Fine weapons are implements of ill omen: people may despise them, so those with the Way do not dwell with them.
Therefore the place of honour for the cultured is on the left, while the honoured place for the martialist is on the right.
Weapons, being instruments of ill omen, are not the tools of the cultured, who use them only when unavoidable.
They consider it best to be aloof; they win without beautifying it. Those who beautify it enjoy killing people.
Those who enjoy killing cannot get their will of the world.
The left is favoured for auspicious things, the right for things of ill omen: so the subordinate general is on the left, the top general on the right.
That means when you are in ascendancy of power you handle it as you would a mourning.
When you have killed many people, you weep for them in sorrow.
When you win a war, you celebrate by mourning.
