33
Attacking the Heart

(A T’ai-p’ing Yü-lan Fragment)

SUN PIN OF CH’I addressed the king of Ch’i saying: “Now in the Tao for attacking other states assaulting their hearts is uppermost. Concentrate upon first causing their hearts to submit. Now what Ch’in relies upon as its heart is Yen and Chao. They are about to gather in Yen and Chao’s authority. So if today you exercise your persuasion upon the rulers of Yen and Chao, do not use vacuous words and empty phrases. You must turn their hearts with the prospect of substantial profits. This is what is referred to as attacking the heart.”

COMMENTARY

This succinct discussion preserved in the T’ai-p’ing Yü-lan evinces a wordplay more characteristic of late Warring States period writings than Sun Pin’s own era and may even have been composed many centuries after his death. However, it helped to preserve his image as a historical figure and would seem to belong to the Chinese discursive genre. The paragraph simply turns upon the dual meaning of the character hsin, “heart” and “mind.” Obviously when physical location is intended, “heart” is immediately understood. However, beyond this circumscribed case, neither meaning ever completely excludes the other, just as when Sun Pin speaks about “assaulting their hearts” and “causing their hearts (minds) to submit.”