A Book Attributed to Sun Zi

(Yes, this is me shamelessly posting a school assignment thus the citations)

The Art of War – Sun Zi’s Military Methods is one of many books that a lot of Westerners seem to have a bit of passing knowledge of despite likely never actually reading the material. This leads to many issues like misattributions as well as mischaracterization of the text itself. As Arthur Waldron points out in the forward to this book, in a similar way to the numerous sayings of Confucius, or similar works by Carl Von Clausewitz (who wrote On War / Vom Krieg), a lot of Sun Zi’s work is “most familiar at second hand, through a handful of quotations that lack context” (Mair, Forward).

The translation used in this edition is provided by Victor H. Mair, and great care was taken by Mair in providing that aforementioned context as well as taking text that is over two-thousand years old and making it make sense to a modern English-speaking reader. His translation might, perhaps, court controversy largely because the author has some opinions on the veracity of the claims that anyone named “Sun Zi” ever existed, and if they did, we likely have a gross misunderstanding of who the person was.

While every chapter of the text begins with the line “Master Sun Said,” it is not a foregone conclusion as to who actually authored the words. Mair puts forth that the term “Master Sun” is likely a blanket name to apply to numerous military sages that likely espoused the wisdom found within the various sayings or an outright fictional character. Mair cites a Danish Sinologist named Jens Østergaard who concluded that “stories told about Sun Wu are generic in nature. They are illustrative tales that are repeated (often with minor variations) about different individuals, some real and some not” (Mair, pg. 9). The persona we know in this book as “Sun Zi” is often referenced by other names such as Sun Tsu, Sun Wu, Wu Zi, etc. (Mair pg. 9) One of the actual verifiable historical figures that often are thought to be “Sun Zi” was a man named Sun Bin who was active during the Warring States Period. “Sun Zi” in Han and earlier texts – if it signifies any specific person – generally refers to Sun Bin, who was a known person in pre-Han times.” (Mair, pg. 9)

The author especially calls out anything attributed to “Sun Wu” as being a made-up alternate name used to compare whatever military general (in which he believes is generally Sun Bin) they are referencing to the hero of an old story called Wu Zixu. “Overall, the function of the Sun Wu persona in the initial stage of its development as part of the Wi Zixu story is to serve as reinforcing doppelgänger for the central hero.” (Mair, pg. 9) This theory, in which ancient Chinese writers created a fictional character to give military treatises legitimacy by claiming to be penned by “Sun Zi” or “Sun Wu” reminds me of the creation of a lot of western folk mythology including Arthurian Legend and tales of Robin Hood.

Victor H. Mair offers an interesting theory – “Sun Bin” literally translates to something close to “Kneecapped Sun,” which he surmises was not deemed a grand enough name for a person thought to be such a grand scholar of military tactics, so “Sun Wu” was invented. The name, which means “Martial Sun,” likely was far more accepted for this reason. (Mair, pg. 14) The story of Sun Bin and why he had such a bizarre name is potentially even more interesting and gives further evidence for why a fake name was assigned to him, and why he was possibly deemed unworthy of the praise. As outlined in the text, a close friend betrayed Sun Bin, had his legs removed and was tattooed on the face. (Mair, pg. 14) He met with the Qi envoy in secret and advised on military matters when he could. The direct link to Sun Wu is made later on when the author cites an ancient work called Han Shu that states “Sun Zi suffered the mutilation of having his feet amputated.” (Mair, pg. 17) For all of the reasons above, Victor H. Mair seems fairly confident that Sun Zi was, in fact, Sun Bin.    

When it comes to the actual military strategies outlined within the pages of The Art of War, one would assume a military book would take into account the technological advances during The Warring States Period including Iron weapons, the crossbow, cavalry, defensive walls, and siege weapons (Mair, pg. 37-42) This technology, however, does not fully encapsulate the sort of tactics used in battles as, in the case of cavalry specifically, “cavalry in East Asia always played a supporting role and never became a major force within the army. ” (Mair, pg. 40) The Art of War does not dwell on any of the above, and instead lays out broad tactical advice that may seem to be common sense to the layman. That said, all one has to do is watch any current news for any of the numerous wars going on around the world, to see the words of Sun Zi are lost on them.

In terms of defensive tactics, Mair discusses, in the book, that the use of fortifications and large walls still played a significant role in wars during this time period, even though the technology existed to some degree in the pre-historic period. (Mair, pg. 42) In comparing the structure of The Art of War with a similar Greek book by Aineias, Mair points out that both books contain references to the following: “[…] devices to raise, transport, and release projectiles, […] counter-tunnels against the tunneling of attackers, […] geophones to detect tunneling […] and asphyxiating materials”. (Mair, pg. 43) Being able to properly defend one’s city from attackers was especially important to Sun Zi, and for good reason. This is but a small portion of some of the information found in the book. Above all, Sun Zi seems to stress logistics and preparation for battle above all else, including the studying of terrain, and scouting enemy troop locations, as well as maintaining a well-trained force.

Numerous offensive tactics during The Warring States Period are outlined, with Sun Zi advocating for tactical deception at times. These passages include references to almost philosophical exercises in how to keep your enemy off guard: “When one is capable, give the appearance of being incapable. When one is active give the appearance of being inactive. When one is near give the appearance of being far. ” (Mair, pg. 78-79) this sort of back and forth goes on for a while, with the overall theme being boiled down to using subterfuge to take one’s enemy off-guard in order to capitalize on chaos and deception. It also backs up the idea that, above all else, Sun Zi advocated for having an almost super-human eye on the military intelligence of the time, always staying one step ahead of one’s enemy.

This offensive way of looking at logistics extends to other facets of warfare including a general’s ability to acquire supplies. Master Sun states that “A Kingdom is impoverished by having to supply an army at a distance.” (Mair, pg. 81) He follows up with “The wise general strives to eat the enemy’s food.” (Mair, pg. 82) When battles did occur, he advocated for quick and overwhelming waves of force: “The method of waging war is to encircle the enemy when one has ten times the number of his forces.” (Mair, pg. 86). These formations would be quick to minimize casualties: “He who is skilled in battle builds up and overpowering configuration that he releases with instantaneous timing.” (Mair, pg. 92) To paraphrase many battles can be won by giving enemies a false sense of superiority, lying in wait, then pouncing when time is right to crush them or force surrender.

Many scholars, including Mair himself, see The Art of War as a broadly Daoist approach to warfare that stood in stark contrast to his contemporaries that were largely Confucians. For example, Confucian military attitudes were outlined in another text called the Li Ji, whereupon it states, “The army has Li [civility, etiquette, ritual, propriety], therefore it accomplishes military merit.” (Mair, pg. 47) Mair points out that this concept is entirely absent in Sun Zi’s writings and instead a more minimalist approach is employed: “war is a matter of last resort, and it should be undertaken with the least effort, least expenditure, least risk, and least loss of life”.

To get an idea of where this fits in with the overall framework of Daoist/Taoist thinking, I consulted another text, The Cambridge Illustrated History of China by Patricia Buckley Ebrey. In that book, the author explains that Daoism was all about a person returning to what Daoists saw as being one with nature. “They defended private life and wanted the rulers to leave people alone” (Ebrey, pg. 47) Things such as the perceived frivolity of rituals and etiquette were in direct opposition of their way of life, and something more utilitarian likely suited them. In The Art of War, one can clearly see that the passages lack any sort of political posturing, nor do they talk about any sort of rituals or etiquette. Everything is very matter of fact and designed to minimize casualties and minimize effort, a direct facet of Daoism.

Finally, in terms of Daoism, A lot of the advice found in The Art of War is dualistic in nature, there are numerous instances where it is discussed that a specific topic is the harmony of two things, and a successful general can navigate the two: “The conventional and unconventional give rise to each other, like a circle that has neither beginning nor end.” (Mair, pg. 92)

The Art of War was compiled during The Warring States Period (475-221 B.C.) during a time when The Zhou King’s power weakened to such a degree that numerous rival states sprang up all vying for power and prestige. (Mair, pg. 23) “A key feature of the politics of The Warring States Period was the ambivalent relationship between a ruler and the feudal lords associated with him.” (Mair, pg. 25) As one can imagine, this put society constantly at flux and an almost constant state of war occurred. Due to this, it is unsurprising that such a book as The Art of War would rise to such prestige.

Overall, The Art of War, compiled as the words of numerous tacticians including Sun Bin, is a remarkably interesting text that, despite its age, can still be looked at today as a useful resource to many including not just military tacticians. While, as previously stated, it may seem to contain common sense to the layman, the books insistence on preparation and knowing one’s enemy are wise words that, if used correctly, could allow for one to avoid all manner of hardship. No matter who wrote it, or what intention it held, it’s easy to see why The Art of War has been a classic of Chinese literature even today.