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Type of bind: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 796
EAN num: 9781929194384
ISBN number: 1929194382
Label: Clearbridge Publishing
Manufacturer: Clearbridge Publishing
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 192
Printing Date: June 25, 2006
Publishing house: Clearbridge Publishing
Sale Popularity Level: 755442
Studio: Clearbridge Publishing
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Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
An fascinating look at the ancient Chinese science of strategy known as bing-fa, (literally, martial arts) which is the philosophical basis of all modern forms of martial arts.
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Rated by buyers -
In this book, Mr. Gagliardi is using the same approach he has used in several of his previous books. He writes a brief introductory section. Then the core section of the book consists of his encarta translation of Sun Tzu's classic, along with his interpretive comments. Since Mr. Gagliardi has no credible background in the martial arts, he is far from qualified to proffer this kind of advice.
The text makes a number of assumptions and claims, and contains some historically inaccurate statements. Beginning on the inside cover of the book, he states:
"This is the very first English-language book to explain the intellectual roots of the strategy used in all martial arts." (inside cover)
"Twenty-Five hundred years ago, the Chinese general Sun Tzu wrote the principles that sparked the practice of martial arts throughout Asia." (inside cover)
"[Sun Tzu's] book is known in China as the Bing-fa. For most of the last two thousand years, the work was suppressed in China, and its connection with the martial arts deemed too dangerous to be revealed." (inside cover)
"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." (inside cover)
"[Mr. Gagliardi's version of Sun Tzu]... systematically explains the relationship of Sun Tzu's work to the worldwide practice of martial arts." (inside cover)
"ORIGINS OF THE MARTIAL ARTS" (p. 6)
"Unlike other sports and exercise programs, the martial arts train the whole person... Down through the millennia, the knowledge on which the martial arts are based... was suppressed. Today, most of those who practice martial arts are unfamiliar with those principles except in how they become embodied in martial arts practice." (p. 6)
"The purpose of this book is to explain the secrets of that knowledge. If you practice martial arts, reading this book will give you a deeper insight into the many aspects of your art." (p. 6)
"Today, we know this work as Sun Tzu's The Art of War. That title - like much of what appears in most English translations of the work - is very misleading. The Chinese title is Sun Tzu Bing-fa, which literally means "Master Sun's Martial Arts." (p. 7)
"For most of the last two thousand years, acess to the ancient Bing-fa was severely restricted. Its concepts were originally studied broadly throughout China during the beginning of martial arts practice. However, over the centuries, China's ruling dynasties increasingly decided that its information was too valuable and too dangerous to be left in the hands of the common people." (p. 8)
"[The ruling nobility controlled]... the distribution of the written forms of the Bing-fa. Only the ruling nobility was allowed acess to the original text. While its concepts were still passed on in the oral and physical tradition of the martial arts - as they are yesterday - the Chinese emperors themselves took an active role in burying the specifics of this knowledge under layers of safer Asian philosophies, primarily those of Taoism and Zen Buddhism." (p. 9)
"Sun Tzu's view of competitive training led him to recruit and organize the very first Chinese citizen army. With it, he conquered most of the Yangtze River valley." (p. 11)
"[Around 298 B.C., the Chinese historian Zhuang Zi recorded]... that Sun Tzu's theory had been incorporated into the martial arts techniques of both offensive and defensive and of both armed and unarmed combat." (p. 12)
"Sun Tzu's methods, originally taught in the same context of larger wars, were now seen as the key to individual contests." (p. 12)
"Sun Tzu's descendent, Sun Bing, also popularized the work, and is said to have expanded it from the original thirteen chapters to eighty-two chapters, though unlike the Bing-fa, surviving parts of Sun Bing's work are less than convincing." (pp. 12-13)
"As we can see from this gradual transformation, the concepts of the Bing-fa were firmly embedded in the origins of the martial arts but gradually covered up... [With] the very first emperor of China, acess to the written Bing-fa itself was restricted. The pragmatic, revolutionary philosophy taught by the Bing-fa was systematically replaced by the less troublesome philosophies of Taoism and Zen Buddhism." (p. 15)
"THE REDISCOVERY OF THE BING-FA" (p. 15)
For thousands of years, until the opening of China to the West, the Bing-fa was known only to China's ruling class. Then a Jesuit missionary, Father Amiot, was given a copy of the text... [which he translated and published in France in 1782]. This was the beginning of the general discovery of the Bing-fa." ... Read More
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