Art of War 1.8
The Art of War (孫子兵法), Laying Plans 計篇
地者遠近險易廣狹死生也
Earth comprises distances, great and small; danger and security; open ground and narrow passes; the chances of life and death.
Lionel Giles (1910), Sun Tzŭ on the Art of War (1910), with Giles' notes — public domain.
Lionel Giles's notes
死生 (omitted by Capt. Calthrop) may have been included here because the safety of an army depends largely on its quickness to turn these geographical features to account.
Character glossary
- 地deearth, ground, soil; land, region; struc
- 者zhěthat which; they who; those who
- 遠yuǎndistant, remote, far; profound
- 近jìnto approach; near, close; intimate
- 險xiǎnnarrow pass, strategic point
- 易yìto change; to exchange, to trade; simple
- 廣guǎngbroad, vast, wide; building, house
- 狹xiánarrow, limited; narrow-minded
- 死sǐdead; death; impassable, inflexible
- 生shēnglife, lifetime; birth; growth
- 也yěalso, too
Passages with shared wording
- Zhuangzi Autumn Floods
- Zhuangzi Kêng Sang Ch’u
- Art of War 10.21
- Analects 12.22
- Art of War 2.10
- Zhuangzi The Universe
Data: English Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.