Art of War 10.21
The Art of War (孫子兵法), Terrain 地形篇
夫地形者兵之助也料敵制勝計險阨遠近上將之道也
The natural formation of the country is the soldier’s best ally;
but a power of estimating the adversary,
of controlling the forces of victory,
and of shrewdly calculating difficulties, dangers and distances,
constitutes the test of a great general.
Lionel Giles's notes
Chia Lin’s text has the reading 易 for 助. Ch‘ên Hao says: 天時不如地利 “The advantages of weather and season are not equal to those connected with ground.”
The insertion of a “but” is necessary to show the connection of thought here. A general should always utilise, but never rely wholly on natural advantages of terrain.
制勝 is one of those condensed expressions which mean so much in Chinese, and so little in an English translation. What it seems to imply is complete mastery of the situation from the beginning.
The T‘ung Tien and Yü Lan read 計極險易利害遠近. I am decidedly puzzled by Capt. Calthrop’s translation: “an eye for steepness, command and distances.” Where did he find the word which I have put in italics?
A somewhat free translation of 道. As Chang Yü remarks, these are 兵之本 “the essentials of soldiering,” ground being only a helpful accessory.
Character glossary
- 夫fūman, husband; worker; those
- 地deearth, ground, soil; land, region; struc
- 形xíngform, shape; to appear; to describe; to
- 者zhěthat which; they who; those who
- 兵bīngsoldier; troops, an army; warlike
- 之zhīmarks preceding phrase as modifier of fo
- 助zhùto help, to aid, to assist
- 也yěalso, too
- 料liàoingredients, materials; to conjecture, t
- 敵díenemy, foe, rival; to match; to resist
- 制zhìsystem; to establish; to manufacture; to
- 勝shèngvictory; to excel, to truimph
- 計jìto calculate, to count; to plan, to reck
- 險xiǎnnarrow pass, strategic point
- 阨èin distress; adverse; strategic; (Cant.)
- 遠yuǎndistant, remote, far; profound
- 近jìnto approach; near, close; intimate
- 上shàngabove, on top, superior; to go up; to at
- 將jiāngthe future, what will be; ready, prepare
- 道dàomethod, way; path, road
Passages with shared wording
- Art of War 9.13
- Zhuangzi The Great Supreme
- Zhuangzi Autumn Floods
- Mencius 3A.3
- Zhuangzi Contingencies
- The Doctrine of the Mean Passage 27
Data: English Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.