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Chapter Excerpts
Here we will feature excerpts from various parts of The Art of War,
replacing the current selections with new ones from time to time.
From the commentary section, Chapter III
(page 141):
And so the superior military cuts
down strategy.
Its inferior cuts down alliances.
Its inferior cuts down the military.
The worst attacks walled cities.
The approach of taking whole first targets enemy strategy, undoing the
coherence of their plan. This battle is won in the mind. Next best is to cut
down the enemy's alliances, the connections that hold their world together.
Next, it may be skillful to engage the enemy's forces, in conventional
military fashion. Brute assault is the least effective.
This military is the protector of the state's integrity, seeking victory
rather than conquest.
From the commentary section, Chapter V
(page 154):
The rush of water,
to the point of tossing rocks about. This is shih
The strike of a hawk, at the killing snap. This is the node.
Therefore, one
skilled at battle –
His shih is steep.
His node is short.
Shih is like
drawing the crossbow.
The node is like pulling the trigger.
Shih is the power inherent in a configuration. It does not rely solely on
powerful components. As Lao Tzu says, water is the softest thing in the world,
yet here it tosses rocks about. This water is powerful because it has come
together in a particular conformation, cascading through the ravine.
The node is that small juncture between the sections of bamboo. It indicates
the abrupt moment at which something occurs – the present, between past and
future. It must be short: its target is always in motion.
The power of shih comes from combining these two elements. When you pull the
trigger of a crossbow, its gradually accumulated energy is released all at
once, in one spot.
From
the commentary section, Chapter VII (page166-7):
The difficulty for a contending army
Is to make the circuitous direct
And to make the adverse advantageous.
Thus make their road circuitous
And lure them with advantage.
Setting out later than others and arriving sooner
Is knowing the appraisals of circuitous and direct.
The goal for a contending army is to transform the circuitous and direct.
Because the general is not limited by how things are defined for him, he can
reverse conditions in various ways, apparently turning logic on its head. He
makes the adverse advantageous not by overcoming obstacles but by giving those
difficulties to the enemy – making their road circuitous. He offers
advantage to confound their perceptions, changing what is easy into what is
difficult. Thus he is able to invert space and time, setting out after and
arriving before. In these ways he attacks the basic strategy of the enemy.
The
opening paragraphs from the essay “Taking Whole” (page 65):
The simplest
way to enter the Sun Tzu is to identify its point of view, the
perspective from which it sees things. When we find that view, its world opens
before us, and we can more readily identify its parts, their relationship and
our own role within them.
That view is simple
to name: the Sun Tzu sees the world whole, composed of a multitude
of shifting, interrelating
aspects. This is not only a way of seeing; it is a way of acting. Thus one of
its best-known statements reads:
Taking a state whole is superior.
Destroying it is inferior to this. [Chapter 3]
We
can begin to understand this perspective by examining the things closest to us,
the ordinary objects of our lives. These interact in ever-shifting ways, of
which we also form a part. As we start to sense their configurations, our own
actions become synchronized with this. Being connected to the details, moving
with their shapes and conformation, we can find victory.
The
opening paragraphs from the essay “The Sage Commander” (page 82-82):
The Sun Tzu is addressed to the general, the person who wields
power in the midst of contention and conflict. He is the sage commander, an
extraordinary example of human skill and wisdom. He speaks with authority, is
effective, resourceful, in tune with larger patterns. He commands the
battlefield. In this essay, from a consideration of his individual qualities and
their interconnectedness, we begin to build an image of this wisdom as it is
embodied in a human being. The text hints at this portrait but never completes
it for us. We first describe his being, then show how his qualities manifest in
a number of ways, including daring and deception.
This description is not based on a historical figure of ancient China.
Instead we seek to personify an idealized wisdom, making what might otherwise
seem distant and unreachable relevant to our everyday life. Doing so enables us
to identify genuine examples of people who manifest this wisdom and can transmit
it to others. Upon closer examination we can see some element in each of his
qualities and actions that reflects our own experience in situations of
conflict.
In this way a semimythical person becomes more human and immediate. We
sense the possibility of a model we might emulate and a discipline we can
actually practice. Just like the sayings in the text that change our way of
thinking with a few words, the image of the sage commander can reshape our
actions during times of great challenge. This shows us taking whole, how to
conquer without fighting. |
