| Sun Tzu's philosophy surrounds the theory of the Daoist belief. The notion is that birth gives rise to death and death gives rise to birth. In a general sense, the yin and yang summarizes Sun Tzu's base philosophy. The yin yang symbol emphasizes that nature works in a balanced manner. This nature includes how the nature functions, how humans function, and pretty much all that lives in this universe ought to flow in accordance with the equilibrium of nature, metaphysically and physically - as symbolized and taught in the Daoist tradtions. Sun Tzu's Art of War, written in less than a hundred chinese characters, includes from technical strategy to applying spycraft. Though he did not directly mention the nessccary knowledge of the Daoist philosophy, the philosophy is expected to be understood amongst readers. Thus, one must not only fully understand the philosophy and the notion of yin and yang, but also lives and applies this philosophy to everyday life. One must abide to this law, engrave this philosophy as his/her ideal motto to maximize the rich teachings of Sun Tzu. Chapter One - Initial Estimations Many of us already acknowledge that what is strong is weak and what is weak is strong. There is no such thing as certain defeat. Keying your enemy's strength and exploiting that weakness within the strength is inherently taught in most art of war books. Though it may sound easy, one cannot understand and anticipate the enemy without making the right estimations and judgements. Sun Tzu listed five determing factors of victory. Most are quite common sensed and trivial but I would like to draw on three factors of the five - heave, earth, law. Heaven refers to the seasons and the weather of the current situation. Earth is the land and the terrain. Law is, evidently, military law. In different seasons, the terrain would change. Thus, formulating strategies based on the changes is essential to victory - again, a daoist theory of the balance of nature and exploiting the situation to your advantage. Law is important because these are the determing factors of your armies' performance. With light law, soilders may not be scared of the leader and thus disobedient. With strict law, soilders are well disicplined. The key concept of victory lies within the army. Afterall, they are the ones to make things happen. We all know that too much of one thing is bad, i.e. inbalanced. Thus the laws cannot be too strict but yet cannot be too easy going. Fair enough. ... To be continued |
