Indirect tactics, efficiently applied, are inexhaustible as Heaven and Earth, unending as the flow of rivers and streams;
奇 is the universally accepted emendation for 兵, the reading of the 北堂書鈔.
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 Yü understand this of the permutations of 奇 and 正. But at present Sun Tzŭ is not speaking of 正 at all, unless, indeed, we suppose with 鄭友賢 Chêng 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. 聲不過五五聲之變不可勝聽也
There are not more than five musical notes,
宮商角微羽.
yet the combinations of these five give rise to more melodies than can ever be heard.
8. 色不過五五色之變不可勝觀也
There are not more than five primary colours,