Six Secret Teachings, Tiger Teaching — The Three Formations六韜 三陳
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 · 82 Chinese characters · reading time 0.3 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.
1The formation of Heaven, the formation of Earth, the formation of Man
King Wu asked Taigong, "How are troops used to make the formation of Heaven, the formation of Earth, and the formation of Man?" Taigong said, "The sun and the moon, the stars, and the handle of the Dipper, one side to the left and one to the right, one side facing and one turned away — this is the formation of Heaven. Hills and waters and springs also have their advantage of front and rear, of left and right, and this is called the formation of Earth. To use chariots and to use horses, to use the civil and to use the martial — this is called the formation of Man." King Wu said, "Good."