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Sanshiliuji 三十六計 "The Thirty-Six Stratagems"

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The oldest form of a collection of stratagems might date during the Southern Dynasties 南朝 empire of (Southern) Qi 南齊. Wang Jingzi is said to be the first Chinese person making use of the stirrup. The profound symbolism and popularity of many of these stragems - with their historical background - made them a useful variety of proverbs for daily life and every possible situation. The modern version dates 1647, shortly after the Manchus had conquered China. The thirty-six stratagems are arranged in six group à six proverbs.
The chapters are:
1.勝戰計 Shengzhanji Stratagems of battles won
his book, he praises the ideal government and proposes good education and employment of worthies and able scholars in high governmental posts. His thoughts can not be separated the Correlative Thinking of his time that saw mankind as a part of the whole universe that has to seek for harmony as base for its intern stability.
8.思賢
上醫醫國,其次醫疾。夫人治國,固治身之象。疾者身之病, 亂者國之病也。身之病待醫而愈,國之亂待賢而治。治身有黃帝之術,治世有孔子之經。 然病不愈而亂不治者,非針石之法誤而五經之言誣也,乃用之者非其人。 苟非其人,則規不圓而矩不方,繩不直而準不平,鉆燧不得火,鼓石不下金, 驅馬不可以追速,進舟不可以涉水也。凡此八者,天之張道,有形見物, 苟非其人,猶尚無功,則又況乎懷道術以撫民氓,乘六龍以御天心者哉? 夫治世不得真賢,譬猶治病不得真藥也。治病當得真人參,反得支蘿服。人君求賢, 下應以鄙,己不別真,受猥官之,國以侵亂。
Thinking of worthies
The best doctor treats the state. The next best doctor treats sickness. A person who governs a state is indeed like somoeone who cures the body. Illness is sickness of the body; disorder is sickness of the state. With the body's illness, we rely on medicine to cure it; with the state's disorder, we rely on the worthy to render it orderly. For bringing order within the body, we have the arts of the Yellow Emperor('s medical classic); for bringing order to the world, we have the classics of Confucius. Hewever, when an illness cannot be cured or a state's disorder rectified, it is not that the method of acupuncture is wrong and the sayings of the five classics are perverted, but that the one who uses them in not the right man. If he is not the right man, then the compass will not draw circles, nor the square corners. The inked string will not lie straight, nor the balance be level. The fire-starting drill will not produce flame, nor will ore melt into metal. A goaded horse cannot be driven fast, nor a boat be propelled across a river. All eight of these instances are manifestations of the Way of Heaven: they take shape, appearing in objects. However, if one is not the right man, he cannot accomplish anything. How much truer is it that those who comfort the people need to embrace the Way, and those who harness the six dragons need to transmit the mind of Heaven? Trying to bring order to the world without obtaining real worthies is like trying to cure an illness without obtaining the right medicine. It is as if, in curing an illness, when one ought to use ginseng, a turnip is used instead;... If a ruler seeks the worthy and his subordinates respond with the mediocre, or if a ruler does not investigate discerningly but appoints the mediocre to official positions, he will be in danger.

Translated by Margaret J. Pearson

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