Sun Tzu and pool I

[Jay M]

Hi everyone,

I mentioned Sun Tzu in Lorri's post and have had quite a few private messages and emails asking me about it. For those that aren't familiar with "The Art of War" aside from it being a movie starring Wesley Snipes, it is considered a manual not only for the military and battles, but for life itself. I thought I'd start a few discussions by quoting from it and looking at how some of you interpret the passages quoted. If you are interested in reading the entire text (it's actually not all that long), you can read it at http://www.sonshi.com/index.html as well as some interpretations.

Here's the first quote to talk about:

<blockquote><font class="small">Quote: Sun Tzu's Art of War:</font><hr>
Before doing battle, in the temple one calculates and will win, because many calculations were made;

before doing battle, in the temple one calculates and will not win, because few calculations were made;

many calculations, victory, few calculations, no victory, then how much less so when no calculations?

By means of these, I can observe them, beholding victory or defeat!
<hr></blockquote>

I'll add my interpretations at some point, but it'll be interesting to hear what you all have to say and your thoughts on how these passages can be related to pool.

By the way, I started with one that is fairly straightforward. If you are interested, we can get deeply into what I call "zen pool", although that is not an accurate description.

Jay M

[Patrick]

You need very strong chakras to be able to play pool with your eyes closed. You stop looking with your physical eyes and start looking with your 3rd eye, the inner eye in your forehead.

Patrick

[heater451]

There you go, making me have to study. . . .

I haven't read Sun Tzu since. . .'94 or '95. . . .In fact, my community college "Intro to Philosophy" teacher never returned my copy that he borrowed! (Oddly enough, he wasn't familiar with it, although I've always thought that it was on most philosophy reading lists.)

The only thing that even comes to mind is the section about battleground. You know, high ground is better--that type of stuff. . . .Not sure how we can relate it to pool, however.

[heater451]

Patrick,

Chakras are related to yoga.

Koans are (Japanese) Zen-Buddhist.

Sun Tzu was Chinese, and "The Art of War" reads more like a how-to manual, and not a meditative treatise.

Oh, and BTW, I don't think you have to defend yourself about VP3, nor should you knock other's ways to learn. As Bruce Lee did with Jeet Kun Do, take what works, from wherever it comes ("Use no way as a way, No limitation as a limitation."...Bruce Lee

Reiterated by Dan Inosanto: No art is superior to any other. That is the object lesson of Jeet Kune Do, to be unbound, to be free: in combat to use no style as style, to use no way as the way, to have no limitation as the only limitation. Neither be for or against a particular style. In other words, Jeet Kune Do 'just is'.( http://members.tripod.com/straightblast/ )

You may also find this site interesting (although the site developer uses graphics--a scanned manuscript--instead of regular text):

http://www.brucelee.com/jeet.htm

[Kato]

Voodoo made me read The Art of War. Fascinating stuff. His commentary on the subject is fascinating. Of course I lended out my copy, never to be seen again. I'll try to remember my favorite quote from that book and I hope I don't botch it. "Draw a line in the sand so your opponent can't cross."

Kato