ENERGY (ENERGY)

From Griffith's translation:

"Shih, the title of this chapter, means 'force', 'influence', 'authority', 'energy'. The commentators take it to mean 'energy' or 'potential' in some contexts and 'situation' in others."

Organizational Management

"The control of a large force is the same in principle as the control of a few men: it is merely a question of dividing up their numbers. Fighting with a large army under your command is nowise different from fighting with a small one: it is merely a question of instituting signs and signals."

Suitability Of Strategies And Tactics To Situation

"To ensure that your whole host may withstand the brunt of the enemy's attack and remain unshaken, use maneuvers direct and indirect. In all fighting, the direct method may be used for joining battle, but indirect methods will be needed in order to secure victory. Indirect tactics, efficiently applied, are as inexhaustible as Heaven and Earth, unending as the flow of rivers and streams; like the sun and moon, they end but to begin anew; like the four seasons, they pass away but to return once more."

"...these two in combination give rise to an endless series of maneuvers. The direct and indirect lead on to each other in turn. It is like moving in a circle--you never come to an end. Who can exhaust the possibilities of their combination?"

"Hiding order beneath the cloak of disorder is simply a question of subdivision; concealing courage under a show of timidity presupposes a fund of latent energy; masking strength with weakness is to be effected by tactical dispositions."

From Griffith's translation:

"The concept expressed by cheng, 'normal' (or 'direct') and ch'i, 'extraordinary' (or 'indirect') is of basic importance. The normal (cheng) force fixes or distracts the enemy; the extraordinary (ch'i) forces act when and where their blows are not anticipated. Should the enemy perceive and respond to a ch'i maneuver in such a manner as to neutralize it, the maneuver would automatically become cheng."

Timely Implementation

"The quality of decision is like the well-timed swoop of a falcon that enables it to strike and destroy its victim."

"Energy may be likened to the bending of a crossbow; decision, to the releasing of the trigger."

Leverage By Coordinating Complimentary Skill Sets

"The clever combatant looks to the effect of combined energy, and does not require too much from individuals. He takes individual talent into account, and uses each man according to his capabilities. He does not demand perfection from the untalented."

"When he utilizes combined energy, his fighting men become, as it were, like rolling logs or stones."

"Thus the energy developed by good fighting men is as the momentum of a round stone rolled down a mountain thousands of feet in height."

Go to Chapter 6.

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