The Analects of Confucious

Politics & Social Sciences

D.C. Lau

CONFUCIUS

Philosophy

PRENTICE/HALL

Lost for some 2,000 years and only rediscovered by chance in 1972, Sun Pin: The Art of Warfare is now recognized as one of the essential texts of classical Chinese military philosophy. In this new edition, D. C. Lau and Roger T. Ames, eminent scholars of Chinese philosophy and widely respected translators, offer a comprehensive translation of the Sun Pin texts, along with extensive notes and commentary. The publication of this volume returns the work of one of the great military innovators to the canon of Chinese literature. Sun Pin, believed to be a direct descendant of the distinguished military theorist Sun-tzu, flourished during the mid-fourth century B.C. during China's Warring States era, a period of unprecedented violence. As independent nation states attempted to annihilate each other through incessant and escalating battles, military tactics increased exponentially in sophistication and brutality. In the China of the mid-fourth century B.C., it was not uncommon for as many as 80,000 soldiers to perish in a single defeat. As Lau and Ames write in their introduction, warfare was increasingly a way of life, and a way of death. This was the world that Sun Pin both reflected and deeply influenced through his writings. Sun Pin, himself a victim of a court intrigue that resulted in the amputation of his legs below the knee, rose above disgrace to become the key adviser of King Wei, the ruler of the state of Ch'i. In his writings, Sun Pin draws on battles he had waged as well as examples from earlier history to explore the nature, the purpose, and the effective conduct of war. Sun Pin, essentially a philosopher of the battlefield, ponders such key concepts as the exemplary ruler, the importance of strategy and morale, and the advantages to be gained from adaptability, display, and discretion. Yet these texts are also clearly intended to be practical and to be used to maximum effect on the battlefield. As Sun Pin writes, for one who has really mastered the way of warfare, his enemy can do nothing to escape death. This new edition of Sun Pin: The Art of Warfare includes not only the sixteen chapters and fragments of the main text recovered at Yin-ch'üeh-shan in 1972, but also fifteen supplementary chapters and three extracts from the encyclopedic tradition. The translation by professors D.C. Lau and Roger T. Ames is admirably clear and fluid, and their comprehensive introduction examining the life and times and the original philosophical contribution of the Sun Pin literature is a brilliant work in its own right. Sun Pin: The Art of Warfare is a timeless text that fuses history, philosophy, military technique, and reflections on the nature of human conflict. At once evocative of an ancient culture and deeply relevant to contemporary concepts of power and leadership, this volume belongs in the libraries of all serious readers.

Sun Pin: The Art of Warfare (Classics of Ancient China)

Science & Math

Roger T. Ames

Sun, Pin

Technology

Ballantine Books

Sun Bin: The Art of Warfare: A Translation of the Classic Chinese Work of Philosophy and Strategy (Chinese Philosophy Culture)

A classic of both military strategy and Eastern philosophy from the fourth century B.C.E. Sun Bin’s Art of Warfare is an essential text of Chinese military philosophy and of strategy in general. This book, lost for over two thousand years and rediscovered only in 1972, has not yet reached the prominence of Sunzi’s (Sun-tzu) The Art of Warfare, which is the best-known military treatise in the world. Sun Bin’s work is an indispensable companion to the work of Sunzi, who is believed to be his ancestor, but deserves to be better known in its own right, both philosophically and historically. Here, noted sinologists D. C. Lau and Roger T. Ames offer an admirably lucid translation, and provide an introduction examining the life, times, and original philosophical contributions of Sun Bin. Sun Bin, advisor to King Wei of the state of Qi, worked and wrote during the mid-fourth century B.C.E. during China’s Warring States period. It was a time of unprecedented violence; without a central national authority, nation-states fought fiercely amongst one another. New technologies made fighting more deadly, so that between the mid-fourth and mid-third centuries B.C.E., the number of battlefield casualties increased tenfold. Sun Bin’s work is the key to understanding the physical and intellectual revolution that made such “progress” in the efficiency of warfare possible. The Art of Warfare shows Sun Bin as both practical tactician and philosopher. He discusses war and rulership not only as philosophical concepts, but also as practical matters, evidenced by his battle-tested techniques. This is a fascinating book both for its reflection on its own time and for its reflection on power, conflict, and leadership for all times.

Sun Bin: The Art of Warfare : A Translation of the Classic Chinese Work of Philosophy and Strategy (Suny Series in Chinese Philosophy and Culture)

History

Sun Bin (Sun Pin)

Asia

State Univ of New York Pr

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Books by D.C. Lau