| Cyclic Strategies of
易經 & 孫子兵法易change is the most important factor challenging the well being of mankind. The 易經 recognises change has a cyclic nature and was thus created to present a potent cyclic strategy to deal with change. Its cyclic strategy is two-fold: [1] the hawk serious but calm ability to sense small changes, especially in human behaviour, and [2] the serpent ability to swiftly react adaptively to change, based principally on accommodation of the eight classes of human behaviour. The 易經 has been traditionally regarded as the original source of all Chinese wisdom. The common cultural symbolisms pervasive in the 易經 and so many branches of Chinese philosophy could reflect their legacy from 黃帝 Huang Di. The close similarities of 周公 Duke Chou's readings to the twelve lines of hexagram 52, 艮, and hexagram 51, 震, of 文王易經 with the principles of the first twelve sections of 孫子兵法, show that the 文王易經 represents a much wider collection of themes, from which only a small part, these two hexagrams, forms the strategies of 孫子兵法 This pool of 易經 traditions must have existed through the previous dynasties, for the 商 dynasty had its own Kuei Ts'ang version and the 夏朝 had its own Lien Shan version. These 易經 traditions dated even back to 伏羲 Fu Hsi who created the first 易經 from the 河圖 into 先天八卦 the Early Heaven Array or 伏羲八卦.  Chinese traditions say that Yellow Emperor 黃帝 invented the magic squares (Needham 1959 p.61). The magic square is the Lo Shu pattern of the 後天八卦 Later Heaven Array of 五行 the Five Elements and 八卦 the Pakua and became the fighting pattern of 五行, 八卦, and 文王易經, and the source of 孫子兵法. 孫子兵法 uses this 後天八卦 Later Heaven Array of the 五行 Five Elements and 八卦, which is not surprising, seeing that its real author was 黃帝 himself. Neither is it surprising that 文王易經 also uses this 後天八卦, Later Heaven Array of the 五行 Five Elements and 八卦, as 黃帝 was also involved in the origins of the 易經. Parallel Cyclic Strategies in Cultural Symbolisms
五行
The 陰陽, 五行,四方位,八卦, represent various levels of 周易 cyclic change. The understanding of this is the crucial basis of any superlative strategy, as it enables one to patiently and adaptively select or wait for the return of the correct situation to win. The parallelisms in cultural symbolism between 孫子兵法 and 文王易經show that they belong to the same pool of ancient traditions of strategies. They illustrate the important fact of change in life and that this change is cyclic in nature: - Common Cyclic Symbolisms
Both 孫子兵法 and 文王易經 share several cultural symbolism, such as t陰陽, 五行,四方位, and its associated 四象Four Heraldic Animals (四靈,四聖獣), 四季 the four seasons, 周易cyclic changes, etc. They indicate that an understanding of the phenomenon of change is crucial to any superlative strategic thinking. - Mutual Destruction Relationship of the Five Elements
Appendix 3: "Yellow Emperor Attacks Red Emperor" shows that 孫子兵法 adopts 五行的相克the Mutual Destruction Relationship or the fighting version of 五行 the Five Elements which is also the basis of 文王易經. Both ancient texts concern serious issues which can only be dealt with through the fighting style of thinking outlined by both texts. - 八卦 Array
孫子兵法 advocates the family structure for the organisation - this is a reference to the eight trigrams of the 八卦 which symbolise the eight members of the family. 孫子兵法 depicts the organisation of the army as like a snake. The ancient military science portrayed the divisions of the army as the eight sections of a snake, the eight sections being the eight trigrams of the 八卦. The fighting後天八卦Later Heaven Array version of the 八卦 is, of course, the basis of 文王易經. Both ancient texts place emphasis on the 八卦 as the strategic basis of organisational structure to combat high-pressure war-like conditions.
Cyclic Strategies for Serious Situations
also: Strategy of Small Defeat BigThe remarkable historic fact is that calm patient understanding of the cyclic nature of change enables the weak to select or wait for the correct situation to win against the big: - Origin in Troubled Periods
It is not accidental that both ancient texts were known to be compiled during troubled periods of the dynastic wars. Both texts were written concerning strategies to deal with troubled war-like conditions. - The Summer Solstice Link
Appendix 3: "Yellow Emperor Attacks Red Emperor" shows that 黃帝 launched his war during 夏至 the Summer Solstice period, which is also supported by Appendix 4: "Terrain II". This indicates that the original war of 黃帝 referred to in 孫子兵法 started at 夏至 the Summer Solstice period. Commentators are aware that the 文王易經 also started with 夏至the Summer Solstice period, for its initial two hexagrams, 乾 Qián and 坤 Kūn, signifies the fourth month, approaching the evilest period of the year which is 夏至 Summer Solstice in the fifth month. Both texts concern strategies written to combat evil of the darkest form. - The 武王 Link: Strategy of Small Defeat Big
Appendix 3: "Yellow Emperor Attacks Red Emperor" not only shows that 孫子兵法 has origins from Yellow Emperor 黃帝, but also that the strategies of 孫子兵法 were used by 成湯 to establish the 商代 (circa 1700 B.C.) and then later by 武王 to establish the 周朝 (circa 1126 B.C.). The father of 武王 happens to be 文王, the author of the 文王易經. Father and son must have shared the same family heritage of philosophy and strategies. Thus, there must be some family-based links between 孫子兵法 and 文王易經. According to Chinese traditions, 黃帝, 成湯, 文王 and his son 武王 all had to fight against overwhelming odds. Both texts concern how the small can defeat the big.
The parallelisms in the cultural symbolism may just indicate that both 孫子兵法 and 文王易經 adopt, albeit rather closely, similar cultural roots. However, the historical evidence, that 文王 was the father of 武王 who used the strategies of 孫子兵法, indicates that 孫子兵法 and 文王易經 form close vibrant parts of the same family heritage of philosophy and strategies. Retreat & Attack Cyclic Strategy
Swoop like a hawk and strike like a snake易 change creates new conditions and each condition requires an appropriate response. It is the ancient universal knowledge that to combat fast-changing high-pressure conditions, one must use, adaptively and repetitively, a 陰陽 two-fold retreat and attack cyclic response: "know first before you act", or never move until you think it out. The similarities between 文王易經 and 孫子兵法 testify to that there had existed a very ancient pool of knowledge of the strategic 陰陽 retreat-attack movements. Thus, many schools of Chinese philosophy preach, in different ways, a two-fold cyclic strategy of retreat before attacking. A universal form of the 陰陽 is ☤ the κηρύκειον kērū́keion "herald's wand, or staff" caduceus emblem of the hawk and the serpent, the well-known modern emblem of medicine; but once also the emblem of the war messengers and ancient merchants. Medicine, war and business share pertinent features, such as their often bewildering complexity and sense of urgency. The hawk and serpent, used by 孫子 to typify his military strategy of 鷹蛇雙擊 "Swoop like a hawk and strike like a snake", were also animals venerated in several ancient religions and cultures. The strategic process is necessarily two-fold, with a planning stage and an implementation stage, which are equivalent, respectively, to a retreat stage and an attack stage. In the 文王易經, the retreat movement is typified by the even hexagram 52, 艮 the Keeping Still Mountain, which lay down strategies for effective planning. Effective planning is laid down through Sections 1 to 6 of 孫子兵法. The corresponding attack movement, or implementation, is described in the odd hexagram 51, 震, the Arousing Thunder, and Sections 7 to 12 of 孫子兵法. Two-Fold Division
陰陽周 Cyclic Strategic Process- There is a two-fold division in the thirteen sections of 孫子兵法composing of an initial six sections on strategic planning and a later six sections on strategic implementation. The initial strategic planning and later strategic implementation compose, respectively, an initial quiescent 陰 stage, flowing into a later active陽 stage. With a new situation, one could return to the planning stage and the process is repeated.
- There are a pair of hexagrams in the 文王易經 which reflect closely the 陰陽 two-fold division of 孫子兵法. These hexagrams are the active 陽 hexagram 51, 震 Arousing Thunder, and the quiescent 陰 hexagram 52, 艮, Keeping Still Mountain. 文王易經 readings for hexagram 52, 艮, heavy with stillness and hexagram 51, 震, full of active movements, respectively, reflect very closely the initial strategic planning 陰 stage and the later strategic implementation 陽 stage of 孫子兵法.
Hexagram 52, 艮 & Hexagram 51, 震The readings of Duke Chou's six lines to the quiescent 陰 hexagram 52, 艮 Keeping Still Mountain, follows closely the strategies of the initial six sections of 孫子兵法 on strategic planning. On the other hand, the readings of周公 Duke Chu's six lines to the active 陽 hexagram 51, 震 Arousing Thunder, follows closely the strategies of the later six sections on strategic implementation. That is, the said twelve sections of 孫子兵法 are astonishingly reflected sequentially by the readings of 周公 Duke Chou's twelve lines to hexagram 52, 艮, and hexagram 51, 震. Every theme has its
Complementing 陰陽 Aspects
Knowing & Acting are Both Equally VitalAn essential feature of 陰陽 art is the need to recognise the different human personalities and hold together in harmony and balance their diverse human behaviour. The odd hexagram is a mirror or transverse image of the following even hexagram, showing that the 64 hexagrams of 文王易經 are actually 32 pairs of hexagrams. The links between hexagrams 51 and 52 with 孫子兵法 indicate that in each pair of hexagrams of 文王的《易經》, one is the 陰 half and the other is the complementary 陽 half, i.e., there are some 32 pairs of 陰陽 alternations. Each odd hexagram is meant to be closely associated with the next even hexagram. Hexagram 51, 震, and hexagram 52, 艮, are closely interdependent, each meaningless without the other. Paralleling these, 孫子兵法 initial six sections on strategic planning will be useless without the later six sections on strategic implementation, and vice versa. That is, 陰 has logical dependence on 陽, and vice versa. Even as the human brain has physically a left hemisphere (陽) and a right hemisphere (陰), every task or theme has a 陰 component and also a 陽 component and these two components are inter-related to one another in a logical manner. Hence, the Chinese philosophy says that as the 陰 grows the 陽 diminishes. But the 陰 has a limit to its maximum growth, at which point 陽 would start to grow again and 陰 must diminish. This is represented by a small 陽 dot in the 陰 full growth. As 陽 reaches its maximum, a small 陰 dot will appear, and the cycle repeats. What the 陰陽 concept cautions us is that the two stages, which deceptively appears separate, are simultaneous with, paralleling, supplementing and complementing each other. That is, planning without implementation is useless, while implementation without planning is dangerous. To ensure simultaneous planning and implementation, these guidelines must be followed: - To ensure that both 陰陽 aspects are taken into account, you must recognise the diversity in human behaviour implied by the concepts of 五行 & 八卦. We may have to have different persons in the team to be able to achieve both planning and implementation.
- People are often good at one stage but not in the other and could often claim that their stage is more important than the other. The leader must control to prevent this divisive attitude and in this, there is a great need to harmonise the different human traits.
➠ Set your own house in orderSome people are good at determining others' weakness, but, by failing to "know yourself", they lose. Each 陰 or 陽 hexagram composes of a lower trigram and an upper trigram. The two trigrams illustrate that, in any situation, the individual must consider two things: [1] first, one must know the external situation vis the "enemy" (upper trigram), and then, [2] second, one must examine oneself (lower trigram) as to whether one is ready to deal with the external situation. 孫子 wrote of "know the enemy and know thyself": - If you know your enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles, you will never fear the result. 孫子 3:18.
- Know your enemy and know yourself and your victory will be undoubted. Know Earth and know Heaven and you complete your victory. 孫子 10:31. Earth=陰 Heaven = 陽
孫子shows that the applications of the upper and lower trigrams ""know your enemy and know yourself" are necessary in both the planning stage (as evident by 孫子 3:18) and the implementation stage (as evident by 孫子 10:31). You must "know your enemy" first in order to define the problem or issue at hand. This is the upper trigram pertaining to the external thing. The problem or issue at hand then determines the areas where you need to "know yourself". This is what the lower trigram is about; it defines the internal self-examination or changes required. - 知人者智，自知者明。
- To understand others is to be knowledgeable;
To understand yourself is to be wise
(《道德經 - Dao De Jing》beginning of Chapter 33)
It seems that while people could be good at "knowing the enemy", they fail to "know themself". People often like to see the faults in others, but hate to be shown their own faults. Self-examination is a traditional trait which the Confucians often valued as a critical quality of the gentleman; it was not just a matter of humility but of critical strategy. 周公 involved Hexagram 52 艮 & hexagram 51 震 into 孫子兵法To master change you must develop the discerning ability to detect small changes. The cyclic strategies do not stop with just each pair of hexagrams... Even more meticulous details of the cyclic retreat-attack strategies were given in周公Duke Chou's readings to the twelve lines of each hexagram. His twelve lines to hexagram 52, 艮, and hexagram 51, 震, closely parallel and are the origins of the main principles of Sections 1 to 12 of 孫子兵法. Someone picked up 周公 Duke Chou's twelve lines to hexagram 52, 艮, and hexagram 51,震, and created 孫子兵法. Appendix 3: "Yellow Emperor Attacks Red Emperor" indicates it was 黃帝, himself. It was likely that, when 黃帝 was evaluating the 易經, he used some of the themes to formulate the strategies of 孫子兵法. There is a very close kinship between the part of the 文王易經 and 孫子兵法, viz.: - Correspondence between 周公 Duke Chou's 6 lines to hexagram 52, 艮, and 孫子兵法 Section 1 to 6.
- Correspondence between 周公 Duke Chou's 6 lines to hexagram 51, 震, and 孫子兵法 Section 7 to 12.
- 周公 Duke Chou's six lines to hexagram 52, 艮, illustrate the same sequential steps in strategic planning as outlined by 孫子兵法 Sections 1 to 6.
- 周公 Duke Chou's six lines to hexagram 51, 震, illustrate the same sequential steps in strategic implementation as outlined by 孫子兵法 Sections 7 to 12.
- As the I Ching was older, it is likely that the 易經 principles, like as found in hexagram 51, 震, and hexagram 52, 艮, are the origins of 孫子兵法 Sections 1 to 12.
陰陽 Strategic Thinking of
Sections 1 to 12 of 孫子兵法孫子兵法 is not hazardously written. Rather, underscoring the principle that there is no shortcut to great success, it composes of a systematic logical flow of meticulously detailed natural sequential steps essential in all quality strategic thinking. To effectively detect and deal with change: - You must develop the habit of being meticulous and giving due attention to details.
- Do not just look for problems but also think positively in terms of solving the problems.
陰陽 alternation is reflected by 孫子兵法 initial six sections on strategic planning and its later six sections on strategic implementation. The lower trigram of hexagram 52, 艮 the Mountain, emphasises self-examination as the necessary beginning of planning. Then, the upper trigram of hexagram 52, 艮 the Mountain, emphasises the need to adjust plans to the external situation. Then the strategic implementation would begin, leading from the initial strategic planning. The lower trigram of hexagram 51, 震 the Thunder, shows that the first part of implementation is self-preparation of the leader and the men. Then, in the latter part of the implementation, reflected by the upper trigram of hexagram 51, 震the Thunder, the action begins and here it is necessary to think in terms of "strategic alliances" and "winning over people." The planning and implementation are two phases necessarily dependent on each other. 孫子兵法 has two "beginnings", one being Section 1 which begins the initial strategic planning and the other being Section 7 which begins the later strategic implementation. They are, therefore, respectively, the beginning of 陰 and the beginning of 陽. In both planning and implementation, understanding of human behaviour provides the edge, especially the habit of good relationships with people. When the strategic implementation achieves its objective it must end. At this stage, there could be a return to new strategic planning to plan and implement the next phase, and, thus, the cycle may repeat. 周公 Duke Chou's six lines to each hexagram show that each stage, whether planning or implementation, could be divided into six steps, giving even more details on how the cyclic strategies should be used. These six lines of each hexagram represent a natural and logical sequence of steps. For example, for hexagram 52, 艮, the first line correctly corresponds to the initiation of strategic planning in the six sections of 孫子兵法. The top of the six lines of each hexagram has been known traditionally to represent the height or conclusion of the event or theme. This is so with 孫子兵法, where Section 6, which corresponds with the top line of hexagram 52, 艮 denotes the conclusion of strategic planning, as Section 7 begins the next phase of strategic implementation. The above is the basis of the ancient Chinese philosophy stating that the 陰陽 must go hand in hand to balance each other. 周公 Duke Chou's lines show that for superlative strategic planning and implementation you must train yourself to be systematic, meticulous and detailed.
In Chinese mythology Chi You 蚩尤 was an enemy of the Yellow Emperor, the inventor of war and creator of numerous weapons made of the ores of Mt. Lushan 盧山. According to the history Lushi 路史, Chi You was a minister or descendant of the Red Emperor (Yan Di 炎帝), but he deposed his superior and usurped the throne. He seems to have been the ancestor deity of the Nine Li Tribes (Jiuli 九黎, or Zhongli 重黎, or Jiu Yi 九夷 the Nine Yi) living in the region of modern Hebei and Henan. His family name was Jiang 姜. The book Shuyiji 述異記 says that he had a human body, but birds feet, four eyes and six feet, and a horn upon his head. His eighty-eight brothers all had the shape of animals, but with bronze heads and iron-clad fronts, and feeding themselves of stone and sand, as a book quoted in the encyclopaedia Taiping yulan 太平御覽 says. The lost book Guicang 歸藏, quoted in the encyclopaedia Chuxueji 初學記, said that Chi You had eight arms and eight feet and was killed by the Yellow Emperor at Qingqiu 青丘. Chi You once occupied territory of the tribe of Gong Gong 共工 who were led by the Red Emperor. Gong Gong thereupon threatened to attack Chi You by force of water, but Chi You won the ensuing battle. He thereupon attacked the Yellow Emperor and engaged him in battle at Zhuolu 涿鹿. With his magical powers, Chi You created fog to dense that the army of the Yellow Emperor lost its way. Only when Feng Hou 風后, Lord of the Winds, created the compass, his troops found back to the battlefield. According to the book Zhilin 志林 (quoted in the Taiping yulan) and the Shanhaijing 山海經, the Yellow Emperor ordered the dragon Ying Long 應龙 to engage in a battle with Chi You at Jizhou 冀州. While the Ying Long planned to disperse the troops of Chi You with the help of water, his enemy stirred up a thunderstorm commanded by Feng Bo 風伯, the Earl of the Winds, and Yu Shi 雨師, the Marshall of the Rains. The Heavenly maiden Ba 魃, Goddess of Draught (hanshen 旱神), helped the Great Emperor to end the storm and to arrest Chi You. He was executed on Mt. Lishan 黎山, and his weapons thrown into the wilderness, where they transformed into a forest. His limbs were scattered all over the empire so that several tombs of Chi You were to be found in China. There was, according to the book Mengqi bitan 夢溪筆談, a tomb of Chi You in the district of Shouzhang 萬張, from which red vapour emanated that even coloured the salt of the salt lake of Xiezhou 解州. He seems to have been venerated in the region of modern Shanxi still during the Han period 漢 (206 BCE-220 CE). This proves that Chi You was not only seen as a negative person in ancient times but also as a hero to which sacrifices were brought. Huan Dou 驩兜, a tribe leader of the Three Miao Tribes (Sanmiao 三苗), is said to have been a descendant of Chi You. The war between the kinsmen of the Yellow Emperor and that of the Red Emperor lasted for several generations, and it is told that also Kua Fu 夸父, Xing Tian 刑天 and Gong Gong fought against Chi You. Sources: Li Jianping 李劍平, ed. (1998). Zhongguo shenhua renwu cidian 中國神話人物辭典 (Xi'an: Shaanxi renmin chubanshe), 538. Xiong Tieji 熊鐵基, Yang Youli 楊有禮, ed. (1994). Zhongguo diwang zaixiang cidian 中國帝王宰相辭典 (Wuhan: Hubei jiaoyu chubanshe), 6. Yi Xingguo 衣興國, ed. (1988). Shiyong Zhongguo mingren cidian 實用中國名人辭典 (Changchun: Jilin wenshi chubanshe), 5. Yuan Ke 袁珂, ed. (1985). Zhongguo shenhua chuanshuo cidian 中國神話傳說詞典 (Shanghai: Shanghai cishu chubanshe), 339. Zhongguo baike da cidian bianweihui 《中國百科大辭典》編委會, ed. (1999). Zhongguo baike da cidian 中國百科大辭典 (Beijing: Huaxia chubanshe), 551.
² 五等爵位 - the five ranks of Chinese aristocracy under the Zhou dynasty (周朝 (Zhōucháo)).
HyponymsRanks of Chinese aristocracy under the Zhou dynasty - 公 (gōng, “Duke”)
- 侯 (hóu, “Marquis”)
- 伯 (bó, “Count”) ⇨ 伯陽 (李耳, 李聃, Lǐ Dān, 老聃, Lǎo Dān, i.e. 老子)
- 子 (zǐ, “Viscount”)
- 男 (nán, “Baron”)
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