The Art of Peace

(A non-military treatise)

(The Art of Peace is the antithesis to Sun Tzu's Art of War)

I. LAYING THE GROUNDWORK
 
1.
The art of peace is
Of most vital importance
Of the State employ.
Peace is a city
Where children might dream
Upon the supple frame...
Of joy.

2.
A theme of life and death,
A path, of happiness
Not lashed to ruin.
Hence…it’s branded
As a thesis of inquiry
To not be abandoned.

3.
The art of peace, then, is
Governed by five invariable
Dreams taken into account
In one's pondering and reflection
Whilst seeking to create
Such an undying perfection.

4.
These are:
(1) The Proper Truth,
(2) Creation's role,
(3) Earth’s soul,
(4) The Peacemaker,
(5) Practice and self-control.

5,6.
The Pure Truth is that
The ruler is a mere mortal,
Not above the law,
In complete accord with world peace,
And values the whole.
Regardless of phantom peril
The people must be fearless.

7.
Creation signifies night and day,
It regards cold and heat,
And times and seasons, love.
It holds The Mother as precious
While blazing a trail of peace.

8.
Earth comprises distances,
Of the great and the small,
Dangers and sanctuary,
Open earth, narrow road,
Chances of life and death…

And hope.
9.
The Peacemaker must stand for
The intrinsic worth of insight,
Sincerity, compassion,
Courage, an unwavering light.

10.
Practice and self-control
Are to be understood as,
Assembling the tools for peace
In pure subdivisions,
The utilization of the free press
And the free communication path
To deliver the message of accord
Upon freedom’s harmony road
Touching the peaceable world.

11.
These four traits,
Patience, sincerity, compassion and courage,
Should also be familiar to all:
They that know them will be victorious,
They that know them not will surely fall.

12.
Therefore, in your deliberations,
When seeking to determine
The peaceful conditions,
Let them be made
On the basis of a comparison,
And in this be unselfish:

13.
(1) Both sovereigns must be imbued
With Pure Truth, and all evidence
Of this must be open to the public.
(2) Which of the two,
Peace or war is most viable
To maintaining calm in the world?
(3) With whom lie the rewards
Consequent of Heaven and Earth?
(4) On which side is peaceful discipline
Most thoroughly instructed?
(5) Which group is stronger, peace or war?
(6) In which group are the people
More highly trained?
(7) In which group is there the greater
Constancy, both in life and death?

14.
By means of these seven considerations we can
Forecast a peaceful victory or a warring defeat.

15.
The general that hearkens to this counsel
And acts upon it will triumph over war,
Let such a one be retained in command!
The general that hearkens not to this counsel,
Nor acts upon it, will suffer a full defeat!

16.
While guaging the profit of this counsel
Of anything deemed helpful take heed,
Over and beyond the ordinary
Prayers for lasting peace.

17.
According as circumstances lean
Favorably upon peace,
One should modify one's plans.

18.
All Peace is based on insight, reflection.

19.
Hence, when able to make peace, we must be proficient,
When using our peacemakers, we must be dynamic,
When we are near, war must hear our chants,
When far away, war must feel as if we’re upon it!

20.
Hold out no bait to entice combat
For that is a tactic sewn of war
Not the glow emitted by tranquility.

21.
If peace is secure at all points, war will fail.
If peace has superior strength, war will not prevail.

22.
If peace comes of a choleric temper,
Calm it, lift it that it may stay aloft.

23.
If War is at ease let it slumber.
If peacemakers are united
Nothing can them deter.

24.
Make peace where war is unprepared,
Appear where it expects you not.

25.
These peaceful devices, leading to triumph,
Should be given freely for all to use.

26.
Now the peacemaker who triumphs over war
Makes many calculations
In his sanctuary ere the battle is won.
The peacemaker who loses to war
Makes but few calculations beforehand.
Thus do many calculations lead to victory,
And few calculations to defeat:
How much more no calculation at all!
It is by attention to this point
That we can foresee
Who is likely to win or lose.

II CREATING PEACE

1.
In the operations of peace,
Where there are in the field
A thousand swift mediators,
As many slower, too,
And two hundred thousand
Peacekeeping-clad souls,
With provisions enough to carry them
Throughout the world,
But more importantly
The will to face the guns
The valor at home and on the front,
Including expert dialogue, words,
And brave, well intended orators.

2.
When we engage in actual dialogue,
If victory is long in coming,
Then men's tongues will grow dull and
Their ardor will be damped.
If we stretch them thin,
We exhaust their remaining strength.

3.
Again, if the campaign is protracted,
The resources of the State of Peace
Will not be equal to the strain.

4.
Now, when our words are dulled, our ardor damped,
Our strength exhausted and our posture spent,
War might spring up to take advantage
Of our extremity. Then no man, however wise,
Will be able to avert the consequences that will arise.

5.
Thus, though we have heard of stupid haste in war,
So it goes for peace, that is to say,
“Cleverness has never been seen associated with long delay.”

6.
There is no instance of a country having benefited
From prolonged warfare,
But prolonged and lasting peace, it’s clear,
That, for the world, it has never been weathered,
Which is our endeavor and purpose here.

7.
It is only one who is thoroughly acquainted
With the evils of war and the virtues of peace
That might thoroughly comprehend it more,
The profitable consequences of a protracted peace
Over the lasting penalties of persistent war.

8.
The skillful peacemaker does not raise a single levy,
Nor are his supply-wagons bulged of bombs.

9.
Bring peace material with you from home to war ravaged lands,
so as not to forage on the needy, as you will find many there
Thus the peacemaker will have plenty food and water
For themselves with more than enough to spare.

10.
Poverty of the people from wars causes a peacemaker
To be maintained by contributions from a distance.
Contributing to maintain peace at a distance
Leaves the peacemaker and the affected less impoverished.

11.
As well, the proximity of peacekeepers causes
Spirits to go up and the people's resolve
Is therefore less drained away.

12.
When substances are drained away,
The people and the peacemakers
Will be negatively effected by daunting exactions.

13,14.
With this loss of income and a fatigue of strength,
The homes of the innocent will feel barren of peace,
While wars expenses for broken chariots, worn-out hum-vees,
Breast-plates and helmets, guns and ammo and bombs,
Planes and tanks, protective armor, and damaged-soldiers
Will be paid for by the enforcement of shady revenue
And a draft of men and women and children to suffer upon war.

15.
Hence a wise peacekeeper makes a point of preparation
For supplies beforehand. One cartload of ready provisions
In the peace zone will seem dry
To twenty of one's own.
Peace requires a hopeful and ready supply.

16.
Now in order to sway the people to peace, we must, therefore,
Be unruffled and steady, that there may be advantage from
A complete and utter defeat of angry war,
The peacemaker’s reward is not money or fame…
It is peace. Peace can be their claim!

17.
Therefore in peaceful influencing,
When ten or more warriors are molded into peacemakers
The reward is enlightenment... ten-fold.
....(Peace has not a flag and should never carry one.
....The flags of the converted warrior
....Should be burned by the warrior.)

18.
....(This is utilizing the warrior’s strength
....To augment a greater peaceful affiliation.)

19.
In peace, then, let your great and noble object be victory,
Not lengthy campaigns.

20.
Thus it may be known that a leader of peacemakers
Is the arbiter of the people's fate, the man on whom it
Depends whether the nation shall be at peace or in peril.

III. PEACE BY STRATAGEM

1.
In the practical art of peace, the best
Thing of all is to strive to enter the
Warred country when it is relatively calm,
To speak of peace as bombs fall
And shatter and destroy is recklessness.
So, too, it is better to enter with peace
When there is a lull in war,
Still best, before any bombs drop at all.

2.
Hence to bring peace to victory
While explosions drown your words
Is not a peaceful path.
Ultimate peace consists
In changing the thinking
Of the warrior and
Free from combat.

3.
Thus the highest form of peacemaking is to
Balk war’s onslaught, the next best is to prevent
The junction of war’s forces, the next in
Order is to influence warriors in the field,
And the worst policy of all is to attempt
To speak of peace in the midst of a battleground.

4.
The rule is, not to enter cities in the midst of war
If it can possibly be avoided.

5.
The peacemaker, unable to control their hatred for war,
Will launch, unwary into the fray,
With the result that they do more harm than good,
While the people and warriors still remain in harms way.
Such are the disastrous effects of a rage.

6.
Therefore the skillful leader remains unflustered
Leading by example, he captures the heart and mind
Without causing harm to self or others.

7.
With their peacekeepers intact leaders will dispute the mastery
Of the Empire, and thus, without causing harm, their triumph
Will be complete. This is the method of peacemaking by stratagem.

8.
It is the rule in peace, if our forces are ten
To war's one, surround him, if five to one,
Reason with them, if twice as numerous,
To divide the peacekeeping sets
Until the proper ratio is met.

9.
If equally matched, we can offer peace,
If slightly inferior in numbers, we can prove we are peaceful,
If quite unequal in every way, we can walk away serenely.

10.
Hence, though an obstinate peace may be made
By a small peace force, in the end it will need
Again persuaded by a larger peaceful force.

11.
Now the peaceful leader is the bulwark of the Peaceful State,
If the bulwark is peaceful at all points, the Peaceful State will be strong, if the bulwark is defective,
The Peaceful State will be frail.

12.
There are three ways in which a peacekeeping leader can bring
Misfortune upon peace:

13.
(1) By commanding the peacemaker to advance or to retreat,
Being ignorant of the fact that it cannot obey.
This is called hobbling peace.

14.
(2) By attempting to govern the peacekeeping groups in the
Same way as one administers a kingdom, being ignorant
Of the conditions which obtain in peace, this causes
Restlessness in the newer peacekeeper's minds.

15.
(3) By employing the peacekeepers without discrimination, Through ignorance of the peacekeeping principle of adaptation
To circumstances. This shakes the confidence.

16.
But when the peacekeepers are restless and distrustful,
Trouble is sure to come from this causing dismay.
This is simply bringing anarchy into peace where it belongs not
And flinging a victory for peace away.

17.
Thus we may know that there are five essentials
For peace’s victory:
(1) They will win who knows the suitable time for action.
(2) They will win who knows how to handle both superior
And fledgling forces.
(3) They will win whose peacemakers are animated by the same
Spirit throughout all its numbers.
(4) They will win who, prepared, waits to offer
Peace to the warrior unprepared.
(5) They will win who has peaceful capacity and is
Not interfered with by the king.

18.
Hence the saying: If you know the enemy’s of peace
And know yourself, you need not fear the result of a
Hundred peaceful encounters.
If you know yourself but not the enemies of peace
For every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat.
If you know neither the enemies of peace nor yourself, you will
succumb to war.

Copyright © 2006 mrp / thepoetryman