The Art of War by Sun Tzu – Large Print Edition contains the complete English translation by Lionel Giles in large, easy to read print.

The cover image depicts the bamboo scroll containing the teachings of Sun Tzu, which was discovered by archaeologists in the 1970s.

Leaders as diverse as Mao Zedong and General Douglas MacArthur [...]]]>

ISBN 1934255157

The Art of War by Sun Tzu – Large Print Edition contains the complete English translation by Lionel Giles in large, easy to read print.

The cover image depicts the bamboo scroll containing the teachings of Sun Tzu, which was discovered by archaeologists in the 1970s.

Leaders as diverse as Mao Zedong and General Douglas MacArthur have claimed to have taken inspiration from its teachings. As part of the Seven Military Classics of ancient China, The Art of War has become the most influential book on military tactics and strategy in history.

Even today, legal scholars, business executives and philosophy students still study The Art of War, taking inspiration from the teachings of the legendary Chinese general, Sun Tzu.

Lionel Giles (1875 – 1958) was a Victorian scholar, translator and the son of British diplomat and sinologist, Herbert Giles. Lionel Giles served as Keeper of the Department of Oriental Manuscripts and Printed Books, as well as Assistant Curator at the British Museum.

His 1910 translation of  The Art of War succeeded an earlier attempt by a [...]]]>

Lionel Giles (1875 – 1958) was a Victorian scholar, translator and the son of British diplomat and sinologist, Herbert Giles. Lionel Giles served as Keeper of the Department of Oriental Manuscripts and Printed Books, as well as Assistant Curator at the British Museum.

His 1910 translation of  The Art of War succeeded an earlier attempt by a British officer named E.F. Calthrop in 1905. Publicly refuting large portions of Calthrop’s work, Giles writes in his introduction:

It is not merely a question of downright blunders, from which none can hope to be wholly exempt. Omissions were frequent; hard passages were willfully distorted or slurred over. Such offenses are less pardonable. They would not be tolerated in any edition of a Latin or Greek classic, and a similar standard of honesty ought to be insisted upon in translations from Chinese.

Like many Victorian-era sinologists, Lionel Giles was primarily interested in classical Chinese literature, which Victorians approached as a branch of classics. The following quote shows Giles’ attitude to the problem identifying the authors of ancient works like The Lieh Tzu, The Chuang Tzu and the Tao Te Ching, as well as his opinion of the authenticity of the texts:

The extent of the actual mischief done by this “Burning of the Books” has been greatly exaggerated. Still, the mere attempt at such a holocaust gave a fine chance to the scholars of the later Han dynasty (A.D. 25-221), who seem to have enjoyed nothing so much as forging, if not the whole, at any rate portions, of the works of ancient authors. Someone even produced a treatise under the name of Lieh Tzu, a philosopher mentioned by Chuang Tzu, not seeing that the individual in question was a creation of Chuang Tzu’s brain!

Lionel Giles prodigious translations include the works of: Sun Tzu, Chuang Tzu, Lao Tzu, Mencius, and Confucius, including:
•    The Art of War (1910)
•    The Analects of Confucius (1910), or The Sayings of Confucius
•    The Sayings of Lao Tzu and Taoist Teachings (1912)
•    The Book of Mencius (1942), originally published as Wisdom of the East
•    The Life of Ch’iu Chin and The Lament On the Lady of the Ch’in
•    The Liexian Zhuan (1948), also known as Biographies of Immortals

Lao Tzu was the father of Taoism. In his Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu outlined the basic concept of Tao.

Chuang Tzu and Lieh Tzu were Lao Tzu’s most important followers who expounded and expanded the basic principles set forth by Lao Tzu.

The translations of the works of these ancient Chinese sages by Lionel Giles and Herbert [...]]]>

Lao Tzu was the father of Taoism. In his Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu outlined the basic concept of Tao.

Chuang Tzu and Lieh Tzu were Lao Tzu’s most important followers who expounded and expanded the basic principles set forth by Lao Tzu.

The translations of the works of these ancient Chinese sages by Lionel Giles and Herbert Giles are very highly regarded and considered by many to be the definitive English translations.

Tao – The Way – Special Edition  ISBN 1934255130

Lionel’s translation of The Sayings of Lao Tzu (1905), taken from the Tao Te Ching and logically re-ordered, is remarkable for its clarity of expression, particularly given the complexity of the subject. Herbert’s translation of The Sayings of Chuang Tzu, presented here, with an introduction by Lionel, was originally published as Musings of a Chinese Mystic (1906). Lionel’s translation of The Sayings of Lieh Tzu was originally published as The Book of Lieh Tzu, or Teachings in Taoism (1912).

These collected works represent a major portion of the philosophy of Tao as we understand it today.

From Tao – The Way – Special Edition, p 74-75, The Sayings of Chuang Tzu:

How do I know that love of life is not a delusion after all? How do I know but that he who dreads to die is as a child who has lost the way and cannot find his home?

The lady li Chi was the daughter of Ai Feng. When the Duke of Chin first got her, she wept until the bosom of her dress was drenched with tears. But when she came to the royal residence, and lived with the Duke, and ate rich food, she repented of having wept. How then do I know but that the dead repent of having previously clung to life?

Those who dream of the banquet wake to lamentation and sorrow. Those who dream of lamentation and sorrow wake to join the hunt. While they dream, they do not know that they dream. Some will even interpret the very dream they are dreaming; and only when they awake do they know it was a dream. By and by comes the Great Awakening, and then we find out that this life is really a great dream. Fools think they are awake now, and flatter themselves they know if they are really princes or peasants. Confucius and you are both dreams; and I who say you are dreams – I am but a dream myself. This is a paradox. To-morrow a sage may arise to explain it; but that tomorrow will not be until ten thousand generations have gone by.

Granting that you and I argue. If you beat me, and not I you, are you necessarily right and I wrong? Or if I beat you and not you me, am I necessarily right and you wrong? Or are we both partly right and partly wrong? Or are we both wholly right or wholly wrong? You and I cannot know this, and consequently the world will be in ignorance of the truth.

Who shall I employ as arbiter between us? If I employ some one who takes your view, he will side with you. How can such a one arbitrate between us? If I employ some one who takes my view, he will side with me. How can such a one arbitrate between us? And if I employ some one who either differs from or agrees with both of us, he will be equally unable to decide between us. Since then you, and I, and man, cannot decide, must we not depend upon Another? Such dependence is as though it were not dependence. We are embraced in the obliterating unity of God.

Once upon a time, I, Chuang Tzu, dreamt I was a butterfly, fluttering hither and thither, to all intents and purposes a butterfly. I was conscious only of following my fancies as a butterfly, and was unconscious of my individuality as a man. Suddenly I awaked, and there I lay, myself again. Now I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly dreaming I am a man. Between a man and a butterfly there is necessarily a barrier. The transition is called metempsychosis.