;

To advance

Critical Text

進	不	可	迎	蟗	沖
jin	bu	ke	ying	zhe	chong
advance	not	able	receive	one-who	charge

其	虛	也	退	不	可
qi	xu	ye	tui	bu	ke
their	empty	(period)	retreat	not	able

止	者	遠	而	不	可
zhi	zhe	yuan	er	bu	ke
stop	one-who	far	and	not	able

及	也	故	我	欲	戰
ji	ye	gu	wo	yu	zhan
reach	(period)	thus	I	wish	battle

敵	不	得	不	與	我
di	bu	de	be	yu	wo
enemy	not	get-to	not	with	me

戰	者	攻	其	所	必
zhan	zhe	gong	qi	suo	bi
battle	one-who	attack	their	which	most

救	也	我	不	欲	戰
jiu	ye	wo	bu	yu	zhan
save	(period)	I	not	wish	battle

雖	畫	地	而	守	之
sui	hua	di	er	shou	zhi
although	draw	ground	and	defend	it

敵	不	得	與	我	戰
di	bu	de	yu	wo	zhan
enemy	not	get-to	with	me	battle

者	謬	其	所	之	也
zhe	guai	qi	shuo	zhi	ye
one-who	misdirect	their	which	go	(period)

Yinqueshan Text

進艞可迎蟗沖其。。。止者遠。。。適不得不與我戰者攻亓所。。。適不得與我戰者謬亓所之也

Shiyijia zhu Text

進而不可御者沖其虛也退而不可追者遠而不可及也故我欲戰敵雖高壘深溝不得不與我戰者攻其所必救也我不欲戰雖畫地而守之敵不繖與我戰者乖其所之也

Translation

To advance so that one cannot be resisted, charge against the empty. To retreat so that one cannot be stopped, go so far that one cannot be reached. And so if I wish to do battle, the enemy cannot but do battle with me. I attack what he must save. If I do not wish to do battle, I mark a line on the earth to defend it, and the enemy cannot do battle with me. I misdirect him.

Annotations

The extra five graphs in the received text (sui gao lei shen gou 雖高壘深溝), which act as commentary and clarification, are typical of the way that texts grow.

Perhaps "marking a line on the earth" originated as a magical defence (Donald Harper, in private communication). Here the source of the enemy's confusion is not specified, and the text is open to many interpretations.