, to proclaim Islam in Mecca to all people to worship and obey only Allah for the rightful way of human life and to eliminate all social evils in forms of corruptions, discriminations and exploitations. Prophet Muhammad and his followers were severely persecuted by the dominating class, the Quraysh tribe, together with all the pagans who insisted on worshipping idols in whatever form they like and continued their corruptions and exploitations in the society like usury and killing of female infants. According to the descriptions by the Islamic scholar:

    “They increased the torment and torture they exacted against Muslims with every passing day….. The Makkan polythesists severed all possible connections with the Muslims and their defenders, including trade, marriage and all human interactions. This boycott and embargo continued with all its severity for three years. The Muslims endured great deprivation and hardship. They were forced to eat the bark and leaves of trees due to their hunger and the wailing of children could be heard from afar. “[1]

    “The purpose of the wars of the Holy Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, was not to cause needless bloodshed. The Muslims had been expelled from their ancestral homes, many innocent Muslim men and women had been martyred, and still the wrongdoers were not prepared to restrain themselves, and continuously obstructed the progress of Islam. In these circumstances the Divine law of security demanded the safeguarding of the persecuted ones against total destruction. Therefore, those who had drawn the sword were opposed with the sword. Thus those wars were directed towards rooting out the mischief of those who were bent upon murder and were aimed at repelling evil. They took place at a time when the wrongdoers were bent on the ruin of the righteous. In these circumstances, if Islam had not had recourse to measures of self-defense, thousands of innocent women and children would have been slaughtered and an end would have been put to Islam.” [2]

    In 622 AD, Prophet Muhammad got the revelation of Allah to lead his followers to emigrate from Mecca to Medina. When arriving at Medina, they were welcome and soon the whole city of Medina accepted Islam as their own religion and Prophet Muhammad was their ruler in all aspects, thus his three years’ Mecca struggle ended and his ten years’ life in Medina began.

    The first war started in 624 AD between the Muslims and the pagans was called the Unavoidable Battle of Badr, which was caused by the frequent attack of the Quraysh to the Muslim traders and travelers. Only at this time Prophet Muhammad started war with the tyrants. At that time there were only 313 soldiers poorly equipped for Islam, while there were 950 pagan soldiers highly well-equipped to attack Muslims for the ruling Quraysh tribe. As told by Allah in the Quran, Allah stood by the Muslims in war so that the weak side overcame the strong side and won the war. A few pagan heads were killed in the war.

    In 625 AD, the Quraysh tribe fought back again by gathering 3000 strong arm force near the northern mountain of Medina. The Muslims were severely attacked and Prophet Muhammad was seriously injured. The Quraysh tribe again sent 10000 strong soldiers to further attack the Muslims. Prophet Mohammad gathered with all Muslim soldiers to dig a large entrenchment as blockage for the strong enemy force to enter Medina. The Quraysh soldiers had camped at the border of the entrenchment for one month. Then Allah sent strong wind to blow away the tents of the Quraysh soldiers. They were frightened and withdrew. Subsequently, battles were fought in defending Medina from foreign threats and enemies. Eight years later, Mecca was conquered without bloodshed, while in the 10th year, the entire Arabic Peninsular had surrendered to Allah’s Messenger, Prophet Muhammad.

    As the principle of warfare, Lao Tzu says over again:

“Bring it to a conclusion but do not be overly done.

Bring it to a conclusion but do not intimidate.”

    This is exactly what Prophet Muhammad did to complete his mission as commented and reviewed in Islam:

    “Sent as a mercy to the worlds, the Messenger of Allah, upon him be peace and blessings, pursued such a policy of compassion in military expeditions that, despite taking the entire Arabic Peninsular under his administration in a short time, he did not allow for heavy bloodshed on both sides. He opted to resolve all problems, in the main, with conciliation.

    The Prophet, upon him be peace and blessings, personally fought in 29 military expeditions. In 16 of these, no effective conflict ensued and agreements were made with the opposing side. In 13 military expeditions, however, he was forced to engage in active conflict and in all of these the total number of Muslims martyred was approximately 140, while a total 335 enemy fighters were killed.

    In Islam, the real objective of war is not to kill, obtain spoils of war, annex land, water the soil with blood, destroy the earth for self-interest, procure financial gain or seek revenge. On the contrary, it is to abolish oppression, ensure freedom of belief, to guide human beings and to remove all kinds of injustice.”[3]

    Unbelievable is that the number of people killed totally on both sides was so small which was less than 500. There is no more this example in human history ever happened though the Muslims led by Prophet Muhammad at that time followed Allah’s guidance not knowing the Tao Te Ching. After Prophet Muhammad, we can hardly find any ruler in human history ruling the world with the Truth without demerits and transgressions. Gone is the virtue of the Prophet. Nowadays, after the two World Wars, there are many local wars and conflicts keeping on in different corners of the world bringing large casualties and humanitarian crisis. People cannot uphold the Truth to rule the world. Our world is heading for destruction as the rulers boast their power for selfish interest, thus Lao Tzu says:

“A creature becomes too strong will get old soon,

which is known as going against the Truth.

Going against the Truth will come to an early end.”

    No empires no matter how large, strong and powerful they had been could last long as we know in the world history. The Greek empire was gone. The Roman empire was gone. In Chinese history, the largest empire, Qin dynasty (221BC-207BC), which unified the whole China 3000 years ago, lasted for only 14 years. The Yuan dynasty of the Mongolians in 13th century (1271 – 1368) which conquered the whole China, the middle East and further stretched to Europe was also gone. Both dynasties lasted only for short periods. What they did was opposing to the Truth, therefore, they could not last long. They behaved like a person once was born growing so fast to reach death, i.e. what Lao Tzu tells us. Nowadays, our world is also heading for death. The more powerful the rulers want to be, the faster will be the pace approaching to “an early end”.

Note:

[1] “Islam, the Religion of Truth” by Osman Nuri Topbas, Erkam Publications, 2013, Turkey. P. 132

[2] “The Philosophy of the Teachings of Islam” by Mirza Ghulam Ahmed, Islam International Publications Ltd, 1996, UK. P.141

[3] “Islam, the Religion of Truth” by Osman Nuri Topbas, Erkam Publications, 2013, Turkey. P. 135-136