The Art of War
The Art of War (孙子兵法，Sun Zi Bing Fa) is a Chinese military treatise that was written by Sun Tzu in the 6th century BC, during the Spring and Autumn period. Composed of 13 chapters, each of which is devoted to one aspect of warfare, it has long been praised as the definitive work on military strategies and tactics of its time, and one of the basic texts on the subject.
The Art of War is one of the oldest and most successful books on military strategy in the world. It has had a huge influence on Eastern military thinking, business tactics, and beyond. Sun Tzu recognized the importance of positioning in strategy and that position is affected both by objective conditions in the physical environment and the subjective opinions of competitive actors in that environment. He taught that strategy was not planning in the sense of working through a to-do list, but rather that it requires quick and appropriate responses to changing conditions. Planning works in a controlled environment, but in a competitive environment, competing plans collide, creating unexpected situations.
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The Martial Arts and Sun Tzu
Unlike other sports and exercise programs, the martial arts train the whole person—body, spirit, and mind. Down through the millennia, the knowledge on which the martial arts are based—known in China as the Bing-fa—was suppressed. Today, most of those who practice martial arts are unfamiliar with these principles except in how they have become embodied in martial arts practice.
Martial arts are different because they are designed for self-defense and self-development. They exploit a loophole in the natural law. Nature says that the strong dominate the weak and the quick beat the slow. The martial arts teach that through the use of knowledge and training, a warrior can transform a stronger opponent into a weaker one.
This loophole was first discovered and explained in a text written 2,500 years ago. Today, we know this work as Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. The Chinese title is Sunzi Bing-fa, which literally means “Master Sun’s Martial Arts.” The stateless warrior named Sun Wu of Qi grew up in a family of mercenaries, learning from birth all the challenges of battle. His work explained for the first time that what people thought of as power—size, strength, and wealth—were not real power but only the illusion of power. Those who understood the true nature of power could easily defeat these larger foes by leveraging their supposed strengths against them.
Sun Wu proved his philosophy as a commander. He was hired by a poor, semibarbaric kingdom called Wu. Training the world’s first civilian army, Sun Wu led his forces to conquer all the larger, richer, and more technologically advanced kingdoms of the Yang-tze river valley.
Sun Tzu’s success led to the emulation of his methods throughout the states of China after his death. The use of citizen armies created wide access to weapons and martial arts training. Professional mercenary families gave rise to history’s first professional martial artists. The first such martial artists are introduced in the Spring and Summer Annals of Wu and Yue when the old man Yuan Gong meets the young swordswoman Yue Nu in battle. These early martial artists eventually became demigods in the Chinese pantheon.
Around 298 BC, the historian Zhuang Zi recorded that life in the state of Zhoa had become prosperous because of the practice of martial arts using the sword. King Wen of Zhoa invited more than 3,000 sword martial artists to practice against one another in his court. Zhuang Zi said that Sun Tzu’s theory had been incorporated into the martial arts techniques of both offense and defense and of both armed and unarmed combat. Sun Tzu’s ideas were the fundamental principles in the Book of Sword Fighting and Internal Boxing (Nei kia Quan), both published late in the Warring States period.
Sun Tzu’s methods, originally taught in the context of larger wars, were now seen as the key to individual contests. In armed contests, Sun Tzu’s lessons on positioning are echoed in Zhuang Zi’s description of the key methods used. “The best sword fighters,” he wrote, “pretended to be without preparation as if offering an opening to the enemy. They then gained mastery by striking only after the enemy has struck.”
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Quotes of Sun Zi (Sun TZu)
All men can see these tactics whereby I conquer, but what none can see is the strategy out of which victory is evolved.
Sun Tzu
All war is based on deception.
Sun Tzu
All war is deception.
Sun Tzu
All warfare is based on deception.
Sun Tzu
Be extremely subtle, even to the point of formlessness. Be extremely mysterious, even to the point of soundlessness. Thereby you can be the director of the opponent’s fate.
Sun Tzu
Can you imagine what I would do if I could do all I can?
Sun Tzu
Confront them with annihilation, and they will then survive; plunge them into a deadly situation, and they will then live. When people fall into danger, they are then able to strive for victory.
Sun Tzu
For them to perceive the advantage of defeating the enemy, they must also have their rewards.
Sun Tzu
For to win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the acme of skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill.
Sun Tzu
He who is prudent and lies in wait for an enemy who is not, will be victorious.
Sun Tzu
He who knows when he can fight and when he cannot, will be victorious.
Sun Tzu
Hence that general is skilful in attack whose opponent does not know what to defend; and he is skilful in defense whose opponent does not know what to attack.
Sun Tzu
If ignorant both of your enemy and yourself, you are certain to be in peril.
Sun Tzu
If our soldiers are not overburdened with money, it is not because they have a distaste for riches; if their lives are not unduly long, it is not because they are disinclined to longevity.
Sun Tzu
If you are far from the enemy, make him believe you are near.
Sun Tzu
If you know the enemy and know yourself you need not fear the results of a hundred battles.
Sun Tzu
In the practical art of war, the best thing of all is to take the enemy’s country whole and intact; to shatter and destroy it is not so good.
Sun Tzu
Read more Sun Zi’s quotes at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/s/sun_tzu.html
Read the Art of War online and download information: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/7349
Lost History_Sun TZu& The Art of War
The Art of War Modern Interpretation