The Army

The army is the Book of Changes' image of discipline, danger, and the ethics of force. It recurs because the oracle refuses to pretend that conflict can always be avoided, and so must teach when force may be used and how it corrupts. The title hexagram, 07 Shih - The Army, gives the whole doctrine in its Judgment:

THE ARMY. The army needs perseverance
And a strong man.
Good fortune without blame.

Its commentary sets the limit at once: war "brings with it destruction and devastation. Therefore it should not be resorted to rashly but, like a poisonous drug, should be used as a last recourse." The lines of the same hexagram show discipline failing: "Perchance the army carries corpses in the wagon. / Misfortune," the sign of a campaign whose command has been usurped. And they show victory rightly concluded: "The great prince issues commands, / Founds states, vests families with fiefs. / Inferior people should not be employed."

Force turned rightly is turned first against oneself. In 15 Ch'ien - Modesty the one place where marching is favorable is inward:

It is favorable to set armies marching
To chastise one's own city and one's country.

Genuine modesty, the commentary explains, begins "by disciplining one's own ego and one's immediate circle." At the far end of the book stands the long border war of 63 Chi Chi - After Completion and 64 Wei Chi - Before Completion, the image of exhausting, necessary struggle: "The Illustrious Ancestor / Disciplines the Devil's Country. / After three years he conquers it. / Inferior people must not be employed." Twice the warning against inferior people is attached to arms, because nothing is more easily abused. Even in peace the image persists: in 45 Ts'ui - Gathering Together (Massing) the superior man "renews his weapons / In order to meet the unforeseen."

The Taoist parallel is exact. Tao Te Ching 31 calls weapons instruments of ill omen, to be used only when there is no choice, and taken up without rejoicing. The Changes' poisonous drug and Lao Tzu's ill-omened tools are the same medicine: force as the last recourse of order, never its foundation.