Martialling my thoughts

One of my great interests is reading about aspects of warfare. Military history and strategy, the philosophy of war, and the experience and conduct of the combatants themselves have much to teach us about the nature of people, ethics and business.

Asian books on military strategy and the waging of war, such as Sun Tzu’s Art of War, or Miyamoto Musashi’s The Book of Five Rings, which centres mainly on honing the skills and strategy of individual warriors and developing a warrior-ethic and psyche, are also of keen interest to me due to the influence of Taoism on their authors.

The Art of War was written well over 2,000 years ago in China, and
The Book of Five Rings was written in the 1600’s in Japan, but there is a common thread between the two due to the influence of the Way on their thinking. For Sun-Tzu, the ultimate art of war is obtaining victory without going to war itself, and Musashi writes about developing an implacable, unwavering directness of action, whilst still remaining able to assess and adapt to rapidly changing conditions by cultivating an ‘empty’ mind.

Though many translations and adaptations exist today, I have come to view the most rewarding and helpful translators to be Thomas Cleary and William Scott Wilson, who both have great insights to offer both from their particular translations and interpretations as well as from the comprehensive introductions they make. Due to the pregnant meaning contained in the characters used to write the original Chinese and Japanese texts, there is no such thing as definitive interpretations of either of these works, making it enjoyable to also read other interpretations too.

A word of caution: don’t approach these books by skimming through them to search for independent powerful quotes or sayings. If you do, not only will you lose much of the value that they contain; you can easily trivialise what you read or entirely miss concepts which are only apparent over a number of paragraphs. This, sadly, is the frequent treatment of The Art of War, due to its popularized reputation of being a powerful business tool. Read these books for their own sake, as instructions in the Way of war, and read them start to finish.

In the Water Chapter of The Book of Five Rings, Musashi himself points out: ‘This Way is, in all regards, difficult to write about in detail with the mind just as it is. But even if the words do not seem to connect, you should be able to perceive its principles naturally. You should deeply consider what is written in this book, word by word, character by character. If you think about it indifferently, you are likely to diverge from the Way many times.’ 1

Having read and re-read these books, I find them to be valuable well-springs from which I am able to draw inspiration for developing effective marketing campaigns, tactics for overcoming problems and obstacles, and for perceiving many overlooked opportunities.


References
1 Kodansha International: The Book of Five Rings published 2008, Miyamoto Musashi, translated by William Scott Wilson

Image from Wikipedia: Miyamoto Musashi in his prime. Scanned from Japanese manuscript.