Sun Pin Military Methods

A description of the awesome army commanded by Sun Pin, a direct descendent of the legendary Sun Tzu. This translation comments on Sun Pin's life and times. It analyzes in detail Sun Pin's tactics in battles, and compares his strategic thinking with that of Sun Tzu.

"Ralph Sawyer's translation of Sun Pin...adds in an important way to our knowledge of the place of warfare in classical Chinese civilization."--John Keegan The enormous renewed popularity of Sun Tzu's The Art of War has heightened awareness of the great Chinese tradition of writing on the theory and practice of war. Among other significant work is this 4th century B.C. study by the purported great grandson of Sun Tzu. It both extends Sun Tzu's strategic philosophy and develops it into a new style. Divided into 33 sections, it covers such topics as unfavorable terrain, the origins of war, "guest" and "host" armies, the 10 strategic uses of cavalry, and more.

Sun Tzu's Art of War is the most famous, and the most thought-provoking, work of strategy ever written. The profound insights of this book have endured for over two thousand years, and they continue to reward careful study. The Military Methods of Sun Pin, the great-grandson of Sun Tzu, is a brilliant elaboration on his ancestor's work, which has been lost for nearly two millennia. Presented here together for the first time are the greatest of the ancient Chinese classics of strategic thought: The Complete Art of War.The Sun family writings on strategy represent a unique contribution to our understanding of human affairs. By unveiling the complex, often unexpected, interrelationships of armies locked in battle, their wisdom reveals the enduring principles of success in the struggle of life itself.With a unique index to the essential principles of strategy, and Sawyer's thoughtful chapter-by-chapter commentaries, The Complete Art of War is designed to guide the reader to new insights into the nature of human conflict and a greater understanding of every field of human activity, from playing the game of politics to building a successful marriage, from closing a deal to managing a large organization, and even from making war to making peace.

The enormous recent popularity in America of Sun-tzu's Art of War has heightened awareness of the great Chinese tradition of writing on theory and practice of war. This tradition has always emphasized that warfare is as much the deployment of spiritual and mental forces as of combat forces, as much a matter of patience and attention as of brute strength. As a result, new generations of readers have found many of its precepts applicable to forms of struggle far from any actual battlefield.While it has brought this tradition greater exposure, the reception of Art of War threatens to overshadow and obscure the other significant texts that followed in its wake. Foremost among these is Military Methods of the Art of War, written in the fourth century B.C. by the purported great-grandson of Sun-tzu, the general Sun Pin. Military Methods is both an extension of the strategic philosophy of the earlier work and a development of a new strategic style--one that enabled Sun Pin to guide the armies of the province of Ch'i to decisive victories over their enemies in the battles of Kuei-ling and Ma-ling.Long believed lost, the text of Military Methods was recovered from a Han dynasty tomb in 1972. The salvaged original, fragmentary in nature, is divided into thirty-three sections covering such topics as unfavorable terrains, the origins of war, "guest" and "host" armies, "male" and "female" cities, and the ten strategic uses of cavalry. To bridge the gaps in the original, translator Ralph D. Sawyer, the leading authority on Chinese military history and its major texts, has provided extensive commentary and notes, as well as a detailed historical introduction.

A classic of both military strategy and Eastern philosophy from the fourth century B.C.E.

A description of the awesome army commanded by Sun Pin, a direct descendent of the legendary Sun Tzu. This translation comments on Sun Pin's life and times. It analyzes in detail Sun Pin's tactics in battles, and compares his strategic thinking with that of Sun Tzu.

The Art of War is almost certainly the most famous study of strategy ever written and has had an extraordinary influence on the history of warfare. The principles Sun-tzu expounded were utilized brilliantly by such great Asian war leaders as Mao Tse-tung, Giap, and Yamamoto. First translated two hundred years ago by a French missionary, Sun-tzu's Art of War has been credited with influencing Napoleon, the German General Staff, and even the planning for Desert Storm. Many Japanese companies make this book required reading for their key executives. And increasingly, Western businesspeople and others are turning to the Art of War for inspiration and advice on how to succeed in competitive situations of all kinds. Unlike most editions of Sun-tzu currently available (many simply retreads of older, flawed translations), this superb new translation makes use of the best available classical Chinese manuscripts, including the ancient "tomb text" version discovered by archaeologists at Linyi, China. Ralph Sawyer, an outstanding Western scholar of ancient Chinese warfare and a successful businessman in his own right, places this classic work of strategy in its proper historical context. Sawyer supplies a portrait of Sun-tzu's era and outlines several battles of the period that may have either influenced Sun-tzu or been conducted by him. While appreciative of the philosophical richness of the Art of War, this edition stresses Sun-tzu's practical origins and presents a translation that is both accurate and accessible.