TU MU (803-852) is perhaps the best known as a poet—a bright star even
in the glorious galaxy of the T’ang period. We learn from Ch’ao
Kung-wu that although he had no practical experience of war, he was extremely
fond of discussing the subject, and was moreover well read in the military
history of the Ch’un Ch’iu and Chan Kuo eras. His notes, therefore,
are well worth attention. They are very copious, and replete with historical
parallels. The gist of Sun Tzŭ’s work is thus summarized by him: "Practice
benevolence and justice, but on the other hand make full use of artifice and
measures of expediency." He further declared that all the military triumphs and
disasters of the thousand years which had elapsed since Sun Tzŭ’s death would,
upon examination, be found to uphold and corroborate, in every particular, the
maxims contained in his book. Tu Mu’s somewhat spiteful charge against
Ts’ao Kung has already been considered elsewhere.
CH’EN HAO appears to have been a contemporary of Tu Mu. Ch’ao
Kung-wu says that he was impelled to write a new commentary on Sun Tzŭ because
Ts’ao Kung’s on the one hand was too obscure and subtle, and that of Tu
Mu on the other too long-winded and diffuse. Ou-yang Hsiu, writing in the
middle of the 11th century, calls Ts’ao Kung, Tu Mu and Ch’en Hao
the three chief commentators on Sun Tzŭ, and observes that Ch’en Hao is
continually attacking Tu Mu’s shortcomings. His commentary, though not lacking
in merit, must rank below those of his predecessors.
CHIA LIN is known to have lived under the T’ang dynasty, for his
commentary on Sun Tzŭ is mentioned in the T’ang Shu and was afterwards
republished by Chi Hsieh of the same dynasty together with those of Meng Shih
and Tu Yu. It is of somewhat scanty texture, and in point of quality, too,
perhaps the least valuable of the eleven.