Chapter 5: Energy
Sun Tzu said:
Managing many is like managing few—through organization.
Fighting many is like fighting few—through signals and names.
Ensuring an army withstands enemy attacks without defeat lies in combining orthodox and unorthodox tactics.
Striking with the force of a stone shattering an egg relies on exploiting emptiness and solidity.
In battle, engage with orthodox methods, win with unorthodox ones. Skilled commanders wield unorthodox tactics endlessly, like heaven and earth, inexhaustible as rivers.
They cycle like the sun and moon, die and are reborn like the seasons.
There are but five notes, yet their variations are infinite to the ear.
There are but five colors, yet their variations are boundless to the eye.
There are but five tastes, yet their variations are endless to the palate.
In warfare, tactics are either orthodox or unorthodox, yet their combinations are infinite. Orthodox and unorthodox generate each other, like a cycle without end—who can exhaust them?
The rush of water that moves stones is momentum.
The strike of a hawk that breaks its prey is timing.
Skilled warriors create perilous momentum and precise timing.
Their momentum is like a drawn crossbow; their timing is like the release of the trigger.
Amid chaos and disorder, they remain unconfused. In turmoil, their formations hold, undefeatable.
Order arises from chaos, courage from fear, strength from weakness.
Order or chaos depends on organization; courage or fear on momentum; strength or weakness on disposition.
Skilled commanders shape the enemy, forcing them to follow. They offer bait the enemy must take, luring with benefits and striking with troops.
Skilled warriors seek victory through momentum, not demanding it from individuals, selecting the right people to harness momentum.
Those who wield momentum fight like rolling logs or stones—still when stable, moving when unstable, halting when square, rolling when round.
A skilled warrior’s momentum is like a round stone rolling down a thousand-foot mountain—this is energy.
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