ABSTRACT
This chapter suggests that Sun Pin's final chapter in the original reconstruction of the text is without doubt the paradigm expression and philosophical culmination of the strategy of the unorthodox and orthodox. Although the entire Art of War is premised upon and largely reflects the implementation of the unorthodox and orthodox, Sun-tzu primarily advanced the concept entitled "Strategic Military Power." The conception's essence is that engaging an enemy in battle in conventional, expected ways represents "orthodox" tactics, while employing unexpected, surprise attacks and movements is unorthodox. Another concept echoed in Sun Pin's formulation of the unorthodox and orthodox probably stems from the Tao Te Ching but also appeared in other writings of the period, including the Art of War. In "Unorthodox and Orthodox" Sun Pin equally adheres to Suntzu's concept of the formless, both of them having absorbed the Taoist idea that the formless cannot be named, cannot be characterized.
