More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
the peak efficiency of knowledge and strategy is to make conflict altogether unnecessary:
Andrew Breza liked this
Plan for what is difficult while it is easy, do what is great while it is small. The most difficult things in the world must be done while they are still easy, the greatest things in the world must be done while they are still small. For this reason sages never do what is great, and this is why they can achieve that greatness.
“Deep knowledge of principle knows without seeing, strong practice of the Way accomplishes without striving. Deep knowledge is to ‘know without going out the door, see the way of heaven without looking out the window.’ Strong action is to ‘grow ever stronger, adapting to all situations.’”
Comprehension in a state of quiescence can comprehend anything, accomplishment without striving can accomplish anything, knowing without seeing can know anything.
Indeed, to be able to do something before it exists, sense something before it becomes active, see something before it sprouts, are three abilities that develop interdependently. Then nothing is sensed but is comprehended, nothing is undertaken without response, nowhere does one go without benefit.
Those who assist a leader by means of the Tao do not use arms to coerce the world, for these things tend to reverse—brambles grow where an army has been, bad years follow a great war.
Those who celebrate victory are bloodthirsty, and the bloodthirsty cannot have their way with the world.
Only the formless cannot be affected. Sages hide in unfathomability, so their feelings cannot be observed; they operate in formlessness, so their lines cannot be crossed.
When welfare and justice embrace the whole people, when public works are sufficient to meet national emergencies, when the policy of selection for office is satisfactory to the intelligent, when planning is sufficient to know strengths and weaknesses, that is the basis of certain victory.
the officers and soldiers are suspicious of each other, warriors will not join up; if loyal advice is not heard, small minds will talk and criticize in secret. When hypocrisy sprouts, even if you have the wisdom of ancient warrior kings you could not defeat a peasant, let alone a crowd of them.
When the helper is strong, the nation is secure; when the helper is weak, the nation is in peril.
A general that is not popular is not a help to the nation, not a leader of the army. A general who is “not popular” is one who, according to another way of reading the characters, “denies the people.”
Have no hard feelings toward anyone who has not shown you enmity, do not fight with anyone who does not oppose you.
Those who are skilled in combat do not become angered, those who are skilled at winning do not become afraid. Thus the wise win before they fight, while the ignorant fight to win.
This idea of knowing while being unknown, repeated again and again as a key to success, is one of the strongest links between Taoist meditation and The Art of War, for the secret to this art of “invisibility” is precisely the interior detachment cultivated by Taoists for attaining impersonal views of objective reality.
Understanding how people can be manipulated through emotions, for example, is as useful for those who wish to avoid this as it is for those who wish to practice it.
“Chasing game without a guide leads one into the bush.”
Humaneness without intelligence is like having a field but not plowing it. Intelligence without courage is like having sprouts but not weeding. Courage without humaneness is like knowing how to reap but not how to sow.”
Rather than trying to overwhelm opponents directly, Master Sun recommends wearing them down by flight, fostering disharmony within their ranks, manipulating their feelings, and using their anger and pride against them.
Sun Tzu says that it is best to overcome opponents at the outset by foiling their plans. Failing that, he recommends isolating opponents and rendering them helpless.
The inscrutable win, the obvious lose.”
Adaptability naturally depends on readiness,
“The individualist without strategy who takes opponents lightly will inevitably become a captive.”
“Those above secure their homes by kindness to those below.”
“weapons are instruments of misfortune to be used only when unavoidable.”
Paradox is often thought of as a standard device of Taoist psychology, used to cross imperceptible barriers of awareness. Perhaps the paradox of The Art of War is in its opposition to war. And as The Art of War wars against war, it does so by its own principles; it infiltrates the enemy’s lines, uncovers the enemy’s secrets, and changes the hearts of the enemy’s troops.
According to the classics, loyalty does not mean blind obedience to an individual or state, but includes the duty of conscientious protest.
The Way means inducing the people to have the same aim as the leadership, so that they will share death and share life, without fear of danger.
Leadership is a matter of intelligence, trustworthiness, humaneness, courage, and sternness.
Reliance on intelligence alone results in rebelliousness. Exercise of humaneness alone results in weakness. Fixation on trust results in folly. Dependence on the strength of courage results in violence. Excessive sternness of command results in cruelty. When one has all five virtues together, each appropriate to its function, then one can be a military leader.
A military leader or otherwise
Set up rules that are not to be broken, do not fail to punish any offenders.
When people deserve reward, this should be duly noted even if you personally detest them. When people deserve punishment, this should not be forgone even if they are close to you.
If you use the enemy to defeat the enemy, you will be strong wherever you go.
Overcome your opponent by calculation.
Therefore the superior militarist strikes while schemes are being laid.
One who is good at laying siege does not lay siege with an army, but uses strategy to thwart the opponents, causing them to overcome themselves and destroy themselves, rather than taking them by a long and troublesome campaign.
If you calculate your power to be less than that of the opponent, then strengthen your defense, do not go out and get your edge snapped. Wait until the mood of the enemy gets sluggish, and then go out and attack by surprise.
“Those who are good at delegating responsibility employ the intelligent, the brave, the greedy, and the foolish. The intelligent are glad to establish their merit, the brave like to act out their ambitions, the greedy welcome an opportunity to pursue profit, and the foolish do not care if they die.”
When you know others, then you are able to attack them. When you know yourself, you are able to protect yourself. Attack is the time for defense, defense is a strategy of attack. If you know this, you will not be in danger even if you fight a hundred battles.
The inscrutable win, the obvious lose.
When you know you do not yet have the means to conquer, you guard your energy and wait. When you know that an opponent is vulnerable, then you attack the heart and take it.
Some people think insufficiency means weakness and surplus means strength, but this impression is wrong.
Therefore a victorious army first wins and then seeks battle; a defeated army first battles and then seeks victory.
When the speed of rushing water reaches the point where it can move boulders, this is the force of momentum. When the speed of a hawk is such that it can strike and kill, this is precision.
Disorder arises from order, cowardice arises from courage, weakness arises from strength.
When an army has the force of momentum, even the timid become brave; when it loses the force of momentum, even the brave become timid.
Those who are first on the battlefield and await the opponents are at ease; those who are last on the battlefield and head into battle get worn out.
