The Art of War (孫子兵法) — Master Sun's classic of strategy

The Art of War (孫子兵法, Sūnzǐ Bīngfǎ) — attributed to Master Sun (Sun Wu 孫武) of the Spring-and-Autumn period (c. 5th century BCE) — is the oldest and most influential treatise on strategy in the world. In thirteen terse chapters it lays out a philosophy of conflict built on foreknowledge, deception, positioning, and economy of force — and of all the strategy classics it is the one most deeply woven into the Chinese martial arts: "know the other and know yourself" is a maxim every serious practitioner meets.

The text and its author

The work is traditionally ascribed to Sun Wu, a general who served the state of Wu. Its antiquity was long debated until 1972, when bamboo-slip copies were unearthed at Yinqueshan (銀雀山) — confirming both the early date of the text and that Sun Wu and his descendant Sun Bin (孫臏) were two different men with two different books. It is arranged in thirteen chapters (篇): Laying Plans, Waging War, Attack by Stratagem, Dispositions, Force, Weak and Strong, Maneuvering, the Nine Variations, the Army on the March, Terrain, the Nine Grounds, Attack by Fire, and the Use of Spies.

I. Laying Plans (始計)

Master Sun said: War is the great affair of the state — the ground of death and life, the Way of survival and ruin. It must be examined.

Therefore appraise it by five matters and weigh it by seven reckonings, to seek out its true conditions. The five are: the Way (道), Heaven (天), Earth (地), the General (將), and Method (法). The Way is what makes the people of one mind with their ruler, so that they will die and live with him and not fear danger. Heaven is yin and yang, cold and heat, the order of the seasons. Earth is high and low, far and near, difficult and easy, broad and narrow, ground of death and ground of life. The General is wisdom, trust, benevolence, courage, and strictness. Method is organization, the chain of command, and the control of supply. Every general has heard of these five; he who knows them wins, he who does not, loses.

So weigh by the seven reckonings: Which ruler has the Way? Which general has ability? Which side holds Heaven and Earth? Whose discipline is enforced? Whose troops are stronger? Whose officers and men are better trained? Whose rewards and punishments are clearer? By these I know victory and defeat. A general who heeds these reckonings will win — keep him; one who does not will lose — dismiss him. Once the advantage of the plans is grasped, make of it a force (勢) to aid you beyond the calculations — for force is the controlling of the balance according to advantage.

War is the Way of deception. So when able, seem unable; when active, seem inactive; when near, seem far; when far, seem near. Lure him with bait; take him in disorder; if solid, prepare against him; if strong, avoid him; if wrathful, provoke him; if humble, make him proud; if rested, weary him; if united, divide him. Attack where he is unprepared; appear where he does not expect. This is the strategist's victory, and it cannot be transmitted in advance.

He who reckons in the temple before battle and wins has counted many advantages; he who reckons and loses has counted few. Many calculations bring victory, few bring defeat — how much more, none at all. By this I see who will win and lose.

II. Waging War (作戰)

Master Sun said: In the method of war — a thousand swift chariots, a thousand wagons, a hundred thousand armored men, provisions hauled a thousand li — the costs of home and field, of envoys, of glue and lacquer, of chariots and armor, come to a thousand pieces of gold a day. Only then can a host of a hundred thousand be raised.

In waging such a war, prize a swift victory. If it drags on, weapons dull and spirits flag; assaulting cities exhausts strength; a long campaign drains the state. With weapons dulled, strength spent, and treasure gone, rival lords will rise to exploit your distress, and then no one, however wise, can mend what follows. So in war one hears of clumsy haste, but never of skill in long delay — for a long war that benefits the state has never existed. He who does not fully know the harms of war cannot fully know its advantages.

The good commander does not conscript twice nor load grain thrice: he takes equipment from home but forages food from the enemy, so the army's food suffices. Distant transport impoverishes the people; where the army gathers, prices rise and the people's wealth is drained. The wise general therefore feeds off the enemy: one measure of the enemy's grain is worth twenty of one's own.

What makes men kill the enemy is fury; what makes them seize his goods is reward. In chariot fighting, reward the first to take ten chariots; change the captured banners, mix the chariots into your own ranks, and treat captured soldiers well — this is called "defeating the enemy and growing stronger." So war prizes victory, not duration; and the general who understands war is the arbiter of the people's fate, the master of the state's safety or ruin.

III. Attack by Stratagem (謀攻)

Master Sun said: In the method of war, to take a state whole is best; to shatter it is inferior — and so with an army, a battalion, a squad. Thus to win a hundred victories in a hundred battles is not the height of skill; to subdue the enemy's troops without fighting is the height of skill.

So the highest warfare attacks the enemy's plans; next, his alliances; next, his army; and the lowest attacks cities — a last resort, for to ready the siege-engines and earthworks takes half a year, and a general who, mastered by anger, sends his men swarming up like ants will lose a third of them with the city still untaken: this is the disaster of assault. The skilled commander therefore subdues the army without battle, takes cities without assault, and overthrows the state without prolonged war — contending for all-under-heaven whole, so his troops are never blunted and the gain is entire.

The rule of force: if ten to one, surround him; if five to one, attack; if double, divide him; if matched, be able to fight; if fewer, be able to elude; if outmatched, be able to avoid — for a small force that is merely obstinate becomes the captive of a large one. The general is the support of the state: complete, the state is strong; flawed, the state is weak.

A ruler brings ruin on his army in three ways: ordering an advance or retreat the army cannot make (this is "hobbling the army"); meddling in the army's administration without knowing its affairs (the officers grow confused); and sharing in command without knowing its balance (the officers grow mistrustful). An army confused and mistrustful invites the rival lords' attack — this is "throwing away victory."

There are five ways to know victory: he wins who knows when to fight and when not to; who knows how to use both many and few; whose ranks, high and low, share one desire; who, prepared, awaits the unprepared; whose general is able and whose ruler does not interfere. Therefore it is said: Know the other and know yourself, and in a hundred battles you will never be in peril (知彼知己，百戰不殆); know yourself but not the other, and for every victory a defeat; know neither, and every battle is peril.

IV. Dispositions (軍形)

Master Sun said: The good warriors of old first made themselves invincible, and so awaited the enemy's vulnerability. Invincibility lies in oneself; vulnerability lies in the enemy. So the good warrior can make himself invincible, but cannot make the enemy certainly vulnerable. Hence: victory can be foreseen, but not [always] forced.

Invincibility is defense; vulnerability [exploited] is attack. One defends when strength is insufficient, attacks when it is more than enough. The good defender hides beneath the ninefold earth; the good attacker moves above the ninefold heaven — so he preserves himself and wins entire.

To foresee a victory no better than the common run can see is not the height of skill; to win so that all-under-heaven says "well done" is not the height of skill — to lift an autumn hair is no proof of strength, to see sun and moon no proof of sharp eyes, to hear thunder no proof of keen ears. What the ancients called a good warrior won where victory was easy; so his victories brought him no fame for wisdom and no merit for courage. They were without error — for what he arranged was already certain: he conquered an enemy already beaten. So the good warrior stands on ground where he cannot be beaten, and does not miss the enemy's defeat. The victorious army wins first and then seeks battle; the defeated army gives battle first and then seeks to win.

The art of war has five steps: measurement, estimation, calculation, comparison, and victory. Ground gives rise to measurement; measurement to estimation; estimation to calculation; calculation to comparison; comparison to victory. So a victorious army is as a full measure weighed against a single grain; a defeated army, a grain against a full measure. When the victor sends his people to battle, it is like releasing pent water down a thousand-fathom gorge — this is disposition (形).

V. Force (兵勢)

Master Sun said: To manage many as one manages few is a matter of organization and numbers; to make many fight as few fight is a matter of formations and signals; that a great host can meet the enemy and not be defeated is a matter of the extraordinary and the orthodox (奇正); that troops fall on the enemy like a grindstone hurled at an egg is a matter of the empty and the full (虛實).

In all fighting, engage with the orthodox, win with the extraordinary. The good user of the extraordinary is boundless as heaven and earth, inexhaustible as the rivers and the sea — ending and beginning again like sun and moon, dying and reborn like the four seasons. The notes are but five, yet their variations cannot all be heard; the colors but five, yet cannot all be seen; the tastes but five, yet cannot all be tasted. The forces of battle are but the extraordinary and the orthodox — yet their variations cannot be exhausted; they give birth to each other like a ring without end. Who can exhaust them?

The rush of pent water, that flings stones along, is force (勢); the strike of the hawk, that shatters its prey, is timing (節). So the good warrior's force is overwhelming and his timing precise — force like a drawn crossbow, timing like the release of the trigger. Amid confusion the fighting seems disordered, yet cannot be disordered; amid murk the formation seems shapeless, yet cannot be defeated. Disorder is born from order, cowardice from courage, weakness from strength. So one who skillfully moves the enemy shows him a form he must follow, gives him a bait he must take — moving him by the prospect of gain, and awaiting him with picked troops. So the good warrior seeks victory in force, not in his men, and so selects his men and entrusts himself to force. He who entrusts himself to force sends men into battle as one rolls logs and stones — which lie still on the level and move on a slope, halt when square and roll when round. So the force of the good warrior is like rolling round boulders down a thousand-fathom mountain.

VI. Weak and Strong (虛實)

Master Sun said: Whoever reaches the field first and awaits the enemy is at ease; whoever comes late and hurries into battle is worn. So the good warrior brings the enemy to him, and is not brought to the enemy. To make the enemy come of himself, dangle gain; to keep him away, threaten harm. If he is at ease, weary him; if well-fed, starve him; if settled, make him move. Appear where he must rush to defend; rush where he does not expect.

To march a thousand li unwearied is to march where there is no enemy; to attack and surely take is to attack what he does not defend; to defend and surely hold is to hold what he does not attack. So against a skilled attacker the enemy knows not what to defend; against a skilled defender, knows not what to attack. Subtle, subtle, to the point of formlessness; divine, divine, to the point of soundlessness — so one becomes the arbiter of the enemy's fate.

So if I make the enemy show his form while I am formless, I am concentrated and he is divided — concentrated into one while he splits into ten, I strike his one with ten. Let the place I will fight be unknowable; then he must prepare everywhere, and preparing everywhere, he is everywhere weak. Prepare the front, the rear is weak; the left, the right is weak; prepare everywhere, and all is weak. He is few who must prepare against others; he is many who makes others prepare against him.

So probe him and know his gains and losses; stir him and know his patterns of motion and rest; show him a form and know his ground of death and life; test him and know where he is strong and where wanting. The height of disposing troops is to reach formlessness — formless, the deepest spy cannot pry and the wisest cannot plot. All see the form by which I won, but none sees the form by which I secured it; so my victories are never repeated, and I respond to forms without end.

The form of an army is like water: water shuns the high and hastens to the low; an army shuns the full and strikes the empty. Water shapes its course by the ground; an army shapes its victory by the enemy. So an army has no fixed force and no constant form — he who wins by adapting to the enemy's changes is called divine. Of the five elements none always prevails; of the four seasons none holds a fixed place; days shorten and lengthen, the moon wanes and waxes.

VII. Maneuvering (軍爭)

Master Sun said: In war, once the general has his command, gathered the host, and pitched camp facing the enemy, nothing is harder than the struggle for position (軍爭) — whose difficulty is to make the crooked the shortest way, and misfortune into gain. So take the roundabout route and lure him with gain: set out after him, yet arrive before — this is to know the calculation of crooked and straight.

The struggle can bring gain or ruin. Move the whole army to contend and you arrive too late; strip it down to contend and you lose your baggage. To roll up the armor and rush a hundred li for advantage costs you all three commanders — the strong first, the weary behind, only one in ten arriving; at fifty li you lose the van-commander, half arriving; at thirty li, two-thirds. An army without baggage, without provisions, without stores, is lost. He who knows not the rival lords' plans cannot make alliances; who knows not the lay of mountains, forests, defiles, and marshes cannot march; who uses not local guides cannot gain the ground.

War is established on deception, moves by advantage, and changes by dividing and combining. So be swift as the wind, calm as the forest, ravaging as fire, immovable as a mountain, unfathomable as the dark, and moving like a thunderclap. Weigh the situation before you move; he who first knows the calculation of crooked and straight wins.

The Book of Army Administration says: "Since words are not heard, there are gongs and drums; since sight does not carry, there are banners and flags" — the means of uniting the eyes and ears of the host. Once the host is made one, the brave cannot advance alone nor the cowardly retreat alone. So an army can be robbed of its spirit (氣), its general of his resolve (心): morning spirit is keen, midday spirit flags, evening spirit turns homeward — so avoid the keen and strike the flagging and homeward (mastery of spirit); meet disorder with order and clamor with calm (mastery of heart); meet the far-marched while near, the weary while rested, the hungry while fed (mastery of strength); do not intercept well-ordered banners or strike an imposing array (mastery of adaptation). And the rules of war: do not advance uphill against him; do not oppose him with a hill at his back; do not pursue a feigned flight; do not attack crack troops; do not swallow bait; do not block an army returning home; leave an opening for a surrounded army; do not press a desperate foe.

VIII. The Nine Variations (九變)

Master Sun said: In war, the general gathers the host, and then: on ruinous ground do not camp; on junction ground (crossroads) join alliances; on cut-off ground do not linger; on enclosed ground make plans; on death ground, fight. There are roads not to be taken, armies not to be struck, cities not to be attacked, ground not to be contested, and even commands of the ruler not to be obeyed. The general who masters the advantage of these nine variations knows how to use troops; one who does not — though he know the lay of the land — cannot gain its advantage.

So the wise man's deliberations always blend advantage and harm: blending in the advantage, his undertakings can be trusted; blending in the harm, his troubles can be resolved. He bends the rival lords by threat of harm, keeps them busy with toils, and makes them hasten by the lure of gain. And the rule of war: do not rely on the enemy's not coming, but on our readiness to meet him; do not rely on his not attacking, but on our being unassailable.

A general has five dangers: bent on death, he can be killed; bent on living, he can be captured; quick to anger, he can be provoked; punctilious of honor, he can be shamed; loving his people, he can be harassed. These five are faults in a general and calamities in war — to overthrow an army and slay its general comes surely from these.

IX. The Army on the March (行軍)

Master Sun said: In positioning the army and observing the enemy — in mountains, keep to the valleys, camp high facing the open, and fight downhill, never climbing to attack. By water, keep well away after crossing; when an invader crosses toward you, do not meet him in the water but let half cross and then strike; camp high, and do not face upstream. In marshes, cross quickly and do not linger; if you must fight, keep to the water-plants with trees at your back. On the plain, take an easy position, high ground to your right and rear, death-ground before and life-ground behind. By these four dispositions the Yellow Emperor overcame the four rival emperors. Armies prefer the high and dry and sunny, nourishing life on firm ground and free of disease — this is "certain victory." When rain falls upstream and froth comes down, wait for it to settle before fording. Shun sheer ravines, "heavenly wells, prisons, nets, pits, and crevices" — keep them far before you and at the enemy's back. Search defiles, ponds, reeds, woods, and thick cover carefully — the haunts of ambush.

Reading the enemy's signs:

• Near and quiet — he trusts his stronghold; far off and offering battle — he wants you to advance.

• Trees stirring — he is coming; screens set in the grass — he sows suspicion; birds rising — ambush; beasts bolting — a surprise attack.

• Dust high and sharp — chariots; low and wide — infantry; in streaks — wood-gathering; thin and shifting — pitching camp.

• Humble words but more preparation — he will advance; bold words and a show of advancing — he will retreat; suing for peace without terms — a plot; half advancing and half retreating — a lure.

• Leaning on their weapons — hunger; water-carriers drinking first — thirst; seeing gain but not taking it — weariness.

• Birds gathering over the camp — it is empty; cries in the night — fear; turmoil — a general without weight; angry officers — exhaustion; whispering in low slow talk — he has lost his men; frequent rewards — he is in straits; frequent punishments — in distress.

• Slaughtering the horses for meat with no cooking-pots hung and no return to quarters — a desperate foe. When troops face you in anger yet neither join battle nor withdraw — examine it with the greatest care.

In war, numbers alone are no advantage; only do not advance by reckless force — concentrate your strength, gauge the enemy, and win your men. He who makes light of the enemy without forethought will surely be captured. Punish soldiers before they are attached to you and they will not submit; let punishment lapse once they are attached and they are useless. So command them with the civil and bring them to order with the martial — and orders habitually enforced make commander and host of one accord.

X. Terrain (地形)

Master Sun said: Of terrain there are six kinds — open, entangling, deadlock, narrow, precipitous, and distant. Where both can come and go is open: hold the high sunny side first and secure your supply line. Where you can go but hardly return is entangling: sally only if the enemy is unprepared. Where neither can sally to advantage is deadlock: do not take the bait; draw off, and strike when he is half out. On narrow ground, occupy and fill it first to await him; if he holds it filled, do not follow. On precipitous ground, hold the high sunny side first; if he holds it, draw off. On distant ground, with forces equal, it is hard to provoke battle and costly to fight. These six are the way of terrain — the general's highest charge.

In troops there are six failings, faults of the general, not of Heaven: flight (hurling one against ten), slackness (strong soldiers, weak officers), sinking (strong officers, weak soldiers), collapse (senior officers insubordinate, fighting on their own in spite), disorder (a weak, lax general, ranks drawn up every which way), and rout (a general who cannot gauge the enemy, throwing weak against strong with no chosen vanguard).

Terrain is the soldier's aid; to gauge the enemy and command victory, reckoning danger and distance, is the way of the superior general. So if the way of battle promises certain victory, then though the ruler says "do not fight," fighting is right; if it promises no victory, then though he says "fight," not fighting is right. The general who advances seeking no fame and retreats not shunning blame, whose only care is to guard the people and serve his ruler's good, is the treasure of the state. Look on your soldiers as infants, and they will follow you into the deepest ravines; look on them as beloved sons, and they will die with you — yet generosity that cannot command, and kindness that cannot order, make them spoiled children, useless.

To know your men can strike but not that the enemy is unassailable is half a victory; to know the enemy can be struck but not that your men cannot, half a victory; to know both, yet not that the terrain forbids battle, half a victory. So he who knows war moves without confusion and acts without exhausting himself. Hence: Know the enemy and know yourself, and victory is not in doubt; know Heaven and know Earth, and victory is complete.

XI. The Nine Grounds (九地)

Master Sun said: In war there are nine grounds — dispersive (a lord fighting on his own soil), light (in enemy land, not deep), contested (advantageous to whoever holds it), open (where both can come and go), junction (where three states meet, so the first there gains the realm's support), heavy (deep in enemy land, many cities behind), ruinous (hard-going mountain, forest, and marsh), enclosed (entered by a narrow way, quit by a roundabout one, where few can strike many), and death ground (survive only by fighting at once). And so: on dispersive ground do not fight; on light, do not halt; on contested, do not attack head-on; on open, keep your lines unbroken; on junction, secure alliances; on heavy, forage; on ruinous, keep moving; on enclosed, scheme; on death ground, fight.

The good commanders of old could make the enemy's front and rear lose touch, his many and few fail to rely on one another, his ranks scatter and be unable to assemble. They moved when it suited advantage and halted when it did not. "The enemy comes in numbers and good order — how to meet him?" — Seize first what he holds dear, and he will bend to your will. The essence of war is speed: take the enemy unready, travel unexpected roads, strike where he is unguarded.

The way of the invader: penetrate deep, and the men are united, so the defender cannot overcome them. Forage the rich country and the host is fed; husband their strength, gather their spirit, hoard their power, and lay plans none can fathom. Throw them where there is no way out, and they will die rather than flee — facing death, what can they not do? In deep peril soldiers lose fear; with nowhere to go they stand firm; with no choice, they fight. Forbid omens, banish doubt, and to the death they will not waver. On the day the order comes, the soldiers weep — yet cast where there is no way out, they show the courage of the ancient braves.

So the good commander is like the shuairan, the snake of Mount Chang: strike its head and the tail comes; strike its tail and the head comes; strike its middle and both come. Can troops be made like the snake? They can: the men of Wu and Yue are enemies, yet crossing in one boat in a storm they rescue each other like the left hand and the right. So uniting the brave and the timid as one is the way of command. The general's business is to be calm and inscrutable, upright and orderly — keeping his men's eyes and ears in ignorance, changing his methods and plans so none can read them, setting them their task "as one who climbs high and kicks away the ladder," burning the boats and breaking the pots, driving the host like a flock of sheep, none knowing whither. Cast them into ground of ruin and they survive; sink them into death-ground and they live — for only plunged into peril can a host turn defeat into victory.

So spur them with the prospect of gain but tell them nothing of the danger; bestow rewards beyond rule, and handle the whole host as one man. The business of war lies in feigning compliance with the enemy's intent, concentrating against him on a single line, and slaying his general at a thousand li. On the day war is declared, close the passes and break the tallies; when the enemy opens a door, rush in, seize first what he holds dear. At first be like a maiden, and the enemy opens his door; then be like a bolting hare, and he cannot keep you out.

XII. Attack by Fire (火攻)

Master Sun said: There are five fire-attacks — burning men in camp, burning stores, burning baggage-trains, burning arsenals, burning supply-lines. Fire needs its means ready beforehand, and there is a season and days for it: the season is dry weather; the days are when the moon is in the wind-bringing mansions. Respond to the five developments of fire: if it breaks out within the enemy camp, answer at once from without; if it breaks out but his troops stay calm, wait — let it reach its height, then follow up if you can, and if not, hold back; set fire to windward, never attack from the leeward. Every army must know these and guard against them by calculation. To aid an attack with fire shows intelligence; with water, strength — water can cut the enemy off, but cannot seize his stores.

To win battles and take ground but not consolidate the gains is disastrous — "wasteful delay." So: move not unless there is advantage; act not unless there is something to gain; fight not unless there is danger that requires it. A ruler must not raise an army from anger, nor a general fight from spite — for anger can turn again to gladness, but a ruined state cannot be restored, nor the dead brought back to life. So the enlightened ruler is cautious and the good general wary: this is the way to keep the state secure and the army whole.

XIII. The Use of Spies (用間)

Master Sun said: To raise a host of a hundred thousand and march a thousand li costs a thousand pieces of gold a day, with turmoil at home and seven hundred thousand households unable to tend their work. To face the enemy for years contending for a single day's victory, yet grudge the pay of spies and so stay ignorant of his condition, is the height of inhumanity — no general of men, no master of victory. What lets the wise ruler and able general move and conquer beyond the common run is foreknowledge — and foreknowledge cannot be had from ghosts and spirits, nor by analogy, nor by reckoning the stars: it must be got from men who know the enemy.

There are five kinds of spy: the local (using the enemy's countrymen), the inside (using his officials), the double (his own agents, turned), the expendable (who spreads falsehoods our own agents carry to the enemy), and the living (who returns to report). When all five work and none can trace them, it is the "divine web," the ruler's treasure. None is closer to the general than the spy, none more richly rewarded, none more secret — without sage wisdom one cannot use spies, without benevolence direct them, without subtlety get the truth from them. If a mission is disclosed before its time, the spy and those he told must die.

Whatever you would strike, first learn the names of the defending general and all his people. Above all, seek out the enemy's spies sent against you — bribe, guide, and release them — for the double spy is the key: through him the other four can be worked, so he must be treated most generously. Of old, when Yin rose, Yi Yin had been in Xia; when Zhou rose, Jiang Ziya had been in Yin. So only the ruler and general who can use the highest wisdom for spying will achieve great things. This is the essence of war — what the whole army relies on to move.

(This completes the Thirteen Chapters. Some editions append apocryphal dialogues between Sun Wu and the King of Wu — partly recovered on the Yinqueshan bamboo slips — and divination fragments; these are not part of the canonical Art of War and are not included here.)

See also

The Book of Five Rings (五輪書) — the strategy classic of the Japanese sword

Qi Jiguang (戚繼光) — the Ming general whose own manual drew on the military classics

Source Texts — the manuals and classics of the martial canon

Sources

[1] 孫子兵法, the public-domain Chinese original — Chinese Wikisource (zh.wikisource.org/wiki/孫子兵法) and the Chinese Text Project (ctext.org/art-of-war). English on this page is the wiki's own CC0 translation.

[2] The Art of War, English Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Art_of_War) — authorship, the Yinqueshan bamboo-slip discovery, and the modern (in-copyright) translations (Griffith, Sawyer, Ames, Minford), linked rather than reproduced. Lionel Giles's 1910 translation is public domain.