Art of War 1.2
The Art of War (孫子兵法), Laying Plans 計篇
死生之地存亡之道不可不察也
It is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin. Hence it is a subject of inquiry which can on no account be neglected.
Lionel Giles (1910), Sun Tzŭ on the Art of War (1910), with Giles' notes — public domain.
Character glossary
- 死sǐdead; death; impassable, inflexible
- 生shēnglife, lifetime; birth; growth
- 之zhīmarks preceding phrase as modifier of fo
- 地deearth, ground, soil; land, region; struc
- 存cúnto exist; to survive, to maintain; to ke
- 亡wángdeath, destruction; to lose; to perish
- 道dàomethod, way; path, road
- 不bùno, not, un-; negative prefix
- 可kěmay, can, -able; possibly
- 察cháto examine, to investigate, to observe
- 也yěalso, too
Passages with shared wording
- Zhuangzi The Great Supreme
- Zhuangzi The Evidence of Virtue Complete
- Zhuangzi How to Govern
- Zhuangzi Hsü Wu Kuei
- Zhuangzi On Letting Alone
- Zhuangzi The Old Fisherman
Data: English Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.