Comparisons: Instant Reflexes
The Art of War 7:6.1-13 Don’t entice the enemy when his ranks are orderly.
This post continues our project explaining each stanza of Sun Tzu’s work. The English and Chinese quotes are from my award-winning translation, The Art of War and The Ancient Chinese Revealed. Such translations are written from the narrow perspective of the opposing armies. The work in these articles focuses on the more general application of the Chinese philosophy. Start here for the book’s opening lines.
The six lines discussed in this article are the two stanzas in Section Six of Chapter 7 of The Art of War. The general topic of this chapter is Armed Conflict. The previous section was about those things that we should wait to do so we can use emotions at the proper time. This section teaches us the opposite lesson: that there are some situations that we must act upon immediately, without waiting.
Without Invitation
In the section below, we summarize each Chinese character with a single English word shown in < > brackets. The line of Chinese is followed by an English sentence translation for the military application of the idea.
<Without> <invitation> <right> <correct> <’s> <banner>
Don’t entice the enemy when his ranks are orderly.
Chinese often gives the general topic in the first line. This section of the work is about the things we should know to do “without invitation,” that is, without being reminded. We must react to certain situations automatically, without waiting. These action start with the messages that we send others, especially in organizing our position.
Though <right> <correct) are two different English words, they are both used to translate the same Chinese character here. This character is repeated in the source twice in a row. The character means both ”right” and “correct.” However, in ancient Chinese, characters are verbs, nouns, adjectives, and so on. Here the meaning of is to correct a banner that is already correct. What does this advise mean? Generally, it means that there is no message we can send to others, our supporters or opponents, that cannot be improved upon even when it is already correct. More specifically, in the context here, it means that there is no message that we cannot change when the situation requires it.
This leads the various lines of advice in this section.
<Do> <not> <strike> <hall> <hall> <of> <formation>
You must not attack when his formations are solid.
The Chinese character translated as <hall>, repeated here, means a meeting hall, courtroom, and church. As a verb, the meaning is “to assemble” and “to meet.” The Chinese word for “battle” is also based upon the idea of a meeting. Competition is a comparison, a battle is a meeting where competitors are compared. This “hall” is not that kind of meeting. This is a meeting where positions are organized, perhaps at a central fortress. This may be a place where allies have gathered together: a “hall” of “halls” of separate positions.
Not attacking strong defensive positions is one of Sun Tzu’s most basic principles. We avoid opposing strengths, especially their strongest positions. What is implied here is that we should meet with others to form alliances, rather than attack them.
<Here> <govern> <transform> <is> <also>
This is how you master adaptation.
<Here> refers to adapting our positions through our organizing messaging and alliances. <Govern> is the organization performed by a leader. It transforms our positions. Where we must change our message and where we must form new alliances, we require a disciplined organization. Banners, the visual form of our position messages, are the signals by which our people are organized. Meeting halls are where larger organizations are born.
Constantly improving our messages, our alliances, and thereby our organizations are necessary for us to continually adapt to a changing environment. In the previous section, we discussed how we must wait for certain types of opportunities, but we should never wait to adapt.
Competition, that is, the knowledge that we are constantly being compared to others, is where our mental focus should be.
<Make> <use> <war> <’s> <method>
You must follow these military rules.
<War> <’s> <method>is our system of competition. It revolves around the centerpiece of our position. We constantly improve our position by finding openings between the positions of others. We avoid moving into occupied positions and work to identify empty ones.
<High> <mound> <do> <not> <face>
Do not take a position facing the high ground.
We must not move against the resistance of the ground. Instead, we use its slope or currents for our own benefit.
<Back> <grave> <mound> <do> <not> <oppose>
Do not oppose those with their backs to the wall.
We do not seek to destroy “enemies.” Instead, we seek to convert them from opponents to supporters. Fighting to the death is costly for the positions of both parties,
<Pretend> <flee> <do> <not> <follow>
Do not follow those who pretend to flee.
While we seek to create alliances with others, we do not necessarily trust everything they do. Instead, we seek to understand the motivations behind every action. We seek to conserve our resources by not being tricked into comparisons where we cannot win. Our goal is to win every comparison possible.
<Sharp> <soldiers> <do> <not> <attack>
Do not attack the enemy’s strongest men.
We avoid attacking those who are quick, skilled, and intelligent, or, in Sun Tzu’s terminology, <sharp>. We respect intelligence. We seek its insights instead of reflexively opposing ideas with which we don’t want to agree.
<Bait> <war> <do> <not> <food>
Do not swallow the enemy’s bait.
We may try to lure others into making competitive mistakes, but we do not try to undermine the production of real resources. We want the world, those with us and those against us, to be more productive, not less. Feeding people is not a competitive battleground, but a shared goal among us all.
<Returning> <home> <troops> <do> <not> <hold> <back>
Do not attempt to block an army that is heading home.
We do not try to keep people from their families. These actions give people reasons to oppose us rather than support us. In the end, most of us are fighting not for ourselves or our organizations, but our loved ones.
<Encircling> <troops> <must> <open> <door>
Always leave an escape route for a surrounded army.
We must leave every opponent a path to become an eventual ally. We do not seek to destroy others. We seek to outshine them in a comparison. If people want to escape the, it makes us look better, not worse. The only way we can look worse is to attack them instead of claiming new ground.
<Poor> <pillage> <do> <not> <compel>
Do not press a desperate foe.
We also should not seek financial support from those who cannot afford our services. This is true both for those who exist within our organizations and those outside.
<Here> <use> <war> <’s> <method>
These situations are also how you use the art of war.
All of these points reiterate Sun Tzu’s standard competitive philosophy but in the context that commands that we don’t have to wait to decide how to react.