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The best method of study is to read the text once to get the idea of the work, but come back and read it again (and again) except now reflect on the words. Ponder and visualize.
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Specifically, strategy is the science and art of military command as applied to the overall planning and conduct of large-scale combat operations. However in general, it is the skillful management, optimization, and application of limited resources intended to accomplish a specific goal.
In practice, strategy is in essence thinking hard about where you fit and where you are in relations to your environment. It's a sometimes painful exercise that challenges your preconceived ideas and beliefs. You're trying to get to an unbiased and objective viewpoint of the way things are. Then, you take action accordingly.
Of course what we said above is not easy to implement. But it can be realized. Therefore, why is strategy important in a person's life? Strategy helps you make the best decisions based on where you are to get to where you want to be. Training is good, but training after a thorough reflection on where you should put your energies is so much better.
Of all the Sun Tzu books currently on the market, we would recommend the Denma Translation Group's Sun Tzu The Art of War. The translation is incredibly accurate and analysis thorough. It took the authors ten years to complete. For a well established version, you may consider General Samuel Griffith's Art of War.
We have listed the most reputable Sun Tzu versions on the Purchase page.
If you are looking for Sun Tzu applications to business practice, we highly recommend Gerald Michaelson's books. To learn more, go to the Michaelson interview.
though the website's writers are anonymous because there are numerous contributors, the buck stops at the desk of Sonshi.com's founder Thomas Huynh. Sonshi.com is a result of a collective voice. After all, we believe what is written is more important than who writes it. Whether our work stands the test of time is up to our intelligent readers. As enthusiasts of the Art of War book, we simply want to share information about it with others.
What does Sonshi mean?
Sonshi is the English transliteration of Sun Tzu in Japanese. In feudal
at is it that you do, and what do you sell?
We provide an educational website for those interested in learning more about Sun Tzu's Art of War. Our goal is to help people apply the book's concepts and principles correctly. In essence, Sonshi.com teaches you how to win in life.
If you ever said to yourself "The Art of War is an extraordinary book ... I want to learn everything about it!" or "Can these ideas be applied to my life?" or "I have this Art of War book ... now what?", you have come to the right place. Long ago when we first started reading the book, we said the same things! That is why we created Sonshi.com. Sun Tzu's Art of War is our sole passion and labor of love. So welcome.
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Frequently quoted but quite possibly the most misunderstood verse from Sun Tzu. As a result, one opinion we encountered even suggested Sun Tzu wasn't about warfare at all! It is neither an ethical nor a philosophical statement. Sun Tzu said,
"One who is skilled in warfare principles subdues the enemy without doing battle, takes the enemy's walled city without attacking, and overthrows the enemy quickly, without protracted warfare. His aim must be to take All-Under-Heaven intact. Therefore, weapons will not be blunted, and gains will be intact. These are the principles of planning attacks."
Therefore, it is mostly a practical, economic decision. Doing battle depletes an enormous amount of capital and supplies, leaving one to be vulnerable to attacks by other parties in the future. It also depletes ones spoils. Victory without doing battle means resources are preserved -- including the lives of men.
A leader should always strive for this objective, but depending on various factors (e.g., his skill in strategy, the opponent, and overall situation) it might not be possible. In which case the use of military force would be appropriate and necessary.
are two items proposed in Sun Tzu in which we feel can be applied with fewer complications than other concepts in Sun Tzu.
Attack the weak areas with your strong - "To be certain to take what you attack, attack where the enemy cannot defend. To be certain of safety when defending, defend where the enemy cannot attack."
This is why a relatively small group engaging in guerrilla warfare against a superpower is nevertheless effective. No matter how much capital and brand recognition a large corporation may have, it can't be strong at all places. Find its weak areas and enter that market with all your resources. If you have at least comparable products, comparable pricing, and show personal attention, customers will flock to you. It usually takes only one major vendor mistake for a customer to start looking elsewhere.
Build momentum - "One who exploits force commands men into battle like rolling logs and boulders. Logs and boulders are still when on flat ground, but roll when on steep ground. Square shapes are still, but round shapes roll."
Don't gamble on certain individuals for progress but rely on the momentum of the entire group. Your payroll should reflect this strategy. If everyone moves in the right direction, albeit slowly, this is more effective than a few good people pushing. This concept is simply what business consultants mean by teamwork and synergy.
It has been claimed that Sun Tzu's Art of War was read by Napoleon. It is suggested that he in fact read only Machiavelli's Art of War. Your thoughts?
records, Napoleon was an avid reader. As such, we have little doubt he read both especially since they were military works. Both texts were available at the time. J. J. M. Amiot's French translation in 1772 (the first Sun Tzu translation available to the Western world) was an instant success and was reprinted ten years later. Thus, to think Napoleon was ignorant to the book would be, in our opinion, hard to believe. Do you have a comment on the relationship between Sun Tzu and Machiavelli
Te one relationship with Sun Tzu and Niccolo Machiavelli was that both lived in an environment full of political and military upheaval. States were battling states for supremacy. Therefore as some would say, "necessity is the mother of all invention," that ideas on the application of warfare were rampant caused by the demand for them. Machiavelli, however, is not as well known for his military ability as his political acumen.
You will hear the "Way" or "Tao" (Wade-Giles) or even "Dao" (Pinyin) used in Chinese literature. In a general sense, the Way is a philosophical meaning for the correct path to doing certain activities; the natural and true method. You may even say the path of the heavens or the gods. The Way presented in Sun Tzu is pretty much the same except it's related to the area of strategy and warfare.
So when Sun Tzu says a general has the Way or applying the Way, he means the general's behavior is "divine" and is based on tried and true principles -- that his people would follow him to the ends of the earth and be willing to die with him. Now that's leadership.
In Larry Vetter's book, "Never Without Heroes: Marine Third Reconnaissance Battalion in Vietnam, 1965-70":
Before I close my conclusions, I would like to mention a few points on a more strategic level of thinking. I recommend that all military planners, whether their positions be political or military, read, discuss, debate, and be trained in the differences between the Western form of war (which has absorbed so much from the teachings of Carl von Clauswitz’s exposition On War) and the teachings found in the ancient Chinese Sun-Tzu’s The Art of Warfare. Ho Chi Minh, Vo Nguyen Giap, and others in the Vietnamese leadership who fought against the French and then the United States understood and used the principles as expressed in that ancient and yet valuable work by Sun-Tzu It is my opinion that their application of Sun-Tzu’s principles of war was superior to that being used by either the French or the United States for the situation in Vietnam.
Also consider John Keegan's book "A History of Warfare":
Though the Chinese ruling dynasties and aristocracies esteemed skill-at-arms and horsemanship, they did not confuse military leadership with administrative skills. And under the Sui and T’ang dynasties the gradualist military strategy first propounded by the fourth-century writer Sun Tzu took root. Sun Tzu drew on an existing corpus of ideas and practices in formalizing his theory; it would not otherwise have recommended itself to the Chinese mind. In its emphasis on avoiding battle except with assurance of victory, of disfavouring risk, of seeking to overawe an enemy by psychological means, and of using time rather than force to wear an invader down (all concepts recognized to be profoundly anti-Clausewitzian by twentieth-century strategists, when the campaigns of Mao Tse-tung and Ho Chi Minh drew Sun Tzu to their attention) his Art of War encouraged the integration of Chinese military with political theory in an intellectual whole.
John Saul's book “Voltaire's Bastards: The Dictatorship of Reason in the West” states:
Liddell Hart, perhaps the greatest strategist of this century, found himself restating Sun Tzu’s principles: “For the profoundest truth of war is that the issue of battles is usually decided in the minds of the opposing commanders, not in the bodies of their men.” He continually ridiculed the “official Clausewitz.” To state “that war is a continuation of policy by other means has become a catch-phrase and is therefore dangerous. We can say with equal truth, war is the bankruptcy of policy.”
From Robert Coram's "Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War":
Von Clausewitz is often acknowledged as the greatest of military theoreticians. Rarely has his book been studied as [John] Boyd studied it. As with Sun Tzu, he bought various translations and made copious annotations. For months he compared what von Clausewitz says early in the book with what he says in the middle and at the end. This is laborious work, because von Clausewitz takes a dialectic approach and sometimes seems to argue in favor of polar opposites... Boyd called Spinney late one night and said he had a breakthrough. He began reading passages and explaining two crucial differences between von Clausewitz and Sun Tzu. First, von Clausewitz wants to bring the enemy to a big "decisive battle," while Sun Tzu wants to unravel the enemy before a battle. Put another way, von Clausewitz believes wars are decided by set piece battles more than by strategy, deception, and guerrilla-like tactics. This means that even if he wins, there is a bloodbath. Boyd said von Clausewitz's second major flaw is that he spends a lot of time talking about how a commander must minimize "friction" -- that is, the uncertainty or chance that always appears in the "fog of war." He does not deal with maximizing the enemy's friction -- as does Sun Tzu -- but only with minimizing his own
Thomas Huynh, founder of Sonshi.com, guides you through Sun Tzu’s masterwork, highlighting principles that encourage a perceptive and spiritual approach to conflict, enabling you to:
Prevent conflicts before they arise
Peacefully and quickly resolve conflicts when they do arise
Act with courage, intelligence, and benevolence in adversarial situations
Convert potential enemies into friends
Control your emotions before they control you
Learn effective, spiritual, and compassionate ways to handle conflict and intense competition in your life, and experience clarity of purpose and peace of mind, even in the most trying of circumstances. So if you want to expand your knowledge of Sun Tzu's Art of War, The Art of War — Spirituality for Conflict is an essential addition to your library.
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