CAPTURING THE TAO

CAPTURING THE TAO

(A book review of Art of warfare)

The Art of warfare like its predecessor Art of war turns out to be a thin lithograph containing only required information. Though it is thinner then Art of war yet it has fundamental structure of a manual and moreover, its planned structure makes it easy to use as reference despite the fact that few pages of book has been lost with the sands of time.

This magnum opus was rediscovered in 1972, with the discovery of Han dynasty tomb in Yin-chueh-shan. It contains 30 Chapters which covers various aspects of war, army managements. While, doing this author ensured that he is not missing any aspect of military tactics.

Book opens with the capture of P’ang chuan where Sun Bin first time applies his tactics to the ground. In the very first chapter it is realized that like his ancestor Sun Tzu he does not walk on the beaten track of early military theorist but he gives innovation & ingenuity based upon human behavior more importance. In next three chapters he answers various questions asked by King Wei & T’ein chi. These questions & answers by Sun Bin to them were the prime mover in establishing his reputation. As it shows that “Tao” of military is captured by him. These chapters further shows the acumen of Sun Bin , as his answers are not accepted on its face but had to be explained in details to be established and thus, it gives us an insight in the thought process of the author & develop a likewise thinking.

Though Sun Bin’s emphasis is generally upon practicing yet his chapter& emphasis on the astrological impact shows the trends & restrains of age over reason. However, while selecting troops he describes the role of trust & gaining of masses as the very base of the victory along with loyalty & daring. Further his wisdom on usage of terrain is quite exhaustive & accurate. Which allows us to reorient our appreciation of knowledge of terrain .He in another chapter rightly recognizes various grounds & their usage. Further, his categorization of the ground allows easy recall during tough situation by ground. His wisdom is quite evident when he describes the relationship between various grounds, seasons & special features. He insists that to understand and grasping ‘yin’ & ’yang’ is Tao of military affairs.

Similarly he also discusses the four elements of battle, offices, distinction between hosts & guest, virtues & other aspects of a General among other things esp. his distinction of host & guest nations along with their behavior shows us the marked uncanny insight our wise author possessed about the nature of warring states. It gives an enlightened view about the future of war & hence, allows us to prepare our plans in better way.

Though ”Art of War” is considered as the bible of military genius, what makes “Art of Warfare” a equally good read is the way in which the abstract concepts of Sun Tzu are given form & shape of conventional military writings. Further, unlike Sun Tzu, his descendant Sun Bin was actually the chief strategist of a nation’s army . Hence, his methods are battle tested & war hardened while comparing Sun Bin’s magnum opus with the western military classics like military & on war , we realize that “Art of Warfare” has a distinctive Machiavellian taste added to it , which allows it to be used invariably by both guerrilla and conventional armies. Further, various important concepts of Clausewitz’s like “Fog of War” can be evidently seen here. It shows not only then universality of this book but also the maturity about military attains which were achieved so early by Chinese military theorists like Sun Bin.

However, every moon has a dark side too. This moon though has very limited darkness but yet in today’s world small part of its light has lost its sheen, which appears as if it has been dark. Further, at many places, Sun bin‘s emphasis on particular areas also restrain his work but these limitations are only due to the changing times . However, the base of “Art of warfare”, the Tao never changes.