The Book of Leadership and Strategy by Thomas Cleary

Author:Thomas Cleary
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Shambhala Publications

ON WARFARE

Those who assist human leaders with the Way do not coerce the world with weapons; these things are apt to backfire.

Brambles grow where an army has been; there are always bad years after a war.

Therefore the skillful are effective, that is all; they do not presume to grab power thereby.

Lao-tzu, Tao-te Ching

THOSE WHO USED arms in ancient times did not do so to expand their territory or obtain wealth. They did so for the survival and continuity of nations on the brink of destruction and extinction, to settle disorder in the world, and to get rid of what harmed the common people.

SAGES’ USE OF arms is like combing hair or thinning sprouts: a few are removed for the benefit of many. There is no harm greater than killing innocent people and supporting unjust rulers. There is no calamity worse than exhausting the world’s resources to provide for the desires of an individual.

PEOPLE HAVE feelings about food and clothing that things cannot satisfy. Therefore, when they live together they do not share equally. If they do not get what they want, they fight. When they fight, the strong terrorize the weak, and the bold invade the timid.

WHEN GREEDY and gluttonous people plundered the world, the people were in turmoil and could not be secure in their homes. There were sages who rose up, struck down the forceful and violent, settled the chaos of the age, leveled the unevenness, removed the pollution, clarified the turbulence, and secured the imperiled. Therefore, humankind was able to survive.

THE MILITARY operations of effective leaders are considered philosophically, planned strategically, and supported justly. They are not intended to destroy what exists but to preserve what is perishing. Therefore, when they hear that a neighboring nation oppresses its people, they raise armies and go to the border, accusing that nation of injustice and excess.

When the armies reach the suburbs, the commanders say to their troops, “Do not cut down trees, do not disturb graveyards, do not burn crops or destroy stores, do not take common people captive, and do not steal domestic animals.”

Then the announcement is made: “The ruler of such-and-such a country shows contempt for heaven and the spirits, imprisoning and executing the innocent. This is a criminal before heaven, an enemy to the people.”

The coming of the armies is to oust the unjust and restore the virtuous. Those who lead plunderers of the people, in defiance of nature, die themselves, and their clans are extinguished. Those who get their families to listen to reason are enfranchised with their families; those who get their villages and towns to listen are rewarded with their villages and towns; those who get their counties to listen are enfeoffed with their counties; and those who get their states to listen are ennobled in their states.

The conquering of the nation does not extend to its people; it removes the leadership and changes the government, honoring excellent knights, exposing the wise and good, helping the orphaned and widowed, treating the poor and destitute mercifully, freeing prisoners, and rewarding the meritorious.

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