How to understand Sun Wu's "Know Yourself and Know Yourself" during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period? What is the inspiration?

We are no strangers to the phrase "Know yourself and know yourself, and fight every battle". This sentence is a famous saying of Sun Wu during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. It not only contains the brilliant method of using troops, but also shows Sun Wu's simple materialistic thought, that is, in that era when astrology prevailed, his scientific attitude of "ghosts and gods are not desirable".

Sun Wu also used the words "know yourself and know yourself" to tell the world how to turn disadvantages into advantages. This can also give great enlightenment to today's people: as long as we know the enemy like the palm of our hand and have enough control over "the right time, the right place and the right people", we can not stick to past experience, seek truth from facts and keep pace with the times, so we can get twice the result with half the effort.

Next, Yan Xiaoer starts with the simple materialistic thought in Sun Wu's viewpoint of "knowing ourselves and knowing ourselves", and talks with you about Sun Wu's scientific attitude of "not believing in ghosts and gods" in this viewpoint, and then talks about the philosophical enlightenment of turning the corner in this viewpoint.

1, the simple materialistic thought in Know Yourself and Know Yourself: Don't believe in ghosts. According to Dialectics of Ancient and Modern Surnames in Song Dynasty, Sun Wuzi was from Qin Long, and at about the same time as Confucius, his grandfather became a doctor in Qi. Because of the civil strife in Qi, the whole family fled to Wu to settle down. Later, he was recommended by Wu, and Sun Wu's talents were brought into play.

With the support of the King of Wu, Sun Wu fought against the 200,000 troops of Chu with 30,000 Wu Jun. Because of the disparity in strength, Sun Wu created the myth that fewer troops win more. In 506 BC, the capital of Chu was captured, and Sun Wu became famous all over the world.

Speaking of the myth that Sun Wu wins more with less, we have to mention his catchy phrase "Know yourself and know yourself, and fight every battle".

"Know yourself and know yourself, and fight a hundred battles" means that in a war, Sun Wu should decide the next action according to the objective and actual situation, and before taking action, he should give full play to his subjective initiative, assess the situation and suit the remedy to the case according to the actual situation. Here, it seems irrational for Sun Wu to pin the outcome of the war on the theory of divination by ghosts and gods.

In this regard, Sun Wuceng said:

"Therefore, it is wise to be wise, so moving wins people, and success comes from many people, and the prophet also. Prophets should not be taken from ghosts and gods, nor should they be like things, nor should they be measured. They must learn from each other and understand the feelings of the enemy. "

The meaning of Sun Wu's sentence is translated directly: a wise monarch or a brilliant general can always win victories that are difficult for ordinary people. The reason is that they can know the enemy first. If you want to know yourself first, you can't rely on God for divination, and past experience can't be used rigidly. A better way is to inquire about the actual situation, and the object of inquiry is often the person who knows the information.

Sun Wu directly pointed out that wise monarchs or generals often have "strategizing", and their "strategizing", that is, the so-called "prophet", is actually not just superstitious divination, but seeking truth from facts, proceeding from reality and exploring laws and experiences. Sun Wu's simple materialism was very rare at that time when Confucius was far away from ghosts and gods.

2. Enlightenment: Based on Sun Wu's "know yourself and know yourself", we can further understand Sun Wu's views of "winning more with less" and "suffering from loss", and then get some enlightenment from it.

With regard to "more with less" and "be swayed by considerations of gain and loss", Yan Xiaoer had to mention a sentence mentioned by Sun Wu in "Virtual and Real Articles":

"Before the widowed, backup widowed, left widowed, right widowed. If you are unprepared, you will have no trouble. "

Sun Wu's words are telling the world that only by knowing the enemy well enough and truly grasping the enemy's situation can we find the enemy's weakness, and then we can hit it with one blow.

Here, following this practice, we can know the truth. Many times, although the disparity in quantity is of great reference significance to the prediction results, the final outcome may be unexpected. If you want to get twice the result with half the effort, you should, like Sun Wu, start from the principle of "knowing yourself and your enemy" and know what your own strengths and weaknesses are, and at the same time know what your enemy's strengths and weaknesses are, so as to prescribe the right medicine.

At the same time, the more comprehensive you know about each other, the greater your chances of winning.

3. Finally, on the basis of Sun Wu's two progressiveness, starting with Sun Wu's "know yourself and know yourself", simply talk about the simple materialism contained in Sun Tzu's viewpoint and the enlightenment gained from practice. Next, Yan Xiaoer finally briefly summarized the two major advances of Sun Wu's views.

First, from the above description, we can know that Sun Wu pointed out that the theory of ghosts and gods is not credible. He believes that seeking truth from facts and learning the truth from practice are really useful to people, which is a great progress of Sun Wu. After all, in that era of believing in ghosts and gods, Sun Wu was quite ahead of himself when he could see this.

In Yan Xiaoer's view, Sun Wu's second progress is a denial of "blindly applying experience". In many cases, although our past experience has certain "rationality", some "conditions" have changed with the passage of time, so the accumulated experience in the past may have some guiding effect on us, but we must never rely entirely on past experience. Once it is strictly applied, it will be stagnant or full.

Although the above is an obvious truth, in practice, few people can really remember this truth all the time. In fact, overcoming the dependence on past experience also means breaking the "stereotype", surpassing ourselves and putting an end to blind self-confidence. You can experience it.

Ok, this sharing is over. Next time we have a chance, let's talk about Sun Wu's theory in depth, and what enlightenment Sun Wu's classic views can give us when he abandons the position of "Sun Tzu's Art of War".

Note: This article is the original and exclusive release of Yan Xiaoer's philosophical works. If there is any infringement such as handling or plagiarism, the responsibility will be investigated once found. The pictures in this paper come from the Internet, and some materials come from the Internet. They were hacked and deleted (within two weeks). Please enjoy this series.