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6. Indirect tactics, efficiently applied, are inexhausible as

Heaven and Earth, unending as the flow of rivers and streams;

like the sun and moon, they end but to begin anew; like the four

seasons, they pass away but to return once more.

[Tu Yu and Chang Yu understand this of the permutations of ch'i

and cheng. But at present Sun Tzŭ is not speaking of cheng at

all, unless, indeed, we suppose with Cheng Yu-hsien that a clause

relating to it has fallen out of the text. Of course, as has

already been pointed out, the two are so inextricably interwoven

in all military operations, that they cannot really be considered

apart. Here we simply have an expression, in figurative language,

of the almost infinite resource of a great leader.]

7. There are not more than five musical notes, yet the

combinations of these five give rise to more melodies than can

ever be heard.