Sunzi Art Of War

SINGAPORE POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL OF CHEMICAL AND LIFE SCIENCES

Diploma in Chemical Engineering ET002A Sun Zi’s Art of War in Our Modern Day Essay: Do not defy the ‘character’ of a situation/person

Name

: See Yong Le

Admin no.

: p0721149

Class

: GE/ET002A/FT/01

Sun Zi Quotes

故曰：知己知彼，百战不贻﹔ 不知彼而知己，一胜一负﹔ 不知彼不知己，每战必贻。 《孙子兵法》谋攻篇第三

The translation of the quote is:” you know the enemy and know yourself; you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle” After we have analyzed the strength and weakness of ourselves and the enemy, we should adhere to sunzi next two quotes. 故曰：胜可知，而不可为。 不可胜者，守也；可胜者， 攻也。守则不足，攻则有余。 《孙子兵法》军形篇第四

Hence the saying: One may know how to conquer without being able to do it. Security against defeat implies defensive tactics; ability to defeat the enemy means taking the offensive Standing on the defensive indicates insufficient strength; attacking, a superabundance of strength.

是故胜兵先胜而后求战 ， 败兵先战而后求胜。 《孙子兵法》军形篇第四 Thus

it is that in war the victorious strategist only seeks battle after the victory has been won; whereas he who is destined to defeat first fight and afterwards looks for victory.

Related Idioms

孔子曰：“有教无类”“因材施教

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孔子说：“学之者不如好之者，好之者不如乐之者。” “因材施教”, we should teach a child based on his aptitude “学之者不如好之者，好之者不 如 之者。”, Being a student, it is good if you are keen to learn and even better you enjoy learning. This is because for any subjects we could only appreciate and master the essence of the skill once we enjoy learning it .That is why we have to ‘知己’ to know our interest before we can excel . If we ‘不知己’ (don’t know ourselves), then we are forced to do things we don’t enjoyed. The result is we could never the essence of the subjects and the process will be miserable. It will be a bonus if we could ‘知己知彼’, so we could please someone by assigning a task they enjoy doing it or attack someone weakness by forcing them to do things they hate to. 《中庸》曰：“君子之中庸也, 君子而时中” 孔子曰：“过犹不及。中庸之道，忠恕而已矣” 孔子曰，‘不得中行而与之，必也狂狷乎，狂者进取，狷者有所不为也！’ The first quote tells us that gentleman chooses the path of golden mean, which is the desirable ground between two extremes. The two extremes are too ambitious and underachieving. ‘狂者’ is one being over-ambitious and arrogant, while ‘狷者’ is one being overcautious and under-achieving. “过犹不及”, if you are over-ambitious and overdo a task, then in the end you accomplished nothing just likes under-achievers. The whole idea advices us to live in reality, know what we can do or what we can’t and perform any task within our capability. 安分守己 If we are ambitious and choose to accomplish something beyond our capability, then we are destined to fail. This is equivalent to throwing an egg against a rock, ‘以卵击石’. The connection between Sunzi art of war and golden mean is obvious. Sun Zi said if we have superabundance of strength, then defeat the enemy at all odds, ‘可胜者，攻也.，攻则有余’. If we are showing mercy to the enemy, then we are playing the role of ‘狷者’. Sun zi said if we are weak then apply defensive tactics, ‘不可胜者，守也守则不足’.In the opposite, if we are not wary of our weakness, then we are courting defeat by fighting against overwhelming odd. This is analogy to playing the role of ‘狂者’. We must know our own limits and do not do things that defy the state of a situation. This is basically the idea captured in sun zi and above quotes. When a good chance comes, take hold the opportunity and makes the best use out of it. When a task is beyond our capability, be realistic and do not agree doing it. We could know the shape of our position by’ 知己知彼’’, and whether our judgement is close to the real situation is based on our experience and analysing skills. Analysing of our position determines our action. ‘是故胜兵先胜而后求战’’, sunzi’s idea is to analyse our position before any action. Thus it is that in war the victorious strategist only seeks battle after the victory has been won Story: Chu-Han Battle

One typical example would be <<楚汉相争>> Chu-Han battle. This is the most classical battle in china history, as Han Liu bang lost in every battle except the last battle which defeated xiang yu Chu army and marked the rise of Han kingdom Xiang yu was remembered for his extraordinary bravery displaced in battle, no one could even match him. His chu army was famous for their bravery, swiftness and fighting spirit displaced in battle. Liu bang admit he was no match to chu military capability, so he resorted to defensive tactics. This agrees with sun zi quote: ‘不可胜者，守也”In the 5 years battle, chu army would surround the city to trap Liubang and then every time Liubang would flee to another city before the chu army surrounded Liubang again. This cycle happened continually but liubang would escape once he sensed the city was in danger. In the Guangwu battle (广武 之战), the chu army trapped the han army for almost 1 year, as the han army closed their door and defence, refused to come out and battle. However, the granaries provided the Han army with adequate food, on the hand, the chu army was starving. The defensive tactics used by Han to avoid defeat caused chu at a loss of action to defeat Han. The han has mastered the art of a skilled defender hiding in the most ‘secret recesses of the earth’, 善守者藏于九地之 下.’ After the guangwu peace treaty, chu army began to retreat. Han strategist’s zhangliang foreseen it is the golden opportunity to attack chu as the soldiers were starving, tired and eager to go home. Besides, xiangyu was an isolated force with no back-up so liubang could deploy 韩信, 英布 force to trap xiangyu . As Sun zi said strategist only seeks battle after the victory has been won. On the other hand, when chu army was forced to gaixia, xiangyu was hoping the chu would give their best shot and a miracle victory would come true. Just like what sunzi said he who is destined to defeat first fight and afterwards looks for victory. chu army lost and xiangyu ended his life. Case study:Eventually, Cheating Scams                           

     A word to describe xiangyu character is “自尊心”.Xiangyu had a very strong sense of pride Recently, there have been numerous cases where members of public fell prey to cheating scam. Some cheating when unsatisfied would cause him to get agitated 100 times more than anyone. If his pride scams include lottery scams, kidnapping scams and impersonation of court officials. Below are some of the tactics was secured, he would soften his heart even to his enemy. xiangyu was furious of liubang for employed in each cheating scams category. blocking Chu army from entering 关中 .He invited liubang to the 鸿门宴 occasion plotting to kill liubang. Liu bang strategist zhang liang persuaded liubang to attend the occasion and Lottery scams: Fraudsters would alert the victims that they have won a luck draw in overseas by e-mail, phone, tell liubang to plead xiangyu for mercy as he grasped xiangyu intrinsic character. If you try to SMS or by mail. However, the victims are informed they had to make up-front payments to facilitate the transfer of be persistent, you would agitate xiangyu. While, if you seduced, he may forgive you. the promised prize. Besides, zhangliang knew chu army was too powerful for Han. In the 鸿门宴 occasion, liubang kneeled down, cried and beg xiangyu for mercy and admit his foolishness. Xiangyu Kidnapping Scams: Victims would receive calls from the ‘kidnappers’. The hoax involves inducing people to part was not bear to kill such a pity person and thus forgive liu bang. Liu bang kept his life and with money by alleging their next-of-kin had been kidnapped and would be harmed if money was not transferred to eventually success because he knew himself and the enemy. 知己知彼，百战不贻 Xiangyu the callers. In reality, their kin was safe and sound. could not even know himself, as he acted out of rash to let liubang off. Xiangyu inability to foreseen the ambitious of liu bang, caused him to drag in the 5 years battle and in the end he Impersonation of officials: Impersonators would direct their victims to attend court or ask them to transfer money. lost the battle and died. This is what sunzi said if you could not know yourself and the They would tell the victims that if they part with their money, they would be cleared from supposedly being are or going to lose.toBesides, housheng (侯生 ) success of the the victims Guangwu peace involved in enemy, criminalyou cases for failing attend court hearings. But in reality, were not involved in any treaty that sees han free from being trapped and chu released back han hostages(liu bang such criminal or court proceedings. father and wife) back because he knew xiangyu character. Likewise, Han previous persuader failed in the first angered xiangyu by blaming him falling for raging Although the police hadpeace issuednegotiation an advisorybecause on suchhescams in August, the number of people prey to them the war This which sufferings the civilians. remains a concern. is brought explained by policetospokesman ASP Lim Tung Li.

Police spokesperson ASP Lim Tung Li said: "The fraudsters change tactics regularly, and so such scams often take different forms. However, the common feature in all the cases is that the fraudsters would either ask for your bank account details or for some payment in advance, before the release of prize money. Source: http://www.spf.gov.sg/crimeprevention/cheating/20071018_courtscam.pdf

For the lottery scams, the victims were greed by the big money that they neglected checking the reliability of the lucky draw. For the kidnapping scams, the victims, mostly ignorant, were overwhelmed by their love for their loves one that they listened to the orders of the fraudsters. For the impersonation scams, the victims were overwhelmed by fear, losing their own mind when they were under threats. The fraudster succeeded because they ‘知己知彼’while the victims‘不知彼不知己’.The fraudsters ‘知彼’ as they make use of our greed, strong family kinship and fear, which leads us to lose our mind and cheat our money. The fraudster also knew their strength (知己). Since they were international cheating organization and the money was transferred to international banks, the local police would have a hard time tracking. Besides, they alert the victims via communicative devices (phone, e-mail…) instead of confronting them, so the victims could never recognize the looks of the ‘culprit’. In previous cheating cases, the victims recognized the ‘culprit’, and thus police could quickly track down the identity of the ‘culprit’. The international cheating scam’s success was proved by hardly any of their cases is cracked till now.

The fraudster ‘知己知彼’ success was also seen that they changed their tactics regularly to suit to the pubic changing awareness. Whenever the pubic become aware of the cheating scams tactics, the fraudster would come up with new tactics, the pubic was unfamiliar with, to fool new victims. I think this should be the basic how they work. Their working mechanism satisfies sunzi two quotes: 故善出奇者，无穷如天地… Indirect tactics, efficiently applied, are inexhaustible as Heaven and Earth … 故善战者，致人而不致于人。Therefore the clever combatant imposes his will on the enemy, but does not allow the enemy's will to be imposed on him. The main idea captured is the fraudster changed their tactics regularly, springing the pubic unexpectedly as they imposed their will on the victims. Before they could accomplished this, the utmost important step, cannot do without, is to ‘知己知彼’. For example, if you do not understand the public, how could you ever design your cheating tactics?

‘知己知彼，百战不贻’, it is easier said than done. As illustrated by the case study, one can lose their judgment ability once confronted by profits, crisis and threats. We could have a clear unbiased mind when we analyze people’s situation but when the actual situation befalls on us, we often make the wrong judgment. This is obvious in the lottery scams. The fraudsters used the ‘lucky draw money’ as a bait to cheat the victims of their money. The victims paid a large price for their ignorance and greed. It is only after the incident, the victims began to question their suspicion and reliability of the organization. ‘兵者，诡道也。’, all warfare is based on deception. Sun zi’s idea is still applicable to the modern day world. As illustrated by the case study, the fraudsters use their tactics to deceive victims in believing and handing over their money. Often, people will be deceived by some profit (money, status, fame) to obey someone or complete a task. Likewise, people will be deceived by their emotion and become biased against someone or a situation. As so some people would do things that defy their wish and conscious because of deception. The modern day war is governed by deception. Deception would rob people mind to analyze’知己知彼’ in an unbiased manner. We could avoid being deceived in life if we know our limit and not tied down by profit and emotion. In other words, we should adhere to the principal of golden mean ( 中庸之道 ). 子程子曰,「不偏之谓中；不易之谓庸.」‘不偏之谓中’, as explained earlier is the desirable ground between 2 extremes. ‘不易之谓庸’, is the principal we uphold is firm and will not change under external factors (eg.profit, emotion…). In the lottery scams, the victims were wild in their thought that they could strike rich by lucky draw they didn’t participate. In the impersonation scams, the victims were overwhelmed with fear over crimes they didn’t commit. The mistakes can be avoided if we are not tie down by profits or emotions, so we will not run wild in our thought. The lesson learnt here is that we often do things defying the state of a situation. For example, we often get deceived by profit, fame and emotion, and do things defying against our wish. For example, we would soften our heart when someone please us or give us somebenefits. In

real life, we should do things within our capability, do not overdo or underachieve, and do not let our mind run wild by deception as we should be firm and confident of our principal. In other words, we should ‘知己知彼，百战不贻’. Often, we often follow the orders of our parents and dare not pursue our dreams. We should not defy our character and do things against our wish. It is only ‘知己知彼’that we realize our potential of our talent; we can then be successful in our life. Besides, we are often pulled back by people negative’s opinions that we thought of giving up. We should continue to believe in ourselves as ‘知己知彼，百战不贻’.

不可胜者，守也；可胜者，攻也。 The quote basically tells us to do things that adhere to the state of a situation and not defy it. One of classical quote said by the channel U superstar competition judge to the contestants is ‘避短扬长’, conceal our weakness and show our strength. He said that for a selection of topics in an essay test, the student should pick the topic he could write well not the most difficult topic, as an analogy to his statement. This is similar to sunzi quote that if we are strong, show it, if we are weak, hide it. Most contestants have the presumption if I could accomplish a very difficult task that other contestant can’t, I will win. This presumption is entirely wrong as the winner is usually those in the best performance. The wrong presumption is rooted to their failure to grasp sunzi quote and deceive by their strong desire to win. In conclusion, if we participate in any competition, we should conceal our weakness and show our strength. Often, our friend, who is in trouble, will ask us for help. Then, we are in thoughts whether to help or not help. The answer is easy and it is governed by sunzi quote above. The advice is: if we have a superabundance of power (time, money, capability …), offer our help. If we have insufficient of power (time, money, capability …), do not help your friend. This is because if your capability is not up to standard, you will land your friend in deeper trouble. Likewise, if we do not have enough time or money and we are willing to help, we may land ourselves in deep soup. The point here is not to tell us to be selfish. Imagine, you have some cash prepared for your family in hospital, and you offer that money to help a friend, what will the outcome be?