|
|
||
| 36 strategies | ||
classes qigong tai chi kung fu about us reviews a-z
.JPG)
36 Strategies
The 36 Strategies are
attributed to General Wang Jingze.
They are similar in nature to the strategies found in Sun Tzu's The Art of
War or Miyamoto Musashi's The Book of Five Rings.
Incorporate them into your
tai chi
applications:
Winning strategies
Enemy dealing strategies
Attacking strategies
Chaos strategies
Defeat strategies
Deceive the sky to cross the ocean
Moving
about in the darkness and shadows, occupying isolated places, or hiding
behind screens will only attract suspicious attention.
To lower an enemy's guard you must act in the open and hide your true
intentions under the guise of common every day activities.
Repeatedly doing these activities will eventually lower the enemy 's guard,
allowing one to carry out one's true objective.
▲
When the
enemy is too strong to be attacked directly, then attack something he holds
dear.
Know that in all things he cannot be superior.
Somewhere there is a gap in the armour, a weakness that can be attacked
instead.
▲
Attack
using the strength of another (in a situation where using one's own strength
is not favourable).
Trick an ally into attacking him, bribe an official to turn traitor, or use
the enemy's own strength against him.
▲
It is an
advantage to choose the time and place for battle.
In this way you know when and where the battle will take place, while your
enemy does not.
Encourage your enemy to expend his
energy in futile quests while you
conserve your strength.
When he is exhausted and confused, you attack with energy and purpose.
▲
When a
country is beset by internal conflicts, when disease and famine ravage the
population, when corruption and crime are rampant, then it will be unable to
deal with an outside threat.
This is the time to attack.
▲
Make a sound in the east, then strike in the west
In any
battle the element of surprise can provide an overwhelming advantage.
Even when face to face with an enemy, surprise can still be employed by
attacking where he least expects it.
To do this you must create an expectation in the enemy's mind through the
use of a feint.
▲
You use
the same feint twice.
Having reacted to the first and often the second feint as well, the enemy
will be hesitant to react to a third feint.
Therefore the third feint is the actual attack catching your enemy with his
guard down.
▲
Sneak through the passage of Chencang
Attack
the enemy with two convergent forces.
The first is the direct attack, one that is obvious and for which the enemy
prepares his defence.
The second is the indirect, the sneak attack that the enemy does not expect
and which causes him to divide his forces at the last minute leading to
confusion and disaster.
▲
Watch the fires burning across the river
Delay
entering the field of battle until all the other players have become
exhausted fighting amongst themselves.
Then go in full strength and pick up the pieces.
▲
Charm
and ingratiate yourself to your enemy.
When you have gained his trust, you move against him in secret.
▲
Sacrifices the plum tree to preserve the peach tree
There
are circumstances in which you must sacrifice short-term objectives in order
to gain the long-term goal.
This is the scapegoat strategy whereby someone else suffers the consequences
so that the rest do not.
▲
Take the opportunity to pilfer a goat
While
carrying out your plans be flexible enough to take advantage of any
opportunity that presents itself, however small, and avail yourself of any
profit, however slight.
▲
Startle the snake by hitting the grass around it
When
preparing for battle, do not alert your enemy to your intentions or give
away your strategy prematurely.
▲
Borrow another's corpse to resurrect the soul
Take an
institution, a technology, or a method that has been forgotten or discarded
and appropriate it for your own purpose.
Revive something from the past by giving it a new purpose or to reinterpret
and bring to life old ideas, customs, and traditions.
▲
Entice the tiger to leave its mountain lair
Never
directly attack an opponent whose advantage is derived from its position.
Instead lure him away from his position thus separating him from his source
of strength.
▲
In order to capture, one must let loose
Cornered
prey will often mount a final desperate attack.
To prevent this you let the enemy believe he still has a chance for freedom.
His will to
fight is thus dampened by his desire to escape.
When in the end the freedom is proven a falsehood the enemy's morale will be
defeated and he will surrender without a fight.
▲
Tossing out a brick to get a jade
Prepare
a trap then lure your enemy into the trap by using bait.
In war the bait is the illusion of an opportunity for gain.
In life the bait is the illusion of wealth, power, and sex.
▲
Defeat the enemy by capturing their chief
If the
enemy's army is strong but is allied to the commander only by money or
threats, then take aim at the leader.
If the commander falls the rest of the army will disperse or come over to
your side.
If, however, they are allied to the leader through loyalty then beware, the
army can continue to fight on after his death out of vengeance.
▲
Remove the firewood under the cooking pot
When
faced with an enemy too powerful to engage directly you must first weaken
him by undermining his foundation and attacking his source of power.
▲
Catch a fish while the water is disturbed
Before
engaging your enemy's forces create confusion to weaken his perception and
judgement.
Do something unusual, strange, and unexpected as this will arouse the
enemy's suspicion and disrupt his thinking.
A distracted enemy is thus more vulnerable.
▲
When you
are in danger of being defeated, and your only chance is to escape and
regroup, then create an illusion.
While the enemy's attention is focused on this artifice, secretly remove
your men leaving behind only the facade of your presence.
▲
Shut the door to catch the thief
If you
have the chance to completely capture the enemy then you should do so
thereby bringing the battle or war to a quick and lasting conclusion.
To allow your enemy to escape plants the seeds for future conflict.
But if they succeed in escaping, be wary of giving chase.
▲
Befriend a distant state while attacking a neighbour
It is
known that nations that border each other become enemies while nations
separated by distance and obstacles make better allies.
When you are the strongest in one field, your greatest threat is from the
second strongest in your field, not the strongest from another field.
▲
Obtain safe passage to conquer the State of Guo
Borrow
the resources of an ally to attack a common enemy.
Once the enemy is defeated, use those resources to turn on the ally that
lent you them in the first place.
▲
Replace the beams with rotten timbers
Disrupt
the enemy's formations, interfere with their methods of operations, change
the rules in which they are used to following, go contrary to their standard
training.
In this way you remove the supporting pillar, the common link that makes a
group of men an effective fighting force.
▲
Point at the mulberry tree while cursing the locust tree
To
discipline, control, or warn others whose status or position excludes them
from direct confrontation; use analogy and innuendo.
Without directly naming names, those accused cannot retaliate without
revealing their complicity.
▲
Hide
behind the mask of a fool, a drunk, or a madman to create confusion about
your intentions and motivations.
Lure your opponent into underestimating your ability until, overconfident,
he drops his guard.
Then you may attack.
▲
Remove the ladder when the enemy has ascended to the roof
With
baits and deceptions lure your enemy into treacherous terrain.
Then cut off his lines of communication and avenue of escape.
To save himself he must fight both your own forces and the elements of
nature.
▲
Deck the tree with false blossoms
Tying
silk blossoms on a dead tree gives the illusion that the tree is healthy.
Through the use of artifice and disguise make something of no value appear
valuable; of no threat appear dangerous; of no use appear useful.
▲
Make the host and the guest exchange roles
Defeat
the enemy from within by infiltrating the enemy's camp under the guise of
cooperation, surrender, or peace treaties.
In this way you can discover his weakness and then, when the enemy's guard
is relaxed, strike directly at the source of his strength.
▲
Send
your enemy beautiful women to cause discord within his camp.
This strategy can work on three levels.
First, the ruler becomes so enamoured with the beauty that he neglects his
duties and allows his vigilance to wane.
Second, other males at court will begin to display aggressive behaviour that
inflames minor differences hindering co-operation and destroying morale.
Third, other females at court, motivated by jealousy and envy, begin to plot
intrigues further exacerbating the situation.
Beautiful women are only an example.
Anything that intoxicates your enemy and fuels his lust will serve just as
well.
Play on the greed, ambition and selfish nature of your adversary, then
strike him when he is preoccupied.
▲
When the
enemy is superior in numbers and your situation is such that you expect to
be overrun at any moment, then drop all pretence of military preparedness
and act casually.
Unless the enemy has an accurate description of your situation this unusual
behaviour will arouse suspicions.
With luck he will be dissuaded from attacking.
▲
Let the enemy's own spy sow discord in the enemy camp
Undermine your enemy's ability to fight by secretly causing discord between
him and his friends, allies, advisors, family, commanders, soldiers, and
population.
While he is preoccupied settling internal disputes his ability to attack or
defend, is compromised.
▲
Inflict injury on one's self to win the enemy's trust
Pretending to be injured has two possible applications.
In the first, the enemy is lulled into relaxing his guard since he no longer
considers you to be an immediate threat.
The second is a way of ingratiating yourself to your enemy by pretending the
injury was caused by a mutual enemy.
▲
In
important matters one should use several strategies applied simultaneously
after another, as in a chain of strategies.
Keep different plans operating in an overall scheme.
If any one strategy fails, discard it and choose another.
The chain remains unbroken because there is always another option.
▲
If it
becomes obvious that your current course of action will lead to defeat then
retreat and regroup. When your side is losing there are only three choices
remaining: surrender, compromise, or escape.
Surrender is complete defeat, compromise is half defeat, but escape is not
defeat.
As long as you are not defeated, you still have a chance.
▲
Page created
18 April 1995
Last updated
16 June 2023
▲