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Six Secret Teachings, Civil Teaching — Guarding the State六韜 守國

Wujing Qishu (The Seven Military Classics) — the six besides the Sunzi 武經七書 · Ascribed to Jiang Taigong · ascribed to Huang Shigong · Wei Liao · Wu Qi · Sima Rangju · Li Jing · Warring States to Tang (4th century BC to 7th century AD) · 1 passages · 206 Chinese characters · reading time 0.8 min

Wujing Qishu (The Seven Military Classics) — the six besides the Sunzi Six Secret Teachings The six that remain when the Art of War of Sunzi is taken out of the seven military books the Song set as the texts for examining military officers. The Six Secret Teachings is sixty chapters of questions and answers in which King Wen and King Wu ask Taigong Wang, running from the governing of a state to chariots, cavalry, battle in the open and the crossing of water; the Three Strategies is three short books said to have been given to Zhang Liang by Huang Shigong; the Wei Liaozi is twenty-four chapters setting down in detail the military orders and the squads of five and ten around the time of Qin; the Wuzi is six chapters of Wu Qi's answers to Marquis Wu of Wei; the Methods of the Sima is five chapters handing down the military rites of before the Spring and Autumn period; and Questions and Replies with Li Weigong is three books in which Taizong of Tang and Li Jing go back and forth over the unorthodox and the orthodox, the empty and the full, the frontier peoples and the Han, and attack and defense. "Arms are an instrument of ill omen," "bring the enemy to you and do not be brought to him," and "a thousand chapters and ten thousand phrases do not go beyond that one phrase" all come from here. The remaining six streams of the military school, read after the Art of War, are gathered in one place.

1Guarding the state is to follow the guiding threads of Heaven and earth

文王問太公曰：「守國奈何？」太公曰：「齋，將語君天地之經，四時所生，仁聖之道，民機之情。」王齋七日，北面再拜而問之。太公曰：「天生四時，地生萬物。天下有民，聖人牧之。故春道生，萬物榮；夏道長，萬物成；秋道斂，萬物盈；冬道藏，萬物靜。盈則藏，藏則復起。莫知所終，莫知所始。聖人配之，以為天地經紀。故天下治，仁聖藏，天下亂，仁聖昌，至道其然也。聖人之在天地間也，其寶固大矣。因其常而視之，則民安。夫民動而為機，機動而得失爭矣。故發之以其陰，會之以其陽。為之先唱，天下和之。極反其常，莫進而爭，莫退而讓。守國如此，與天地同光。」

King Wen asked Taigong, "How does one guard the state?" Taigong said, "Purify yourself. Then I shall speak to my lord of the guiding threads of Heaven and earth, of what the four seasons bring forth, of the way of the benevolent and the sagely, and of the trigger and the feeling of the people." The king purified himself for seven days, faced north, bowed twice, and asked. Taigong said, "Heaven brings forth the four seasons, and earth brings forth the myriad things. Under Heaven there are the people, and the sage shepherds them. So the way of spring gives birth, and the myriad things flourish. The way of summer makes grow, and the myriad things come to completion. The way of autumn gathers in, and the myriad things are full. The way of winter stores away, and the myriad things are still. When they are full they are stored, and when they are stored they rise again. No one knows where it ends, and no one knows where it begins. The sage matches himself to this and makes it the guiding thread of Heaven and earth. So when all under Heaven is well governed, the benevolent and the sagely hide themselves, and when all under Heaven is in disorder, the benevolent and the sagely rise up. Such is the utmost Way. The sage standing between Heaven and earth is a treasure indeed, and a great one. Look to what is constant in him, and the people are at peace. When the people stir, a trigger is made, and when the trigger stirs, gain and loss are contended for. So rouse them by the dark side and gather them by the bright. Call out first, and all under Heaven answers. At its height it returns to what is constant, and then none press forward to contend and none draw back to yield. Guard the state in this way, and you share your light with Heaven and earth."

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