Unlike other sports and exercise programs, the martial arts train the whole person, body, spirit, and mind. For thousands of years, the intellectual ideas on which the martial arts are based was known in China as the Bing-fa. This ideas were systematically repressed and purposefully replaced by less-dangerous Taoist and Buddhist ideals. The purpose of this book is to reveal the hidden secrets of that suppressed work, Sun Tzu's The Art of War. If you practice the martial arts, reading this book will give you a deeper insight into the many aspects of your training. Even if you do not practice the martial arts, learning the strategic concepts on which the martial arts were based will give you powerful tools to help you become more successful in your everyday life.
This is the first English-language book to explain the intellectual roots of the strategy used in all martial arts. Twenty-five hundred years ago, the Chinese general Sun Tzu wrote the principles that sparked the practice of martial arts throughout Asia. His book is known in China as the Bing-fa. For most of the last two thousand years, this work was suppressed in China, and its connection with the martial arts deemed too dangerous to be revealed.
The practice of martial arts originally sought to unite body, mind, and spirit, but because the Bing-fa was secret, many of the intellectual aspects of the martial arts were lost. This book reintroduces English-speaking martial artists to the strategic rules underlying their training.
The Bing-fa has been translated many times into English, but it is usually called Sun Tzu's The Art of War. This version, written by Americaís leading authority on Sun Tzu, is the only award-winning translation of the work, but more importantly it also systematically explains the relationship of Sun Tzu's work to the worldwide practice of martial arts.
