Post Morning Coffee Frustrations

I spent my morning chasing a dream…

The full text of Cao Cao’s commentary on Sunzi Bingfa. After hours of searching, this was all I could find:

孫子兵書接要/Sunzi Bingshu Jieyao – Collected Records of Sunzi’s Military Writing

《孫子兵書接要》，又名《兵法接要》。佚。孙武撰。

“Collected Records of Sunzi’s Military Writing”, is also know as “Collected Records of The Art of War”. Lost. Composed by Sun Wu.

《孫子兵書接要》，一题《兵法接要》。佚。《新唐書· 藝文志》、《蘇州府志》、 《山東通志》均著錄為孫武撰。誤。《三國志·武帝記》：曹操“抄集諸家兵法，名曰《接要》”。

“Collected Records of Sunzi’s Military Writing”, its sole topic is the “Collected Records of The Art of War”. Lost. “The Book of Later Tang; Records of Written Skill”, the “Suzhou Government Records”, & the “Shandong Comprehensive Treatises”, all record it as composed by Sun Wu. This is an error. “The Annals of the Three Kingdoms; Wudi’s Records”: Cao Cao “forged a collection of all the Clan Military Methods, naming it the “Collected Records”.

《隋書· 經籍志》：“《兵書接要》一卷，魏武帝撰”。另有“《兵書接要》三卷，魏武帝撰” 等， 疑二者為一書。 《舊唐書· 經籍志》著錄此書題 “接”作“捷”。古“接”、“捷”通，意為掌握兵書要領之捷徑。此書可能有似於今之兵法類編。

“The Book of Sui; Records of Religious Texts”: “Collected Records of the Art of War, one volume, composed by Wei Wudi”. Others have “Collected Records of the Art of War, three volumes, composed by Wei Wudi” etc, though it’s doubtful that both of them are the same document. “The Book of Former Tang; Records of Religious Texts” records this book title’s “接/Jie – Collect” written as “捷/Jie – Quick”. The old “Collections” can understood “quickly”, the idea being to serve as a shortcut to master the essentials of the Military Book. This document is similar to the modern type of Art of War.

《太平御覽》卷8、卷11中引有此書佚文，系雜占之語，說明書中有雜占類兵法語錄。

“Imperial Readings of the Taiping Era”, volumes eight & eleven, contain extended quotes from this book of Lost Writing. It is a technical manual containing various observations resembling quotes from the Art of War.

Weep for your Kung Fu Uncle…