![]() While heading the profit of my counsel, avail yourself also of any helpful circumstances over and beyond the ordinary rules.Īccording as circumstances are favorable, one should modify one's plans. The general that hearkens to my counsel and acts upon it, will conquer: -let such a one be retained in command! The general that hearkens not to my counsel nor acts upon it, will suffer defeat: -let such a one be dismissed! ![]() Which of the two sovereigns is imbued with the Moral law? Which of the two generals has most ability? With whom lie the advantages derived from Heaven and Earth? On which side is discipline most rigorously enforced? Which army is stronger? On which side are officers and men more highly trained? In which army is there the greater constancy both in reward and punishment? īy means of these seven considerations I can forecast victory or defeat. Therefore, in your deliberations, when seeking to determine the military conditions, let them be made the basis of a comparison, in this wise:. These five heads should be familiar to every general: he who knows them will be victorious he who knows them not will fail. īy METHOD AND DISCIPLINE are to be understood the marshaling of the army in its proper subdivisions, the graduations of rank among the officers, the maintenance of roads by which supplies may reach the army, and the control of military expenditure. The COMMANDER stands for the virtues of wisdom, sincerely, benevolence, courage and strictness. ĮARTH comprises distances, great and small danger and security open ground and narrow passes the chances of life and death. HEAVEN signifies night and day, cold and heat, times and seasons. The MORAL LAW causes the people to be in complete accord with their ruler, so that they will follow him regardless of their lives, undismayed by any danger. These are: (1) The Moral Law (2) Heaven (3) Earth (4) The Commander (5) Method and discipline. The art of war, then, is governed by five constant factors, to be taken into account in one's deliberations, when seeking to determine the conditions obtaining in the field. ![]() Hence it is a subject of inquiry which can on no account be neglected. It is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin. If the men are likely to flee at the first sign of danger, the general should put them somewhere they cannot escape, and they will fight for their lives.Sun Tzu said: The art of war is of vital importance to the State. If the enemy is prone to pride, for instance, Sun says to inflate his ego further to prompt him into making a rash or arrogant decision. Sun draws on this perspective in much of his advice in The Art of War. But the Way also encapsulates more subjective concepts, such as morale or morals. The simplest examples include physics or math-there is a correct and provable answer to every problem. ![]() The Way is in a sense the order of the universe, which human beings must seek. This notion that perfection exists, and is even achievable, is based on the concept of an ordered world regulated by unbreakable laws. For Master Sun, all aspects of life and the cosmos have their own particular Way-that is, “path,” “road,” or, more loosely, “doctrine” or “principle,” from translations of the Chinese word “Tao.” For example, there is a Way to writing calligraphy, a Way to leading a nation, and a Way to waging war. The Way is intrinsic to Master Sun’s worldview, approach to warfare, and moral code. ![]()
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