|
The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from The Art of War by Sun Tzu: yet a rout of your forces quite out of the question."]
17. Simulated disorder postulates perfect discipline,
simulated fear postulates courage; simulated weakness postulates
strength.
[In order to make the translation intelligible, it is
necessary to tone down the sharply paradoxical form of the
original. Ts`ao Kung throws out a hint of the meaning in his
brief note: "These things all serve to destroy formation and
conceal one's condition." But Tu Mu is the first to put it quite
plainly: "If you wish to feign confusion in order to lure the
enemy on, you must first have perfect discipline; if you wish to
 The Art of War |