Art of War 10.14
The Art of War (孫子兵法), Terrain 地形篇
故兵有走者有弛者有陷者有崩者有亂者有北者凡此六者非天之災將之過也
Now an army is exposed to six several calamities, not arising from natural causes,
but from faults for which the general is responsible. These are: (1) Flight; (2) insubordination; (3) collapse; (4) ruin; (5) disorganization; (6) rout.
Lionel Giles (1910), Sun Tzŭ on the Art of War (1910), with Giles' notes — public domain.
Lionel Giles's notes
The T‘u Shu reads 天地之災.
I take exception to Capt. Calthrop’s rendering of 陷 and 崩 as “distress” and “disorganisation,” respectively.
Character glossary
- 故gùreason, cause; happening, instance
- 兵bīngsoldier; troops, an army; warlike
- 有yǒuto have, to own, to possess; to exist
- 走zǒuto walk, to run, to flee
- 者zhěthat which; they who; those who
- 弛chíto loosen, to relax; to unstring a bow
- 陷xiànto sink, to plunge; trap, pitfall
- 崩bēngto rupture, to split apart; to collapse;
- 亂luànanarchy, chaos; revolt
- 北běinorth; northern; northward
- 凡fánany, every, all; common, ordinary
- 此cǐthis, these; in this case, then
- 六liùsix
- 非fēinot, negative, non-; to oppose
- 天tiānsky, heaven; god, celestial
- 之zhīmarks preceding phrase as modifier of fo
- 災zāidisaster, catastrophe, calamity
- 將jiāngthe future, what will be; ready, prepare
- 過guòpass; to go across, to pass through
- 也yěalso, too
Passages with shared wording
Data: English Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.