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DU MU
You see the inner conditions of opponents by means of their external formations. The inner condition of the formless is inscrutable, whereas that of those who have adopted a specific form is obvious. The inscrutable win, the obvious lose.
WANG XI
Those skilled in military operations are able to change their formations in such a way as to ensure victory based on the actions of opponents.
ZHANG YU
This means the offensive and defensive formations used by two armies. When they are hidden within, they cannot be known to others; when they are visible without, opponents can come in through the chinks. Formation is revealed by attack and defense, so discussion of formation follows the discussion of planning a siege.
Master Sun
In ancient times skillful warriors first made themselves invincible, and then watched for vulnerability in their opponents.
ZHANG YU
Making yourself invincible means knowing yourself; waiting for vulnerability in opponents means knowing others.
MEI YAOCHEN
Hide your form, be orderly within, and watch for gaps and slack.
Master Sun
Invincibility is in oneself, vulnerability is in the opponent.
DU MU
Keeping your own military in order, always being prepared for opposition, erase your tracks and hide your form, making yourself inscrutable to opponents. When you see that an opponent can be taken advantage of, then you emerge to attack.
WANG XI
Invincibility is a matter of self-defense; vulnerability is simply a matter of having gaps.
Master Sun
Therefore skillful warriors are able to be invincible, but they cannot cause opponents to be vulnerable.
DU MU
If opponents have no formation to find out, no gap or slack to take advantage of, how can you overcome them even if you are well equipped?
ZHANG YU
If you hide your form, conceal your tracks, and always remain strictly prepared, then you can be invulnerable yourself. If the forms of strength and weakness of opponents are not outwardly manifest, then how can you be assured of victory over them?
Master Sun
That is why it is said that victory can be discerned but not manufactured.
CAO CAO
Victory can be discerned to the extent that you see a set formation; but to the extent that the enemy has preparations, it cannot be manufactured.
DU MU
You can only know if your own strength is sufficient to overcome an opponent; you cannot force the opponent to slack off to your advantage.
DU YOU
When you have assessed the opponent and seen the opponent’s formation, then you can tell who will win. If the opponent is inscrutable and formless, then you cannot presume victory.
HO YANXI
The victory that can be known is up to you, meaning that you are prepared. The victory that cannot be manufactured is up to the opponent, meaning that the opponent has no form.
Master Sun
Invincibility is a matter of defense, vulnerability is a matter of attack.
CAO CAO
For an invincible defense, conceal your form. When opponents attack you, then they are vulnerable.
DU MU
As long as you have not seen vulnerable formations in opponents, you hide your own form, preparing yourself in such a way as to be invincible, in order to preserve yourself. When opponents have vulnerable formations, then it is time to go out to attack them.
ZHANG YU
When you know you do not yet have the means to conquer, you guard your energy and wait. When you know that an opponent is vulnerable, then you attack the heart and take it.
WANG XI
Those on the defensive are so because they do not have enough to win; those on the offense are so because they have more than enough to win.
Master Sun
Defense is for times of insufficiency, attack is for times of surplus.
LI QUAN
Those whose strength is insufficient should defend, those whose strength is superabundant can attack.
ZHANG YU
When we are on the defensive, it is because there is some lack in terms of a way to seize victory. So we wait for what we need. When we are on the offensive, it is because we already have more than enough of what it takes to overcome an opponent. So we go forth and strike. This means that we will not do battle unless we are certain of complete victory, we will not fight unless we are sure it is safe. Some people think insufficiency means weakness and surplus means strength, but this impression is wrong.
Master Sun
Those skilled in defense hide in the deepest depths of the earth, those skilled in attack maneuver in the highest heights of the sky. Therefore they can preserve themselves and achieve complete victory.
CAO CAO
They hide in the depths of the earth by taking advantage of the fastness of the mountains, rivers, and hills. They maneuver in the heights of the sky by taking advantage of the times of nature.
DU MU
In defense, you hush your voices and obliterate your tracks, hidden as ghosts and spirits beneath the earth, invisible to anyone. On the attack, your movement is swift and your cry shattering, fast as thunder and lightning, as though coming from the sky, impossible to prepare for.
WANG XI
Defense here means lying low when you do not see any effective way to attack, sinking into stillness and recondite silence, not letting opponents find you out. Attack is for when you see an advantage to aim for. On the attack you should be extremely swift, taking advantage of unexpectedness, wary of letting opponents find you out and prepare against you.
Master Sun
To perceive victory when it is known to all is not really skillful. Everyone calls victory in battle good, but it is not really good.
ZHANG YU
What everyone knows is what has already happened or become obvious. What the aware individual knows is what has not yet taken shape, what has not yet occurred. Everyone says victory in battle is good, but if you see the subtle and notice the hidden so as to seize victory where there is no form, this is really good.
WANG XI
Ordinary people see the means of victory but do not know the forms by which to ensure victory.
LI QUAN
Everyone can easily see armed conflict—this takes no skill. Knowledge that does not go beyond what the generality knows is not really good.
JIA LIN
Firm in defense, victorious in offense, able to keep whole without ever losing, seeing victory before it happens, accurately recognizing defeat before it occurs—this is called truly subtle penetration of mysteries.
Master Sun
It does not take much strength to lift a hair, it does not take sharp eyes to see the sun and moon, it does not take sharp ears to hear a thunderclap.
WANG XI
What everyone knows is not called wisdom, victory over others by forced battle is not considered good.
LI QUAN
A military leader of wisdom and ability lays deep plans for what other people do not figure on. This is why Sun Tzu speaks of being unknowable as the dark.
Master Sun
In ancient times those known as good warriors prevailed when it was easy to prevail.
CAO CAO
Find out the subtle points over which it is easy to prevail, attack what can be overcome, do not attack what cannot be overcome.
DU MU
When the strategy of opponents first makes an appearance, you operate secretly in such a way as to be able to attack it. Since the effort used is little, and your assurance of victory is done in a subtle way, it is said to be easy to prevail.
ZHANG YU
If you are only able to ensure victory after engaging an opponent in armed conflict, that victory is a hard one. If you see the subtle and notice the hidden, breaking through before formation, that victory is an easy one.
Master Sun
Therefore the victories of good warriors are not noted for cleverness or bravery. Therefore their victories in battle are not flukes. Their victories are not flukes because they position themselves where they will surely win, prevailing over those who have already lost.
MEI YAOCHEN
Great wisdom is not obvious, great merit is not advertised. When you see the subtle, it is easy to win—what has it to do with bravery or cleverness?
HO YANXI
When trouble is solved before it forms, who calls that clever? When there is victory without battle, who talks about bravery?
ZHANG YU
Secret plotting and covert operations seize victory in formlessness—no one hears of the knowledge that assesses opponents and en-sures victory, no one sees the success of those who take the flag and assassinate the generals. The way to be able to win without fail is to see when opponents are in vulnerable formations, and then disposition your forces to prevail over them.
LI QUAN
When the army is old, the soldiers are lazy, and the discipline and command are not unified, this is an opponent that has already lost.
Master Sun
So it is that good warriors take their stand on ground where they cannot lose, and do not overlook conditions that make an opponent prone to defeat.
LI QUAN
The army that finds its ground flourishes, the army that loses its ground perishes. Here the ground means a place of strategic importance.
DU MU
Ground where one cannot lose means invincible strategy that makes it impossible for opponents to defeat you. Not overlooking conditions that make opponents prone to defeat means spying out the enemies’ vulnerabilities, not missing any of them.
Master Sun
Therefore a victorious army first wins and then seeks battle; a defeated army first battles and then seeks victory.
CAO CAO
This is the difference between those with strategy and those without forethought.
HO YANXI
In a military operation, first determine a winning strategy, and only then send forth the troops. If you do not plan first, hoping to rely on your strength, your victory is uncertain.
JIA LIN
If you set forth your battle lines and lightly advance without knowing your own condition or that of your opponent, you may be seeking victory, but in the end you defeat yourself.
Master Sun
Those who use arms well cultivate the Way and keep the rules. Thus they can govern in such a way as to prevail over the corrupt.
CAO CAO
Skilled users of arms first cultivate the Way that makes them invincible, keep their rules, and do not miss defeatist confusion in opponents.
LI QUAN
Using harmony to hunt down opposition, not attacking a blameless country, not taking captives or booty wherever the army goes, not razing the trees or polluting the wells, washing off and purifying the shrines of the towns and hills in the countryside you pass through, not repeating the mistakes of a moribund nation—all this is called the Way and its rules. When the army is strictly disciplined, to the point where soldiers would die rather than disobey, rewards and punishments that are trustworthy and just are established—when the military leadership is such that it can achieve this, it can prevail over an opponent’s corrupt civil government.
Master Sun
The rules of the military are five: measurement, assessment, calculation, comparison, and victory. The ground gives rise to measurements, measurements give rise to assessments, assessments give rise to calculations, calculations give rise to comparisons, comparisons give rise to victories.
CAO CAO
By the comparisons of measurements you know where victory and defeat lie.
WANG XI
The heavy prevail over the light.
Master Sun
Therefore a victorious army is like a pound compared to a gram, a defeated army is like a gram compared to a pound.
When the victorious get their people to go to battle as if they were directing a massive flood of water into a deep canyon, this is a matter of formation.
DU MU
When water accumulates in a deep canyon, no one can measure its amount, just as our defense shows no form. When the water is released it rushes down in a torrent, just as our attack is irresistible.