Overview

Written 2,500 years ago by Chinese general Sun Tzu, THE ART OF WAR is a masterpiece of military strategy still used in war colleges around the world. Yet its principles transcend warfare and have practical applications to all the conflicts and crises we face in our lives - in our workplaces, our families, even within ourselves. Thomas Huynh guides you through Sun Tzu's masterwork, highlighting principles that encourage a perceptive and spiritual approach to conflict, enabling you to: * Prevent conflicts before they arise * Peacefully resolve conflicts when they do arise * Act with courage, intelligence and benevolence in adversarial situations * Convert potential enemies into friends * Control your emotions before they control you

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9781594732447

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Instructs us in patience, flexibility, resolve, discernment, skillful means, compassion powerfully effective [strategies] in all our relationships, business and spiritual life. Heartily recommended to all leaders and to anyone seeking peace, deep understanding and reconciliation. Lama Surya Das, author, Awakening the Buddha Within Practical and pragmatic guidance with brilliant insights into the text. Provides clear evidence, and a robust example, that Sun Tzu's wisdom lineage lives on today. James Gimian, publisher, Shambhala Sun, director, Denma Translation Group, The Art of War: The Denma Translation A masterpiece.... Gives readers practical insight into the highly relevant work of Sun Tzu as it relates to peace, conflict resolution and personal growth. Clear guidance from an ancient philosopher and warrior. Angie Morgan & Courtney Lynch, former captains, U.S. Marine Corps, and authors, Leading from the Front Engaging commentaries and clear explanations.... Captures the essence of Sun Tzu's teachings and demonstrates how [this] ancient wisdom can be applied in the modern world to achieve powerful results. Derek Lin, author, Tao Te Ching: Annotated & Explained

In the time of a controversial five-year-long war in Iraq, we can gain badly needed wisdom from two of history's greatest warriors.The Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius and the Chinese general Sun Tzu can teach us about virtue, peace and philosophy when it seems many want us on a perpetual war footing.These two military leaders, studied for millennia by both the powerful and the subversive, considered war the worst thing humans could engage in the most cruel, wasteful and mindless.But, when they had to, they did war well. They may have seen war as a last resort, but when they judged it necessary to keep the peace or protect the state, they engaged in it with devastating efficiency.Skylight Illuminations, a creative U.S. spiritual book publisher, is bringing the values of these famous Roman and Chinese warriors to a world that needs to more deeply explore the ethics of conflict.The publisher teamed up with former Malaspina University-College scholar Russell McNeil to produce The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius: Selections Annotated and Explained. The revealing book highlights how the Roman emperor embraced Stoic philosophy (a worldview, by the way, highly valued by Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan.)The related book, The Art of War Spirituality for Conflict: Annotated and Explained, has been put together by U.S. writer Thomas Huynh. The author adapts the advice Sun Tzu offered 2,500 years ago to help today's individuals and leaders resolve conflicts.Even though Skylight Illuminations didn't promote the books as a package, there are surprising parallels particularly the leaders' emphasis on virtues like courage, self-control, rationality and justice. Although their complex philosophies are not necessarily perfect for us today, it's intriguing these respected figures both believed war was a disgrace, that it should never be entered into without a concern for the common good.In his commentary, McNeil, who lives on Vancouver Island, builds on Marcus Aurelius' meditations to question the 21st-century war on terrorism, suggesting if contemporary rulers used divine reason the way the wise emperor did they would recognize injustice often breeds such dangerous rage.For his part, Sun Tzu taught that leaders should never go to war out of greed or revenge, but (like Christians who believe in just-war theory ) should make every diplomatic and strategic effort to avoid armed battle.Huynh, a Vietnamese refugee, turns Sun Tzu's masterwork on winning into advice on advancing global and personal peace.The Art of War has been studied by everyone from Latin American revolutionary Che Guevera to retired U.S. general Colin Powell (who speaks in Vancouver June 12.) Huynh maintains Sun Tzu's pragmatic philosophy can prevent conflicts, quickly resolve them if they do arise, promote benevolence in adversarial situations, convert potential enemies into friends and help individuals control their emotions. The latter leads to one of the most striking philosophical parallels between the two warriors.The Roman emperor, who died in AD 180, and the Chinese general each emphasized detaching from one's emotions.The Art of War, writes Huynh, teaches: Being ruled by your emotions, exaggerating your strengths, denying your weaknesses and wishful thinking can only lead to catastrophe. The Roman ruler, McNeil says, also taught that personal attachments to people or things have little to do with what it means to be human. The Stoics, like Socrates, did not see pain and tragedy as limiting humans' ability to be content.Even though the emperor's Stoicism veers close to emotional coldness, to limiting empathy for loved ones, McNeil defends it. He particularly values the way Aurelius put ultimate value on reason, or divine intelligence, over emotion. McNeil compares Stoicism to the cognitive behavioral therapy founded by psychologist Albert Ellis.Like Ellis, the Roman emperor stressed the importance of overriding emotions to make rational choices. Marcus Aurelius criticized those who waited passively for a supernatural God to take care of things.Even though it's clear Stoicism and Sun Tzu's Art of War can suit tough-minded, ethical generals (and many modern-day athletes), I suspect these two philosophers may be a touch too indifferent to emotions and loving relationships.I also have trouble with their placing ultimate importance on the state, which, combined with their stress on bravery and self-denial, could lead to unnecessary martyrdom. But these are concerns to study more thoroughly, because these warriors' philosophies are nothing if not subtle.All in all, it is impressive that when many leaders talk about peace but frequently revert to expensive and destructive military solutions these ancient generals can still teach us how to resolve the root causes of all kinds of conflict.--Douglas Todd The Vancouver Sun (05/10/2008)

Instructs us in patience, flexibility, resolve, discernment, skillful means, compassion powerfully effective [strategies] in all our relationships, business and spiritual life. Heartily recommended to all leaders and to anyone seeking peace, deep understanding and reconciliation. Lama Surya Das, author, Awakening the Buddha Within Practical and pragmatic guidance with brilliant insights into the text. Provides clear evidence, and a robust example, that Sun Tzu's wisdom lineage lives on today. James Gimian, publisher, Shambhala Sun, director, Denma Translation Group, The Art of War: The Denma Translation A masterpiece.... Gives readers practical insight into the highly relevant work of Sun Tzu as it relates to peace, conflict resolution and personal growth. Clear guidance from an ancient philosopher and warrior. Angie Morgan & Courtney Lynch, former captains, U.S. Marine Corps, and authors, Leading from the Front Engaging commentaries and clear explanations.... Captures the essence of Sun Tzu's teachings and demonstrates how [this] ancient wisdom can be applied in the modern world to achieve powerful results. Derek Lin, author, Tao Te Ching: Annotated & Explained

Author Information

Thomas Huynh is founder of www.sonshi.com, the Web's leading and most respected resource on Sun Tzu's The Art of War. He co-translated The Art of War with the editors at Sonshi.com. He holds an MBA from Vanderbilt University. Marc Benioff is chairman and CEO of Salesforce.com, the worldwide leader in on-demand business services. He has been a practitioner of Sun Tzu's principles for over a decade and is the coauthor of The Business of Changing the World and Compassionate Capitalism. Thomas Cleary holds a PhD in East Asian Languages and Civilizations from Harvard University and a JD from the University of California, Berkeley. He is the translator of over seventy-five volumes of classical works from seven languages.

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