The Dao of the Military by Andrew Meyer

The Dao of the Military by Andrew Meyer

Author:Andrew Meyer
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Published: 2012-10-15T00:00:00+00:00


“Bing lüe” Past and Present

Having looked at all the historical contexts that influenced the production of “Bing lüe” and gave shape to its unique perspective, we may well ask what it might teach those of us living today. “Bing lüe,” of course, opens a window onto the past. In this sense, it and the entire Huainanzi text of which it is a part serve largely as a glimpse of a “road not taken” in Chinese cultural history. The Huainanzi obviously made an impression on the intellectual life of the Former Han, but it was never adopted as the official ideology of the dynasty, and its patron ended violently—accused of rebellion and driven to suicide by the impending arrival of imperial forces commissioned with his arrest.133 The Huainanzi likely played a role in Liu An’s demise. Although the text takes pains to represent itself as the words of a sage-adviser without ambitions to the throne,134 the promulgation of a cogent, comprehensive ideology by a scion of the imperial house was an act of lèse-majesté not likely to be viewed entirely benignly by the emperor and his officials.

“Bing lüe” in particular represents a cultural cul-de-sac in certain respects. Although it presents us with what is arguably the most thoroughly “Daoist” treatment of military affairs in early Chinese letters, its ideas were not really accepted by the intellectual leaders of the Daoist church. “Bing lüe” presents a critique of the “orthodox” military perspective, arguing that the urgent need for surprise and deception underscored by texts such as the Sunzi created a vital military role for Daoist personal cultivation techniques, since they could imbue the commander with “spiritlike” insight. This theme was not taken up by authors writing in the tradition of the later Daoist church, however. The Daoist Canon (Dao cang) does not include a significant literature on “military methods.” Even Ge Hong (283–343), the great medieval Daoist scholiast who created a syncretic summa parallel in many respects to the Huainanzi, did not include a separate treatment of military affairs in his Baopuzi waipian.135

This does not mean that the discussion of personal cultivation in “Bing lüe” has nothing of relevance to teach students of history today, however. The kinds of claims that “Bing lüe” (and the Huainanzi more generally) makes for the power and authority of apophatic personal cultivation techniques is typical of those made by many groups over the course of Chinese history, from the Yellow Turbans of the Han to the “Boxers (The Righteous and Harmonious Fists)” of the early twentieth century to the Falun Gong and many new Chinese Christian “house churches” of today. Chinese official anxiety about modern groups like the Falun Gong stems in part from the inherent political significance traditionally attributed to the kinds of personal cultivation techniques they practice, a tradition exemplified by texts such as the Huainanzi. This does not excuse arbitrary religious repression on the part of the Chinese or any other government, but it is a reminder that one must know something of



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