During the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, warfare was a central component of social dynamics.
Philosophers and thinkers were not detached from these realities of war. Laozi was no exception. Through observing military processes, they identified issues of philosophical significance, elevating their study to a metaphysical plane.
He who would assist a lord of men in harmony with the Dao will not assert his mastery in the kingdom by force of arms. Such a course is sure to meet with its proper return.
Wherever a host is stationed, briars and thorns spring up. In the sequence of great armies there are sure to be bad years.
A skilful (commander) strikes a decisive blow, and stops. He does not dare (by continuing his operations) to assert and complete his mastery. He will strike the blow, but will be on his guard against being vain or boastful or arrogant in consequence of it. He strikes it as a matter of necessity; he strikes it, but not from a wish for mastery.
When things have attained their strong maturity they become old. This may be said to be not in accordance with the Dao: and what is not in accordance with it soon comes to an end.
The Dao De Jing is primarily a philosophical work, not a military treatise. Its reflections on military strategy emerge from metaphysical epistemology, not from practical military praxiology.
When addressing ontological questions such as the movement of the Dao or the dynamics of yin-yang, it inevitably intersects with the phenomena of war: though philosophy and military art belong to distinct disciplinary domains, they share essential interconnected vessels in their logical structures and transformative patterns.
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