;

So-called skill

Critical Text

所	謂	善	者	勝	易
suo	wei	shan	zhe	sheng	yi
by	call	good	one	victory	easy

勝	者	也	故	善	者
sheng	zhe	ye	gu	shan	zhe
victory	one	(period)	thus	good	one

之	戰	無	奇	勝	無
zhi	zhan	wu	qi	sheng	wu
's	battle	without	extraordinary	victory	without

智	名	無	勇	功
zhi	ming	wu	yong	gong
wise	name	without	courageous	merit

Yinqueshan Text--A

所胃善者勝易勝者也故善者之戰無奇勝無智名無勇功

Yinqueshan Text--B

。。。易勝者也故善。。。奇勝無智名無勇功

Shiyijia zhu Text

古之所謂善戰者勝于易勝者也故善戰者之勝也無智名無勇功

Translation

So-called skill is to be victorious over the easily defeated. Thus the battles of the skilled are without extraordinary victory, without reputation for wisdom, and without merit for courage.

Annotations

For an explanation of this logic, see The Art of War, Commentary, p. 148.

In Kong Yingda掇孔穎達 subcommentary to the Maoshi zhengyi 毛詩正義, there is a passage from the Diwang shiji that quotes Taigong 太公 as saying, "When the former kings attacked an enemy, they attacked those who went against; they did not attack those who went with (ni/shun 逆順). They attacked the difficult; they did not attack the easy" (16.4, [Shanghai guji, p. 571]). The present Sunzi passage advances the logic one step past this.