{"collection":"Taoism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/tao/aow/aow08.htm","path":"tao/aow/aow08.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/tao/aow/aow08.htm","text":"The Art of War, by Lionel Giles, [1910]\nThe following are the oldest Chinese treatises on war, after Sun Tz\u016d. The notes on each have been drawn principally from the # Ss\u016d k\u2018u ch\u2018\u00fcan shu chien ming mu lu, ch. 9, fol. 22 sqq.\n1. # Wu Tz\u016d, in 1 ch\u00fcan or 6 # chapters. By # Wu Ch\u2018i (d. B.C. 381). A genuine work. See Shih Chi, ch. 65.\n2. # Ss\u016d-ma Fa, in 1 ch\u00fcan or 5 chapters. Wrongly attributed to # Ss\u016d-ma Jang-ch\u00fc of the 6th century B.C. Its date, however, must be early, as the customs of the three ancient dynasties are constantly to be met with in its pages. 1 See Shih Chi, ch. 64.\nThe Ss\u016d K\u2018u Ch\u2018\u00fcan Shu (ch. 99, f. 1) remarks that the oldest three treatises on war, Sun Tz\u016d, Wu Tz\u016d and the Ss\u016d-ma Fa, are, generally speaking, only concerned with things strictly military\u2014the art of producing, collecting, training and drilling troops, and the correct theory with regard to measures of expediency, laying plans, transport of goods and the handling of soldiers 2\u2014in strong contrast to later works, in which the science of war is usually blended with metaphysics, divination and magical arts in general.\n3. # Liu T\u2018ao, in 6 ch\u00fcan or 60 chapters. Attributed to # L\u00fc Wang (or L\u00fc # Shang, also known as # T\u2018ai Kung) of the 12th century B.C. 3 But\nits style does not belong to the era of the Three Dynasties. 1 # Lu T\u00ea-ming (550\u2013625 A.D.) mentions the work, and enumerates the headings of the six sections, #, #, #, #, # and #, so that the forgery cannot have been later than the Sui dynasty.\n4. # Wei Liao Tz\u016d, in 5 ch\u00fcan. Attributed Wei Liao (4th cent. B.C.), who studied under the famous # Kuei-ku Tz\u016d. The #, under #, mentions a book of Wei Liao in 31 chapters, whereas the text we possess contains only 24. Its matter is sound enough in the main, though the strategical devices differ considerably from those of the Warring States period. 2 It has been furnished with a commentary by the well-known Sung philosopher # Chang Tsai.\n5. # San L\u00fceh, in 3 ch\u00fcan. Attributed to #, Huang-shih Kung, a legendary personage who is said to have bestowed it on Chang Liang (d. B.C. 187) in an interview on a bridge. 3 But here again, the style is not that of works dating from the Ch\u2018in or Han period. The Han Emperor Kuang Wu [A.D. 25\u201357] apparently quotes from it in one of his proclamations; but the passage in question may have been inserted later on, in order to prove the genuineness of the work. We shall not be far out if we refer it to the Northern Sung period [420\u2013478 A.D.], or somewhat earlier. 4\n6. # Li Wei Kung W\u00ean Tui, in 3 sections. Written in the form of a dialogue between T\u2018ai Tsung and his great general # Li Ching, it is usually ascribed to the latter. Competent authorities consider it a forgery, though the author was evidently well versed in the art of war. 1\n7. # Li Ching Ping Fa (not to be confounded with the foregoing) is a short treatise in 8 chapters, preserved in the T\u2018ung Tien, but not published separately. This fact explains its omission from the Ss\u016d K\u2018u Ch\u2018\u00fcan Shu.\n8. # Wu Ch\u2018i Ching, 2 in 1 ch\u00fcan. Attributed to the legendary minister # F\u00eang Hou, with exegetical notes by # Kung-sun Hung of the Han dynasty (d. B.C. 121), and said to have been eulogised by the celebrated general, # Ma Lung (d. A.D. 300). Yet the earliest mention of it is in the #. Although a forgery, the work is well put together. 3\nConsidering the high popular estimation in which # Chu-ko Liang has always been held, it is not surprising to find more than one work on war ascribed to his pen. Such are (1) the # Shih Liu Ts\u2018e (1 ch\u00fcan), preserved in the # Yung Lo Ta Tien; (2) # Chiang Y\u00fcan (1 ch.); and (3) # Hsin Shu (I ch.), which steals wholesale from Sun Tz\u016d. None of these has the slightest claim to be considered genuine.\nMost of the large Chinese encyclopaedias contain extensive sections devoted to the literature of war. The following references may be found useful:\u2014\n# T\u2018ai P\u2018ing Y\u00fc Lan (983), ch. 270\u2013359.\n# W\u00ean Hsien T\u2018ung K\u2018ao (13th cent.), ch. 221.\n# Y\u00fc Hai (13th cent.), ch. 140, 141.\n# San Ts\u2018ai T\u2018u Hui (16th cent), # ch. 7, 8.\n# Kuang Po Wu Chih (1607), ch. 31, 32.\n# Ch\u2018ien Ch\u2018io Lei Shu (1632), ch. 75.\n# Y\u00fcan Chien Lei Han (1710), ch. 206\u2013229.\n# Ku Chin T\u2018u Shu Chi Ch\u2018\u00eang (1726), section XXX, esp. ch. 81\u201390.\n# Hs\u00fc W\u00ean Hsien T\u2018ung K\u2018ao (1784), ch. 121\u2013134.\n# Huang Ch\u2018ao Ching Shih W\u00ean Pien (1826), ch. 76, 77.\nThe bibliographical sections of certain historical works also deserve mention:\u2014\n# Sui Shu, ch. 32\u201335.\n# Chiu T\u2018ang Shu, ch. 46, 47.\n# Hsin T\u2018ang Shu, ch. 57\u201360.\n# Sung Shih, ch. 202\u2013209.\n# T\u2018ung Chih (circ\u00e2 1150), ch. 68.\nTo these of course must be added the great Catalogue of the Imperial Library:\nl:1 #.\nl:2 #.\nl:3 See p. 174. Further details on T\u2018ai Kung will be found in the Shih Chi, ch. 32 ad init. Besides the tradition which makes him a former minister of Chou Hsin, two other accounts of him are there given, according to which he would appear to have been first raised from a humble private station by W\u00ean Wang.\nli:1 #.\nli:2 #.\nli:3 See Han Shu, #, ch. 40. The work is there called #. Hence it has been confused with the Liu T\u2018ao. The T\u2018u Shu attributes both the Liu T\u2018ao and the San L\u00fceh to T\u2018ai Kung.\nli:4 #. Another work said to have been written by Huang-shih Kung, and also included in the military section of the Imperial Catalogue, is the # Su Shu in 1 ch\u00fcan. A short ethical treatise of Taoist p. lii savour, having no reference whatever to war, it is pronounced a forgery from the hand of # Chang Shang-ying (d. 1121), who edited it with commentary. Correct Wylie's \"Notes,\" new edition, p. 90, and Courant's \"Catalogue des Livres Chinois,\" no. 5056.\nlii:1 #. We are told in the # that the above six works, together with Sun Tz\u016d, were those prescribed for military training in the # period (1078\u201385). See # Y\u00fc Hai, ch. 140, f. 4 r\u00b0.\nlii:2 Also written # and # Wu Chi Ching.\nlii:3 #.","title":"The Art of War: Introduction: Bibliography","type":"page"}