The Commentators

The Commentators

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Sun Tzu can boast an exceptionally long distinguished roll

of commentators, which would do honor to any classic. Ou-yang

Hsiu remarks on this fact, though he wrote before the tale was

complete, and rather ingeniously explains it by saying that the

artifices of war, being inexhaustible, must therefore be

susceptible of treatment in a great variety of ways.

1. TS`AO TS`AO or Ts`ao Kung, afterwards known as Wei Wu Ti

[A.D. 155-220]. There is hardly any room for doubt that the

earliest commentary on Sun Tzu actually came from the pen of this

extraordinary man, whose biography in the SAN KUO CHIH reads

like a romance. One of the greatest military geniuses that the world

has seen, and Napoleonic in the scale of his operations, he was

especially famed for the marvelous rapidity of his marches, which

has found expression in the line "Talk of Ts`ao Ts`ao, and Ts`ao

Ts`ao will appear." Ou-yang Hsiu says of him that he was a great

captain who "measured his strength against Tung Cho, Lu Pu and

the two Yuan, father and son, and vanquished them all; whereupon

he divided the Empire of Han with Wu and Shu, and made himself

king.

It is recorded that whenever a council of war was held by

Wei on the eve of a far-reaching campaign, he had all his

calculations ready; those generals who made use of them did not

lose one battle in ten; those who ran counter to them in any

particular saw their armies incontinently beaten and put to

flight." Ts`ao Kung's notes on Sun Tzu, models of austere

brevity, are so thoroughly characteristic of the stern commander

known to history, that it is hard indeed to conceive of them as

the work of a mere LITTERATEUR. Sometimes, indeed, owing to

extreme compression, they are scarcely intelligible and stand no

less in need of a commentary than the text itself. [40]

2. MENG SHIH. The commentary which has come down to us

under this name is comparatively meager, and nothing about the

author is known. Even his personal name has not been recorded.

Chi T`ien-pao's edition places him after Chia Lin,and Ch`ao Kung-

wu also assigns him to the T`ang dynasty, [41] but this is a

mistake. In Sun Hsing-yen's preface, he appears as Meng Shih of

the Liang dynasty [502-557]. Others would identify him with Meng

K`ang of the 3rd century. He is named in one work as the last of

the "Five Commentators," the others being Wei Wu Ti, Tu Mu, Ch`en

Hao and Chia Lin.

3. LI CH`UAN of the 8th century was a well-known writer on

military tactics. One of his works has been in constant use down

to the present day. The T`UNG CHIH mentions "Lives of famous

generals from the Chou to the T`ang dynasty" as written by him.

[42] According to Ch`ao Kung-wu and the T`IEN-I-KO catalogue, he

followed a variant of the text of Sun Tzu which differs

considerably from those now extant. His notes are mostly short

and to the point, and he frequently illustrates his remarks by

anecdotes from Chinese history.

4. TU YU (died 812) did not publish a separate commentary

on Sun Tzu, his notes being taken from the T`UNG TIEN, the

encyclopedic treatise on the Constitution which was his life-

work. They are largely repetitions of Ts`ao Kung and Meng Shih,

besides which it is believed that he drew on the ancient

commentaries of Wang Ling and others. Owing to the peculiar

arrangement of T`UNG TIEN, he has to explain each passage on its

merits, apart from the context, and sometimes his own explanation

does not agree with that of Ts`ao Kung, whom he always quotes

first. Though not strictly to be reckoned as one of the "Ten

Commentators," he was added to their number by Chi T`ien-pao,

being wrongly placed after his grandson Tu Mu.

5. TU MU (803-852) is perhaps the best known as a poet -- a

bright star even in the glorious galaxy of the T`ang period. We

learn from Ch`ao Kung-wu that although he had no practical

experience of war, he was extremely fond of discussing the

subject, and was moreover well read in the military history of

the CH`UN CH`IU and CHAN KUO eras. His notes, therefore, are

well worth attention. They are very copious, and replete with

historical parallels. The gist of Sun Tzu's work is thus

summarized by him: "Practice benevolence and justice, but on the

other hand make full use of artifice and measures of expediency."

He further declared that all the military triumphs and disasters

of the thousand years which had elapsed since Sun Tzu's death

would, upon examination, be found to uphold and corroborate, in

every particular, the maxims contained in his book. Tu Mu's

somewhat spiteful charge against Ts`ao Kung has already been

considered elsewhere.

6. CH`EN HAO appears to have been a contemporary of Tu Mu.

Ch`ao Kung-wu says that he was impelled to write a new commentary

on Sun Tzu because Ts`ao Kung's on the one hand was too obscure

and subtle, and that of Tu Mu on the other too long-winded and

diffuse. Ou-yang Hsiu, writing in the middle of the 11th

century, calls Ts`ao Kung, Tu Mu and Ch`en Hao the three chief

commentators on Sun Tzu, and observes that Ch`en Hao is

continually attacking Tu Mu's shortcomings. His commentary,

though not lacking in merit, must rank below those of his

predecessors.

7. CHIA LIN is known to have lived under the T`ang dynasty,

for his commentary on Sun Tzu is mentioned in the T`ang Shu and

was afterwards republished by Chi Hsieh of the same dynasty

together with those of Meng Shih and Tu Yu. It is of somewhat

scanty texture, and in point of quality, too, perhaps the least

valuable of the eleven.

8. MEI YAO-CH`EN (1002-1060), commonly known by his "style"

as Mei Sheng-yu, was, like Tu Mu, a poet of distinction. His

commentary was published with a laudatory preface by the great

Ou-yang Hsiu, from which we may cull the following: --

Later scholars have misread Sun Tzu, distorting his

words and trying to make them square with their own one-sided

views. Thus, though commentators have not been lacking, only

a few have proved equal to the task. My friend Sheng-yu has

not fallen into this mistake. In attempting to provide a

critical commentary for Sun Tzu's work, he does not lose

sight of the fact that these sayings were intended for states

engaged in internecine warfare; that the author is not

concerned with the military conditions prevailing under the

sovereigns of the three ancient dynasties, [43] nor with the

nine punitive measures prescribed to the Minister of War.

[44] Again, Sun Wu loved brevity of diction, but his meaning

is always deep. Whether the subject be marching an army, or

handling soldiers, or estimating the enemy, or controlling

the forces of victory, it is always systematically treated;

the sayings are bound together in strict logical sequence,

though this has been obscured by commentators who have

probably failed to grasp their meaning. In his own commentary, Mei

Sheng-yu has brushed aside all the obstinate prejudices of these

critics, and has tried to bring out the true meaning of Sun Tzu himself.

In this way, the clouds of confusion have been dispersed and the

sayings made clear. I am convinced that the present work deserves

to be handed down side by side with the three great commentaries;

and for a great deal that they find in the sayings, coming generations

will have constant reason to thank my friend Sheng-yu.

Making some allowance for the exuberance of friendship, I am

inclined to endorse this favorable judgment, and would certainly

place him above Ch`en Hao in order of merit.

9. WANG HSI, also of the Sung dynasty, is decidedly

original in some of his interpretations, but much less judicious

than Mei Yao-ch`en, and on the whole not a very trustworthy

guide. He is fond of comparing his own commentary with that of

Ts`ao Kung, but the comparison is not often flattering to him.

We learn from Ch`ao Kung-wu that Wang Hsi revised the ancient

text of Sun Tzu, filling up lacunae and correcting mistakes. [45]

10. HO YEN-HSI of the Sung dynasty. The personal name of

this commentator is given as above by Cheng Ch`iao in the TUNG

CHIH, written about the middle of the twelfth century, but he

appears simply as Ho Shih in the YU HAI, and Ma Tuan-lin quotes

Ch`ao Kung-wu as saying that his personal name is unknown. There

seems to be no reason to doubt Cheng Ch`iao's statement,

otherwise I should have been inclined to hazard a guess and

identify him with one Ho Ch`u-fei, the author of a short treatise

on war, who lived in the latter part of the 11th century. Ho

Shih's commentary, in the words of the T`IEN-I-KO catalogue,

"contains helpful additions" here and there, but is chiefly

remarkable for the copious extracts taken, in adapted form, from

the dynastic histories and other sources.

11. CHANG YU. The list closes with a commentator of no

great originality perhaps, but gifted with admirable powers of

lucid exposition. His commentator is based on that of Ts`ao

Kung, whose terse sentences he contrives to expand and develop in

masterly fashion. Without Chang Yu, it is safe to say that much

of Ts`ao Kung's commentary would have remained cloaked in its

pristine obscurity and therefore valueless. His work is not

mentioned in the Sung history, the T`UNG K`AO, or the YU HAI, but

it finds a niche in the T`UNG CHIH, which also names him as the

author of the "Lives of Famous Generals." [46]

It is rather remarkable that the last-named four should all

have flourished within so short a space of time. Ch`ao Kung-wu

accounts for it by saying: "During the early years of the Sung

dynasty the Empire enjoyed a long spell of peace, and men ceased

to practice the art of war. but when [Chao] Yuan-hao's rebellion

came [1038-42] and the frontier generals were defeated time after

time, the Court made strenuous inquiry for men skilled in war,

and military topics became the vogue amongst all the high

officials. Hence it is that the commentators of Sun Tzu in our

dynasty belong mainly to that period. [47]

Besides these eleven commentators, there are several others

whose work has not come down to us. The SUI SHU mentions four,

namely Wang Ling (often quoted by Tu Yu as Wang Tzu); Chang Tzu-

shang; Chia Hsu of Wei; [48] and Shen Yu of Wu. The T`ANG SHU

adds Sun Hao, and the T`UNG CHIH Hsiao Chi, while the T`U SHU

mentions a Ming commentator, Huang Jun-yu. It is possible that

some of these may have been merely collectors and editors of

other commentaries, like Chi T`ien-pao and Chi Hsieh, mentioned

above.