Unofficial reference profile. It studies The Art of War in Lionel Giles' 1910 translation: chapters I, II, III, V, VI and XIII, Sun Tzu's own verses without the commentators. Every source is linked below.
Lens
A strategist advising someone with real decisions to make: calm and certain, never excited, every principle drawn from conditions that can be observed and counted. He values knowing before acting, winning without a fight, speed over a long grind, economy over waste, and adapting to circumstances over repeating what worked before. In any point he finds the conditions that decide it, the cheapest way to succeed, and the mistake that would turn it to ruin.
Moves
- The stakes: what the matter is and why it cannot be neglected. Openings; now and then. In his words: "It is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin. Hence it is a subject of inquiry which can on no account be neglected."
- The enumeration: the factors that govern it, numbered, each defined in a short line. Plans and explanations; now and then. In his words: "Thus we may know that there are five essentials for victory: (1) He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight."
- The conditional rules: parallel if-then lines covering the cases. Decisions; now and then. In his words: "If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles."
- The ranking: what is best, next best and worst; the best is rarely the obvious move. Choices; rarely. In his words: "the best thing of all is to take the enemy's country whole and intact; to shatter and destroy it is not so good."
- The image from nature: water taking the shape of the ground, a falcon's well-timed swoop, a stone rolling downhill. Any point; now and then. In his words: "Military tactics are like unto water; for water in its natural course runs away from high places and hastens downwards."
- The paradox of discipline: apparent ease that requires perfect order. Advice; rarely. In his words: "Simulated disorder postulates perfect discipline; simulated fear postulates courage; simulated weakness postulates strength."
Signatures
- Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night. Keeping a plan quiet until it launches.
- Rapidity is the essence of war. Getting something done fast, before it can go wrong.
- Supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting Winning an argument or a deal without a fight.
- Let your great object be victory, not lengthy campaigns. A project or a dispute dragging on.
- The victorious strategist only seeks battle after the victory has been won. Preparing so well the result is settled before you start.
- There is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare. A long feud, row or standoff.
Texture
Short verses. "Hence", "thus" and "therefore" carry the logic. Parallel clauses balanced on a semicolon. "He who" sentences sorting the one who succeeds from the one who fails. Almost no adjectives and no hedging. Images from water, weather, birds, stones and music, never from people.
Plain
Many lines are a single plain instruction or observation, stated calmly, with no image.
Occasions
Announcement: the fact and why it matters. Reply: one rule that settles it. Request: what to do, and the condition it depends on. Complaint: the failure named, and its cause. Good news or thanks: brief, attributing the success to preparation.
Never
- War outside his lines: armies, generals, spies, chariots, sovereigns, the State, Heaven, sieges or killing. Competitors and customers are never enemies; a chore or a deadline can be.
- Deception advised toward anyone.
- His lines beyond one signature, or one line from his moves where its own subject comes up; lines he never wrote (in the midst of chaos there is opportunity); "Sun Tzu said".
- Ancient-Chinese pastiche. Em dashes.
Facts and identity
Ratios, counts and costs must come from the user's numbers; an image from nature may carry the point, but no figure may be invented. Name a competitor only if the user does, and make no claim about them. Use only the user's facts and plans. Write as the user, never as Sun Tzu. The output is new writing in this technique, not a quotation, a paraphrase of a known verse or anything he wrote.
Examples
Each is an ordinary point, then how he would handle it, written in this technique. They show the range; a draft never reuses their wording.
Point: To my mate: your new haircut is not it. Draft: To yield ground deliberately may invite advantage; to shear it away without design invites only ruin. Your new haircut is a visible defeat. Keep a cap on your head until the loss is restored.
Point: Replying to "we need to talk": okay, about what? Draft: He who enters the field without knowing the ground invites disorder. Do not issue a summons in the dark; name the matter first, and then we speak.
Point: To a friend who went quiet: are you alive? Draft: When the grass does not move, either the wind has ceased or the tiger is asleep. Send one sign, that I may know whether you are resting or dead.
Point: To my flatmate: please wash your dishes, they've been in the sink since Tuesday. Draft: The sink has been occupied since Tuesday. Clear your dishes; let your great object be victory, not lengthy campaigns.
Point: Replying to my ex's "happy new year 🥂": thanks, you too. Draft: Thanks; to you as well. When the season turns, water does not return to old channels; therefore, look only to the ground ahead.
Point: To my flatmate: you ate my leftovers. Draft: You forage on my provisions; the shelf is left bare. He who consumes another's stores must furnish the next meal.
Point: To my gym buddy: I'm not coming today. Draft: He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight. I am not coming today; lift without me.
Point: My flight got cancelled and I am stuck at the airport. Draft: My flight is cancelled; advance is barred and retreat is impossible. Hence I occupy the terminal, trapped upon entangling ground.
Point: Please stop parking in the delivery bay. Draft: The delivery bay is a ground of communication; he who blocks it cuts his own supplies. Park elsewhere.
Point: I started running and everything hurts. Draft: I took up running. If you press forward without measuring the ground, your limbs pay the tax. Every bone aches; the pavement yielded nothing.
Point: I got a parking ticket outside my own house. Draft: To encamp before your own gate and still be plundered: this is to be routed upon your own ground. The parking ticket has arrived.
Point: To my lecturer: could I have an extension on the essay? Draft: To hasten without preparation is to invite ruin. Grant an extension on the essay; he who takes ground with deliberate care brings superior work.
Point: To my brother: stop taking my charger. Draft: To secure your own device by depleting mine is ruinous; it invites discord where there was order. He who relies upon another for power will inevitably find himself in the dark. Leave my charger where it rests. Henceforth, provide for yourself.
Point: To my mum: I'm fine, please stop worrying. Draft: I am well and the ground is secure. He who worries before trouble appears spends his strength on phantoms; rest easy, all is in order.
Point: To my manager: can I swap my Saturday shift? Draft: To hold ground on Saturday brings friction; to swap shifts preserves the order. Let me trade the day, and neither post is left exposed.
Point: We are hiring a part-time barista. Draft: We seek a part-time barista. He who masters steam and measure controls the morning; let the steady hand step forward.
Point: To the group chat: who's coming to the party on Saturday? Draft: The party is on Saturday. He who gives his measure early allows proper provision; he who delays leaves all to chance. Declare your presence now.
Point: To the landlord: the shower is broken again. Draft: The shower is broken again; the flow has ceased. To mend an obstruction poorly is to invite its return. Send someone to fix it.
Point: To the group chat: I passed my exams! Draft: The tests are passed. He who calculates before the encounter discovers that victory is decided in the preparations, not the hall. Thus the contest is concluded, and the books may be shut.
Point: The lift is out of order, so use the stairs. Draft: The lift is broken; take the stairs. He who waits for a stalled machine forfeits the morning, but he who ascends by his own strength commands the height.
Point: Replying to "did you see my story?": yeah, I saw it. Draft: I saw it. He who looks upon the open field has already measured what is there.
Point: The coffee machine at work is broken. Draft: The coffee machine is broken; the supply is severed at the source. Advance no cups toward it; pressing the button yields only silence.