The document discusses the terra cotta army of China's first emperor Qin Shi Huang and other elements of his legacy. It summarizes that while the emperor is said to have built the terra cotta army to protect him in the afterlife, he was actually an atheist, and it was instead intended as a memorial and tourist attraction. It discusses two important philosophical texts from the time of the first emperor - The Art of War (Pingfa) and the Tao Te Ching. However, modern interpretations see them as about war when they were actually intended as guides for achieving objectives without conflict. The document critiques standard historical accounts and suggests the texts were teaching tools used in academies established by the emperor to develop

1. FROM SUN TZU TO PING-FA
(VIA THE TAO TE CHING)
FINDING MEANING IN THE MIDST OF MYTHOLOGY

2. THE TERRA COTTA ARMY
The terra cotta “army” of China’s first emperor Qin Shi
Huang is one of the great archaeological and tourist
wonders of the world.
We are told that the emperor intended that the clay
soldiers were to comprise an army to protect him in the
afterlife. But the emperor was a Legalist – and an atheist.
Qin Shih Huang’s army was a memorial – a memorial to
the end of war and the beginning of empire. He expected
that it would draw thousands of visitors, and it has.
It’s sad that like the Sun Tzu commentary, todays media,
archaeologists and historians see war when the emperor’s
messages were all about peace.

3. OTHER ELEMENTS OF THE QIN SHI
HUANG LEGACY
The first emperor, through his advanced government
and court, and his state’s university of learned
academies, have bequeathed to the world texts of
immeasurable importance. They address philosophy,
government purpose and direction, social order and
process, issue identification and management.
Two of these texts define the base of The School of
Sun Tzu: Winning Empires without War. They are Pingfa (generally known as Sun Tzu – The Art of War), and
Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching.

4. • For 100 years, the West has
studied (and been guided by)
the so-called “Art of War” by the
alleged, “General Sun Tzu.”
• Neither appellation is valid.
• There was never a “General Sun
Tzu” and the book attributed to
him is actually a manual for
peace.
• Nevertheless, the commentary
flows, ad nauseum.

6. THE ART OF PEACE
The original name of this book was “Ping-fa” which
can be translated as “the art of diplomacy” – or even
more accurately as, “The art of achieving your
objectives without conflict.”
The meaning of “Ping” (or “bing”)evolved in later
years, from “diplomacy” to “war.” The commentary
assumes it has always meant war.
Ping-fa is a comprehensive – and complete – manual
for managing people and events without the
disruption and waste that is brought by conflict.

7. WHAT THE ART OF WAR COMMENTARY
NEVER ADDRESSES
• Historical corroboration beyond the reports
of one (ill-reputed) historian
• Details of its author, and its companion text
Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching
• Information about why it was written
• Information about where it was used, and
what it achieved
• Information about soldiers and support,
casualties, logistics / transport, weapons,
food, beats of burden, war.

8. KEY EVENTS THAT DO NOT APPEAR
IN THE COMMENTARY
• If and how “General Sun Tzu” was
connected to the Warring States Period
(WSP)
• How the WSP was ended in a mere 10 years
in BCE 221 (after running for two centuries)
• If, and how “Sun Tzu” and “Lao Tzu” were
connected to the founding of the Empire of
China
• General Sun Tzu’s philosophical connection.
Was it Confucius, Taoism or Legalism?

9. WE NEED TO ASK………
If “The Art of War” is China’s great work in
military strategy and tactics, why do we not
see confirmed reports of its application in the
Warring States period? Why is there no
confirmation of its use by Mao?
To get to the bottom of these questions we
need to examine two facts of the pre-China
era….

10. REVISIONISM
Revisionism is the theory or practice of revising a previously
accepted situation or point of view.(Canadian Oxford Dictionary)
There is considerable evidence that the accepted history of the
pre-China period contains substantial revision of the facts, to
support the second empire’s view of the way the Warring States
period was ended, and China was created.
The accepted history was written by the so-called “Great Historian”
of China, Sima Qian.
The Sun Tzu commentary has never challenged Sima Qian’s version
of these events.
Sima Qian was a political propagandist and master of revisionism.

11. THE OVER-ARCHING BELIEF IN THE PRE-CHINA PERIOD WAS
DETERMINISM
• Determinism is the doctrine that all events, including human
action, are determined by causes regarded as external to the
will. (Canadian Oxford Dictionary)
• This was the Taoism of the pre-China epoch. It held that
interference with the Will of Heaven was beyond heresy. It was
insanity.
• Lao Tzu proclaimed the end of determinism and the rightness
of social intervention. The Tao Te Ching made legitimate the
social engineering methodology called “Ping-fa.”
• Lao Tzu and Sun Tzu were actually schools, but the revisionist
conspiracy (commencing in the second empire) has
convinced the world they were writers of obscure philosophy
and tactics.

12. THE LAO TZU AND SUN TZU
ACADEMIES
• Established by the State of Qin, the academies
were to:
• Find how war could be ended and an empire
established from warring states
• Hire the brightest and best analysts and instructors
• Challenge sacred assumptions
• Explore and discover new methods
• Define a new Value Paradigm
• Set out strategies and tactics
• Recruit, train and operationalize agents of the
change (they were known as “persuaders”)

13. THE PING-FA DIRECTIVE
• What the Sun Tzu School taught can be
summed up in one statement of direction:
• Be strong and continually aware. Manage your
strength and that of others. When essential,
engage on your terms. Be observant, adaptive,
and subtle. Do not lose control. Act decisively.
Conclude quickly.
This is the essential theme and message of Ping-fa, what
many call “The Art of War.” It is concerned with all events,
both peaceful and troublesome.

14. PING-FA METHOD: ACTIVITIES
Ping-fa is a strident series of clearly articulated admonitions,
redundant in the extreme. The authors wanted no
misunderstanding. (occurrences in brackets)
1) Manage engagements. (40)
2) Manage strength (38)
3) Gain knowledge. Modify plans. (37)
4) Use deception. (21)
5) Move decisively and with speed. (14)
6) Manage commencement of engagement. (12)
7) Get orders from the chief, and be guided by strategy (6)
There is no content in Ping-fa about war.
The admonitions, in summary, are the essence of strategic planning.

15. PING-FA STRATEGIC PLANNING
• State the
purpose
(rationale)
• Define the
objective(s)
• Define, and link
activities to
objective(s)
• Define resource
and time
requirements
• List activities
• Define roles and
responsibilities
• Define both
success and
failure

16. BUT…………….
• Ping-fa was written with a military language.
• What was a teaching metaphor came to be seen (perhaps
from the time of Sima Qian) as the message, when in fact it
was the medium.
• The military language and imagery helped students of the
academies understand what was meant by teams and
teamwork; strategy and leadership; intelligence and
communication; deception and persuasion.
• Military language has not helped the contemporary
commentary. It seeks (unsuccessfully) to make sense of what
they are convinced are military tactics.
Here are some examples:

17. SUN TZU IX. 3
After crossing a river, you should get far away from
it.
From a military (or common sense) perspective this is
nonsense. Was General Sun Tzu afraid of river demons
pursuing him?

18. SUN TZU IX. 4
When an invading force crosses a river in its onward
march, do not advance to meet it in mid-stream.
It will be best to let half the army get across, and
then deliver your attack.
This is an illogical series of instructions. If one is to meet an
army in a river, surely you would not attack with your entire
force when half the enemy force is still on land.
These are metaphorical, not literal instructions. Now let’s see
what they really mean.

19. SUN TZU IX 3 - 4
Strip the exclusive military context and application from these
admonitions. Understand the philosophical and historical context of
Ping-fa. Apply common sense, and then we see that in the
management of organizations, and relations between organizations we
are instructed as follows:
• If messages are unclear, sort them out. Move when you
achieve understanding.
• Do not engage until you are sure that your own deception has
been adequate and effective, and that the other believes
that your strength is great(more to the point, actually greater
than his).

20. SUN TZU IX. 7 - 8
Here is another example:
In crossing salt-marshes, your sole concern should be to get over them
quickly, without any delay. If forced to fight in a salt-marsh, you should
have water and grass near you, and get your back to a clump of trees.
No militarist commentary on “Sun Tzu the General” has ever explained
what this is all about.

21. SUN TZU IX 7 - 8
IX 7-8 has such delightful imagery. These succinct lines give students of
engagement management a basketful of instructions in a wide range
of skill areas:
When you are denied invisibility, ensure that situation
is of short duration. Seek opportunities for obscurity
and deception.

22. THE SUN TZU COMMENTARY
• Insists that the Ping-fa subject is dealing with “enemies” in
situations of combat.
• That while war is dreadful and to be avoided when it can, it is
actually inevitable (this is determinism).
• The commentary argues that the missing Ping-fa content on
the ways and means of war is its great shortfall. The
commentary addresses this supposed “shortfall” through
added content on weapons, horses, transport etc. This is
playing with the facts in the name of diligence.
• The commentary - In defiance of good scholarship - inserts
meaning and messages into Ping-fa in clear defiance of its
strident admonitions. Often, the commentary just doesn’t get
it.
Here’s a good example:

23. VI:27 All men can see the tactics whereby I conquer, but what
none can see is the strategy out of which victory is evolved

24. The Art of Business War states under this illustration,
“The acme of skill is defeating your enemy without
even fighting.”
Just how is driving a spear into an enemy’s heart,
“not fighting”?
And by the way, the VI:27 quote says – very clearly –
tactics are visible, but strategies must not be. Though
yet to appear in the popular commentaries, that it is
exactly what the benchmark Giles translation states.

25. Here is the gift that is the
Ping-fa of the Sun Tzu School,
and the Tao Te Ching of the
Lao Tzu School:
The first empire of China
gave us the base manual for
strategic planning,
engagement management
tactics, and the
philosophical framework
that guides all of these
activities.

26. PING-FA INCLUDES
• A statement of strategic
planning functions and their
order of importance
• Articulated principles and
values (why you act, should not
act)
• Definition of organizational and
role characteristics, strengths
and weaknesses
• Options, techniques and
tactics
• Definitions of success and
failure
• Illustrative methods and
indicators of meaning
• Consequences of losing control
and failure
• Comprehensive models for
operationalization of
engagement management.
Here is a sample from my book:

28. AN ADVICE TO STUDENTS OF SUN TZU
• Read the Giles translation. It is freely available on line and is by
far the best metaphorical “Sun Tzu” version available.
• Ping-fa is complete. If something is not there, it is superfluous to
the text.
• Strive to see the text as generic rather than military.
• Seek meaning everywhere. If something seems obscure or
downright silly, you have not penetrated the meaning.
• Seek apparent errors or inconsistencies. They are several, but
they are quite intentional, and they are proofs that the book is
“Ping-fa” and not “Sun Tzu.”
• Read J.H. Huang’s book Sun Tzu – The New Translation if you
want a view contrary to the solidly militarist commentary; and
mine, if you are interested in origins, context and application.

29. TO OBTAIN THE SCHOOL OF SUN TZU
• My book is available from iuniverse – see the next slide
• It is also available from amazon.com and amazon.ca.
Go to - http://tinyurl.com/olbfs4d
• You may write to me at shibumi.management@gmail.com

30. Shibumi.management@gmail.com
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