Art of War 7.17

The simile is doubly appropriate, because the wind is not only swift but, as Mei Yao-ch‘ên points out, 無形跡 “invisible and leaves no tracks.”

It is hardly possible to take 徐 here in its ordinary sense of “sedate,” as Tu Yu tries to do. Mêng Shih comes nearer the mark in his note 緩行須有行列 “When slowly marching, order and ranks must be preserved” — so as to guard against surprise attacks. But natural forests do not grow in rows, whereas they do generally possess the quality of density or compactness. I think then that Mei Yao-ch‘ên uses the right adjective in saying 如林之森然.