Welcome to the land of black and white stones... 圍棋兵法

The Art of War: States of Baguazhang 7 (Forms)

2011-09-17T15:20:00.000+09:30

I have been getting a steady stream of questions regarding Ba Gua Zhang (Pa Kua Chang) forms (and other style forms in general). So in order to explain them I will format this blog by way of Q&A.

1. Why do Bagua Zhang practitioners 'walk' in a 'circle'?: The simplest type of exercise is to go for a walk and a circle means keeping it tight. A practitioner can prettimuch practice anywhere. For me personally the ideal area size is 2 square metres.

2. Why have forms?: Forms do several things. Firstly, they allow one to gently exercise different parts of their body by doing different movements. Secondly, it helps the mind and body connect together in the way some people need to go for a walk in order to think. Thirdly, it is in essence a 'drill' sequence in the same sense as the drills conducted in the armed services. The ultimate aim is to allow the body to correctly react automatically to the situation taught by the particular form without the need to think.

3. Do forms help you to fight?: No. Not really in the usual sense. If you want to fight then get into a fight. Fighting is the best teacher for fighting. But as we all know, fighting is not always about punching and kicking... (Let me explain with the next few questions.)

4. What is the true form?: There is no true form. All Ba Gua Zhang forms are equal but they each teach something different. Those who claim that their style is the one and only blah blah blah, miss the point completely.

5. What is the meaning of the forms?: A form is a 5 dimensional book. And a practitioner 'walks' through this book in order to read and learn. The names of the movements are just symbolic titles of things representing real things, events or historical situations. If you can grasp this then you are starting to learn from the original masters themselves and not from a master who is a hand-me-down replica of the original.

6. Do I need a sifu to understand the forms?: Not necessarily. The forms themselves are the embodiment of the original masters that created them. To do the forms is to be walking in their shoes. A sifu that understands this will be able to explain why a certain move is useless in fighting but is important to that particular form. If they can't then they should find a better sifu. If you can see the form's story in your mind then in actuality you can learn it faster by yourself.

7. Is each Ba Gua Zhang style complete/whole?: No. Each master had his or her specialty. One can only say that they know Ba Gua Zhang if they know several styles. There are too many martial artists out there who do just one circle-walking form as a sub-part of something else and then claim to be masters. It helps if you can picture it like in the army; one baguazhang master's forms might be a book teaching desert warfare, another might be more about jungle warfare, another streetfighting and another (this for real) was more about going to massage palours and on and on. How you fight in the desert is different to fighting in the jungle.

8. Can I create my own form?: Yes. It is essential for a baguazhang master to create a new form that takes into account of the master's environment. Many of the current arguments exist because to many masters are afraid to take the final step that places them on par with the original masters. I have created 4 forms, and so now everything I tell you comes straight from them. I am not joking when I say my masters are all dead.

The Art of War: States of Baguazhang 6

2011-09-17T15:17:00.000+09:30

Baguazhang is normally classed as defensive boxing under the neijia (internal) banner. In my years of practice I have come to the conclusion that it is neither internal nor external. Neither hard nor soft. And it is not, nor ever was about 'boxing' or 'fighting'. A baguazhang practitioner does not fight. They are in the art of killing.

Baguazhang was created in a time when losing a fight meant humiliation, loss-of-face and loss of business. By business I mean security type jobs etc... But to win was almost worse because it meant retribution of the worst kind: death or a neverending line of guys wanting to defeat you.

The original baguazhang masters' world was a dangerous world that makes our world look like little boys pretending to be men.

So this is the first secret of baguazhang: Real kung-fu is about killing your opponent. If you are a baguazhang master you will know the feeling and thoughts - You don't dream of beating your opponent, you dream of lethal ways to efficiently kill him so that every man and his dog behind your opponent will get the hint and stay the hell away from you.

(Newcomers: Welcome to the Bagua Zhang Art of War!)

Why-Why!

2010-10-09T18:00:00.001+10:30

Thunder streaking high:

There lies below a new dream

Between the Spring’s dew,

As two dragons coil

Over a black and white war

Between twilight stones.

Who knows the outcome?

It is hard to tell amid

The love of Why-Why!

The Art of War: States of Gamble

2010-08-27T22:11:00.001+09:30

Sometimes it is a good idea to take a break from one's passions. This is especially true when playing Weiqi (Go/Baduk). As a player gets better at the game and goes on to win game after game, it can become something of a monk's addiction. When that happens, a growing tsunami shadows them over every board that they battle over. Luckily some of us get a one ton boulder dropped on their hand that renders them useless for a while. And so, we must sit on the sidelines and watch others gamble their fortunes away in games where the rules keep changing.

Now you may be saying "What? I've heard all this before. Blah, blah, blah..."

And it is true. You have. But did you know that I am not talking about gambling. I am talking about the growing tsunami. Weiqi is not just a game of stones played on a board - That is for amateurs (including professionals who play it as a game only). It is a game of strategies among generals that can understand what I am saying and those that should start to retire before this world forces them to.

That is now twice I have led you into a trap surrounded by stones using words.

Tai Lung coiling up,
(A great stone falls - the world waits)
Over the Go realm.

Where have you gone?

2010-07-10T17:07:00.001+09:30

Once again I am asked: Where have I gone? Answer: Nowhere but here and there.

I have been quietly watching and waiting. And while I do so I have been playing Go (Weiqi/Baduk) on the side and doing my baguazhang The world turns when I turn. Yes, I have been busy. Overthrowing a dictatorship here and downcasting a tyrant there. All in the name of The Art of War.

But the real truth is...

As the I-ching stands now, there are 64 hexagrams made up of six lines. I have been floating in the seventh line and soon I will be entering the eighth line. If you can see the connection between Go (Weiqi/Baduk), Baguazhang and the I-ching, then you are not too far away from me and I humbly invite you up the never-ending mountain. If you do not, then you have a long way ahead to go before you even reach the introduction chapter of my running blog.

The Art of War: States of Imperium 2

2010-03-26T22:20:00.001+10:30

See the world from a superior position - Taking charge of the situation

Playing Weiqi (Go/Baduk) is a beautiful past-time in which there are many ways and levels to play it. However it seems that sometimes in this world, many of the games that have been crossing my path lately remind me of the fact that we are living in an institutionalized realm. There are many brilliant players of the game and some are geniuses, but that does not stop a true masters ability to stand above it all and look down upon the this worldly game and remind all that a stone is just a stone beholden unto the gods that say what goes and what does not go.

Ye may think that I might rambling and that ye may wish to level at me the criticism for me to speak clearly, but I will throw back this: Do you not consider that the board upon which you play means more than just a board?

Weiqi (Go/Baduk) is about overcoming walls in our lives.

A simple lesson in the Art of War, part76

2009-12-25T11:53:00.000+10:30

You look upon the board. It is a simple remedy: You place a black stone further up the chain towards claiming the central starpoint and the game's throne.

With each stone I grow
a little bigger each day:
You are no match, foe!

Your opponent respects the haiku in what that means. And he studies the board on what to do. So he smiles. Drinks some tea and then replies as he makes his choice.

You bear stained fangs
But in your heart you preserve.
Go reveals the truth.

Your opponent at first goes to counter a move up in the northeast, but he looks at as if to mock... Now what really is there? He drinks some more tea and then places his white stone inwards. Two places southeast of the central starpoint and claims on of your abandoned black stones. What was the point of that? To be funny? He pens a Haiku...

With each bite you shrink
But the Go board stays the same.
I play by my rules!

The Art of War: States of Imperium

2009-12-14T17:14:00.000+10:30

Sometimes under a very grim day it falls upon the ears of the master and his pet dragons that the world is not as it seems and that the ministers are conceiving an illusion. Yes, it is true that the weiqi (Go/Baduk) board is square, solid and made from a fine piece of wood that resonates with each clink of the black and white stones. But eventually that same board gets cluttered up with those very same stones that live to serve their master's sagely hands. White follows black and black follows white with rarely an abstention.

But there is the pause...

It was asked: Where has the flower gone; why does it no longer bloom a sweet fragrance?

This is not the time for alas. The flower still blooms upon the Imperium State as the black dragon and white dragon encircle each other around the weiqi (Go/Baduk) board. For it now falls upon a dangerous thing when each move, each hand, each stone breaks the frail illusions of those that think that they can control the world that never did and never will exist.

A new world is being born and this is the highest art of war upon the weiqi (Go/Baduk) board. Remember: Sun-Tzu played the game but kept its secrets hidden - For war is indeed a grave matter of state and death.

The Art of War: States of Baguazhang 5

2009-11-21T21:27:00.000+10:30

So that a baguazhang practitioner can move forward, a number of issues have been highlighted to me that needs clarification.

1. What does it mean when someone says they know baguazhang?

There are many forms or styles of baguazhang. When someone says they know baguazhang it is best to ask them which style. While there are stand alone baguazhang styles, most are part of a family set. For example Chen style baguazhang belongs to the Chen family kungfu house. And while you learn baguazhang, you also will learn Xingyi, Taiqi and others. Most practitioners from any school will have learned some baguazhang routines and so long as they walk in a circle they can pay lip service to the Baguazhang.

2. What is the difference between wushu and kungfu baguazhang?

Firstly, there is nothing wrong with wushu. The difference between the two are as different as learning archery for sport and learning the bow and arrow for hunting. Wushu is a sport. And for some people that is best for them.

Secondly, true kungfu is for fighting and killing. You will never see real kungfu in an arena because the outcome may be death: you learn to fight to win. There are no judges judging you on points. And this especially true for internal style practitioners, every strike you make has the potential to kill your opponent.

Thirdly, the kungfu you see in the arena is somewhere between wushu and real kungfu.

3. Should we look down upon wushu?

No. First learn the history of wushu and why it developed and visit China before making up your mind. There is a reason why wushu exists. Just like there is a reason why the hippie form of Taiqi practiced in the western parks exists even though it is not real Taiqi. And just for the record, real Taiqi is fluid, smooth and done to a quicker pace and has nothing to do with yoga. In fact, what you see in parks is not even kungfu. It is more closely related to basic qigong.

The Art of War: States of Baguazhang 4

2009-11-13T14:35:00.001+10:30

For most people WeiQi (Go/Baduk) is just a game. For most players and masters it is also just a game. Very few know how to translate the game into the real world. This is partially because the game is played on a seemingly two dimensional board with two opposing coloured stones. But life has more dimensions and if only the player and/or master could realise it then they would see that that their life is just like a game of weiqi and that the game of weiqi is a reflection of their life.

Baguazhang is the same. However, baguazhang has a few advantages over weiqi when it comes to explaining higher concepts in its nature as being an internal style. And now from years of doing baguazhang I am ready to pass on some of the secrets that I have fathomed in order so that I can explain what I mean like in the first paragraph.

Firstly, I do not claim to be a grandmaster. There are just too many fakes out there. However I have learned many of the styles out there. This is not to be able to brag, but to know their differences and all that stuff.

So here goes....

1. By doing baguazhang, a practitioner gets to walk in that style's creator's shoes; to see through his mind whether it be Gao, Chen, Yin, Fu, Cheng, Wang and others.

2. Each baguazhang form is a 'book'. A physical moving story that teaches the practitioner what to do in a given situation.

3. Not all baguazhang forms are about physical one-on-one fighting. That is the tao of man, Others deal with the heaven and earth taos. For example, Wudang's Swimming Dragon form tells the pratitioner how to command armies and conquer a city.

4. The best way to see it for yourself, is to honestly ask yourself in which realistic situation would you move in a certain way? Some moves only look like blocking and attacking....This is part of the secret transmission of knowledge of the inner door circle.

5. Every baguazhang practitioner finds their level and their chi/qi base. The best and quickest way to know this is to break the baguazhang rules and find the element in which doing baguazhang is the most natural for you. For me it is outside on windy days. I come alive and nothing can stop the chi within me. This because my bagua element is thunder because I am the eldest in my family. Just like the youngest enjoys doing it on hard surfaces and the middle loves water and steel.

6. It is never wise to follow rules without understanding them. Rules are what separates the real baguazhang masters from okay masters.

7. Should any chose to want to become a true grandmaster to things must happen:

7A. The practitioner must write down what they know about baguazhang as it relates to them. It is a self-test that will help whittle down the essence of the style for them. And...

7B. The practitioner should start developing their own style. Light their own candle rather than standing in the shadows of others. By doing this, you will see what matters to you.

For weiqi players it comes down to this: Stop playing like a robot and start coming up with your own moves.

A simple lesson in the Art of War, part75

2009-10-18T09:06:00.000+10:30

"Hah! If you thought we are through?... Then you'd be wrong. Rise Oh mighty white dragon!" Announces your opponent as the weiqi board burns with the corpse of a festering war. Flags flutter in the breeze as you realise that you have been fighting on an upside down weiqi board.

"What is it?" Asks the tea lady as she walks past.

"That's the face of a player who's about to lose everything!" Answers your wily opponent. You stare at him and wait... What will he do; Is the game truly over?

"I may not know much about the game..." Starts the tea lady, "but my impression of the game seems like a war of border skirmishes. I don't find you playing anything grand and sweeping."

"Oh." You answer... She is right. He has only been pricking at the seams. He lacks the ability to play in the grandeur of the great masters of yore. There is a concern upon your opponent's brow as he studies the board.

"Don't worry dear. Perhaps in another game you could beat him." She says to your opponent and now it is your turn to smile. "Would you like some more tea? Perhaps a snack alongside?"

"No." He replies.

"I would love a snack with my tea, anything special?"

"I'll get one of the girls to bring something special out. Oh... and thanks for dealing with that ruffian earlier. He forgets his place sometimes."

Your opponent lays down a white stone. It sounds definite in response to what the tea lady had said. Two places southwest from the central starpoint, the attack upon the heart of the country has begun. It looks odd to the untrained eye, but it feels like a needle piercing the neck very, very slowly; viperous, venomous, lethal if not stopped. But how?

"Welcome to the Kabila Dynasty. The African version of the Middle Kingdom... Bonjour Mobutu."

The Art of War: States of Time 2

2009-09-26T08:13:00.002+09:30

To build an object in time is a little different to building one in space. (While it seems that I am splitting them up into two distinct things, they are not. It helps to remember that while space may be the black stones of a WeiQi board, time is the white stones. You need both to have a game.)

To build an object in time, you need eight dimensions. And they are...

1. The first dimension is length
2. The second dimension is width, and together with length you will get a quarter of a circle
3. The third dimension is height, and with area you will get 1/8th of a sphere
4. The fourth dimension is depth, yes depth, and with volume you will get a whole sphere. Some of you would have noticed that depth is different from length, width or height. This is true. It is only laziness that people love to one of the other three for depth. Pure laziness.
5. The fifth dimension is gravity
6. The sixth dimension is weak-force
7. The seventh dimension is electromagnatism
8. The eighth dimension is strong-force.

For those doing Baguazhang or I-ching these eight dimensions are another way to view the eight trigrams or gua, if the traditional meanings are a little hard to fathom: Qian = length, Zhen = width, Kan = height, Gen = depth, Kun = gravity, Xun = weak-force, Li = electromagnatism and Dui = Strong-force. If you have a baguazhang form that has eight palm changes, then rather calling each plam change after an animal as is the custom, a more scientifically minded person could rename them into these eight and meditate on each as they do their routine?

In time the starting point is always the centre. Marked by zero or nought. And for a time traveler, they are always at the centre of their co-ordinates. So while the first fourth dimensions build outwards, the second four dimensions build inwards. That is why gravity stands opposite length. Gravity is the empty space that bends the line (length) into a circle.

While the first three dimensions are easily understood by most people, true depth as a dimension is unique because we can kind-of see aspects of it. And we record depth in different ways depending on how we measure it against something else. For example mass, reflection, going down, tree rings, a well, the box within a box scenario and so forth...

Now has anyone read Alice in Wonderland yet?

The Art of War: States of Time

2009-09-20T16:19:00.000+09:30

Playing WeiQi (Go/Baduk) helps the mind to fathom complex ideas in a more simple fashion. The game is what it is to whomever is playing it. But that does not stop a person from being more than just a player. In fact, to play the game at a 'higher' level, a player almost has to be an alchemist or in the more westernised sense of a true Renaissance man.

For me, game is a reflection of what my mind likes to think about and sometimes I have to be careful that I do not get lost from the main game. Which, as a progress, becomes harder and harder. So this is one reason why I have not been writing: To me, my mind is clear, but when I explain it to others, I am like the Mad Hatter of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. (Which incidentally, if you have read it, it is about Time. Yes. That's right. The twelve chapters refer to the twelve dimensions/effects/forces of time.)

But I do keep notes... So that I can share them with others.

So here goes:

To be really really good at WeiQi, a player needs to understand a few things about time. To help you, you need to ask yourself: Are you a space traveler or a time traveler? Forget Sci-fi. It is a matter of perceiving the world around you. If you asked somebody how far away something is from, say, themselves, a space traveler will always answer in distances like miles or km's, and a space traveler will always answer in terms of hours or minutes depending on the mode of travel. The two ways of thinking make a huge difference of how the world is made. Thankfully most people are a mix of the two. Because you need a bit of both to comprehend this little gem: To a space traveler length x width = area (square). Simple. But to a time traveler length x width = a quarter of a circle. Why the difference? (I know the answer but I'll let you figure it out for yourselves.)

PS. For those of you who suffer a lot from dejavu, it is because you have been bending your personal timeline into a loop (going around in circles like the lost traveler in the desert) and have not been paying enough attention. For those living in the city, imagine yourself walking a straight line but the line is so long that you never realised that you've been walking around the block.

A simple lesson in the Art of War, part74

2009-08-30T18:58:00.000+09:30

The black dragon flexes his tail. The tip strikes the edge of the board. It is the first time that that has happened. A ripple shudders north and south as the eastern edge of the weiqi board is claimed by your opponent. Five gradients south of the north-eastern wastelands one looks around at a desolate outpost. As if stroking one's beard in contemplation you ponder deeply at the games progression before holding firm to the time at hand.

Your opponent smirks.

And you smirk back. "Hah! If you thought we are through?... Then you'd be wrong. Rise Oh mighty white dragon!"

A simple lesson in the Art of War, part73

2009-07-28T20:30:00.000+09:30

An old saying among dragons goes: If your neighbour's cockroaches start to climb over the fence then it is time to burn down your neighbour's farm.

As two dragons face each other, you sit waiting. White picks up a stone as you sip your tea. There had been an annoyance beforehand but it was nothing. Then you freeze as one of your black stones is almost encircled down in the southeast - a place of beautiful isolation. You scratch your chin in thought and then shift slightly. It is time to purify the board with fire!

Your opponent smiles in delight.

The Art of War: States of Baguazhang 3

2009-07-19T08:29:00.002+09:30

Few people know what Baguazhang has to do with Weiqi (Go/Baduk). They are related in that both employ encirclement and flanking to achieve their aims. And both are more about strategy,

For the Baguazhang practitioner, weiqi helps the mind to see the dualistic nature of the world: hard/soft, round/straight etcetera. It is a hard concept to understand if you have not been inducted into a martial art school, so I will give an even simpler relationship by explaining Baguazhang in more detail...

Baguazhang

Baguazhang is a form of martial arts. It is internal which means that its roots are Taoist (philosophy not religion), homegrown Chinese whereas Shaolin comes from outside of China and its training method involves building the body from the inside out. It is a soft, medium and hard style depending on which school of Baguazhang a practitioner belongs to. It is primarily a Kung-fu art although you will find it in Wu-shu schools.

The people of Wudang and Emei like to claim that they are the founders of Baguazhang, but this is a poor-cousin lie. Wudang/Emei's Taoism lies in the religion, not in the source of Taoism itself which is the I-Ching. The I-Ching is the source of nearly all Chinese thought and I recommend that all Baguazhang practitioners must learn the I-Ching in order to achieve the highest level there is: God's Kung-fu.

Master Dong Hai Chuan is the founder of the art. However there is evidence of Kung-fu styles refering to the trigrams as their source.

Baguazhang uses strategy in its execution and I just don't know how to explain this: When you are doing a baguazhang form, if your mind is open, you are quite literally stepping into the shoes of the master who developed it and you see what he saw: be it something in the past or future?

Once again the answer to that is to learn the I-Ching...

A response and answer to what was written above

Raulito said...

Please do not be biased on your views by claiming that Taoism is based only on philosophy and not on religion. Note that Taoism is actually an integration of many aspects from I-Ching, shamanistic beliefs, Lao Tzu, Chaung Tzu, etc. The fact that you are admitting that you do not know how to explain baguazhang strategy point out that you may have little knowledge of what you are talking about. Of course, in teaching baguazhang, it may be more helpful to just to analize and use philosophy and not delve into more details of the religion especially for us who are not Taoists.

20 July 2009 10:15 AM

Hantzu said...

Is it in your nature to pick fights?

Or...

are you saying that you have more than 20 years experience?

20 July 2009 8:07 PM

An open letter to a friend in Auckland, New Zealand

2009-07-03T08:07:00.001+09:30

Hello Matey!

I haven't heard from you in a while. How are things going with you? I just finished reading the book 'Cry of theTiger: Amazing true story of Tony Anthony, the Kungfu champion'. It reminded me so much our lives....And what you've been through.

Steven tell me about your kungfu training. Are you mostly focusedon the martial aspects of your tiger-crane style? Oh yeah, Are you learning tiger style and crane style or a combined form? I saw that in Shaolin they learn them as two separate forms while somewhere in southern China there is a combined form.

As you know with me, I'm still doing Bagua under God's light. And that is why I will not learn a weapon form because I've come to believe in the saying of 'he who lives by the sword dies by the sword'. The true way of Bagua is to surpass one's fighter stage and become something beyond a sifu. The old Grandmaster Moogui in Kungfu Panda best enlightens that way.

Take care, your distant pal... Hantzu

The Art of War: States of Haiku

2009-06-25T20:56:00.001+09:30

Dragons coiling round,
Satan's grip is slipping from
The Weiqi battle.

The black dragon waits.
The white dragon shakes the earth.
As a new mandate comes.

In the states of Go,
A triple haiku marks stones
Of both black and white.

And so it shall be
Upon the ever changing
Sands wrought through Baduk.

A single stone cast
As Carligard throws Satan's
corpse back into hell.

A simple lesson in the Art of War, part72

2009-06-20T21:39:00.001+09:30

Your opponent has played his stone. Weiqi is like a dragon coiling its long talons around the holy grail. And so it is with each of your moves. Even a teahouse cannot disguise what is happening on and around the weiqi world that remains in a grindingly slow state of play.

You shift slightly in your seat before taking up a white stone. You place it down in a hopelessly placed situation three lines from the bottom and bound by black sentries. Your opponent openly wonders how can you save your trapped six stones?

But that is for one of the futures that will be born in the next major battle between ye.

It is he first possible stone in your opponent's suffocation over the weiqi board. The madam of the teahouse looks on briefly and then after a glance at each of us she moves on. A delightful teamaid is left to clean up our old teapot and bring us a new brew. Even my opponent remarks at her subtle sophistication.

A simple lesson in the Art of War, part71

2009-06-20T21:19:00.001+09:30

Like all matters of war and peace, a lull appears after a major battle. And a cool winter settles over the frosty weiqi board between ye. Your opponent's responses have been swift and of near equal measure. And you are in a bind as to where to play next.

The new battle line is not in east verses west, but turned on a forty-five degree angle that calls for a new strategy. You draw out a black stone from its comfortable home and place it down on the board: Just to the southwest of the eastern star point like a new star in the sky. It watches undisturbed but the time will come when it will strike the ground and severely rattle your opponent's beliefs.

A game played in 1998

2009-06-12T19:25:00.001+09:30

Some games are, for love of a better phrase, best left alone. This is not one of them. It should be. But like the world in which we live, there comes the occasional time when we have to face our shortcomings and accept for all of our boofy hair and twinkle toe shoes, we do not rock the world. Others do.

For those of more humble perspectives having an eye-opener, however personally painful, will lead to an enlightened way of weiqi (go/baduk).

The Art of War: States of Winter

2009-05-19T20:52:00.000+09:30

Recently while on holiday I have had the chance to reflect on weiqi (go/baduk) and what it means to play the game. As I reflected, in my world away from my world, I was tempted to call this entry States of Tactical Retreat. But I found that tacky and it would imply weakness to people whose mantra only consists of 'a good offense is the best defense'.

In the world of weiqi (go/baduk) a good player of the game needs to know where they are and how to handle any situation. And sometimes the best course of action is not to attack but to quietly move away from the field of action and let their opponent fall down into their own trap or problems.

I would say that fate can be favourable and the Lord works in mysterious ways. But in weiqi (go/baduk) such luck does not exist. There are only two antagonists, a board and two piles of stones. Playing the game is a bit like God saying "OK kid. I am removing all the distracting possiblities and fuzzy weird logic that you use to explain things away. And Lo. It's just you and another. All your actions are in plain sight for all to see. Including yourself. So face up to it and deal with it."

Nathan from the Last Samurai faced this predicament and was a better man because of it. Sometimes while playing weiqi (go/baduk) we face our own winters, where we are trapped. It takes a true master (of any leaning) to realize the potential that lays before them.

And when I could not play, I practiced my Baguazhang in the brisk cool air. Now my chi is strong and the real weiqi board waits to be played upon.

A simple lesson in the Art of War, part70

2009-04-20T21:28:00.001+09:30

A long pause creaks past the minutes as you take up your turn to play.

A ghostly hand drifts over the board as your opponent removes his hand from his devastating black stone. In the north, where once there had been a battle in your favour, your opponent now takes away three white stones and so much more.

You retaliate swiftly.

Two black stones are struck off the board in the south eastern corner.

An eye for an eye... Rarely is a dragon's war fought so openly.

The board changes much
But it almost looks the same
From when we last met.

On the Power of Thought: The Genesis Problem

2009-04-01T10:30:00.001+10:30

While playing a simple game of weiqi (go/baduk) a ponderous thought came into my mind. Perhaps I was in the moment or just playing too hard. But the shapes upon the board led me to think about Einstein's famous equation E=mc².

This little equation holds that the speed of light is fixed and the only true constant throughout the universe. Thinking about it, I wondered if it is a truth? For something to be a truth, it must hold true no matter how extreme or improbable a situation.

So I said to myself, is 'thought' real?

Does something as intangible as thought have mass?

We claim thoughts to be real. You can see Thoughts, but what is it?

So I said, Thought has no mass because it isn't a solid that exists in space. And then I went, if Thought's mass equals zero then Einstein's equation would go like this:

Energy equals zero mass for Thought times the speed of light squared.
E = 0 x (299792km/s x 299792km/s)
E = 0 x 89563729984
E = 89563729984 joules

So Thought at the speed of light has energy. In fact 89563729984 joules of the stuff. So then I asked, if I know the universal constant and I know the energy of Thought produced when at the speed of light, how is that possible?

So I took Einstein's formula and did it again with my new set of facts.

89563729984 joules = m x 89563729984km/sec
89563729984 joules / 89563729984km/sec = m
1 = m

So the answer is 1. Thought has no mass but when it travels at the speed of light Thought has a mass of 1. The only thing or matter in the universe that has a mass of 1 is a hydrogen atom and they are what is used to fuel the stars that give off light.... The rest is history.

Genesis Chapter 1

א בְּרֵאשִׁית, בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים, אֵת הַשָּׁמַיִם, וְאֵת הָאָרֶץ.	1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
ב וְהָאָרֶץ, הָיְתָה תֹהוּ וָבֹהוּ, וְחֹשֶׁךְ, עַל-פְּנֵי תְהוֹם; וְרוּחַ אֱלֹהִים, מְרַחֶפֶת עַל-פְּנֵי הַמָּיִם.	2 Now the earth was unformed and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters.
ג וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים, יְהִי אוֹר; וַיְהִי-אוֹר.	3 And God said: 'Let there be light.' And there was light.

A simple lesson in the Art of War, part69

2009-03-31T22:23:00.000+10:30

Strike. Bomb. Clink. The weiqi board grows tighter as a random pattern reveals its divine self for ye to see and ponder over. You place your black stone and hand the board over to your opponent. He ponders briefly and then lays a white egg above your black stone in expectant war. "Dragons rarely move..." He says, "But when they do, the ground will know it."

"Like a cherry blossom petal dipping through time." You add.

The din in the teahouse murmurs along as the tea madam orders one of her tea girls to clean up the mess left on the floor by one's martial prowress. You slip the tea madam a discrete coin of appreciation and briefly smile at your opponent before sipping your tea and plotting a serious reponse to his daffodilly strike upon the weiqi board.

A simple lesson in the Art of War, part68

2009-03-24T19:01:00.003+10:30

You breathe a deep sigh. Stones on a board: black and white sit motionless. Something is pulsating within them for something to happen upon and to this drawn out weiqi world.

You breathe another deep sigh. Your opponent waits calmly for your move and as he does, a dimsum slithers down his throat in delicious expectation.

It is your turn to strike the board and a group of black and white islands rest haphazardly in the southeast of your shared dominion. A dark cloud gathers over that region like a swirling tempest as your long arm reaches forth with a polished white stone. Between two black stones guarding the eastern frontier you place your stone. The clink! of your stone ever-so-subtly nudges the two black stones apart: Nothing has in the obvious changed but the mood in the teahouse has tensed up a degree.

Watching carefully, your opponent acknowledges your move.

Dragon, white dragon...
Be-still, be-calm your white stones
Your sad daughter cries.

Five past the sixth hour, a black stone is placed. And it your fateful terrible turn again.

The Art of War: States of Change 2

2009-03-21T16:11:00.000+10:30

Welcome back.

For the more numerically gifted among us I have been asked to explain The Law of Change in a more scientific way?

So here goes: Since Einstein walked the earth science has pretty-much stagnated when it comes to the concept of spacetime and as such the busy little beavers in their little towers have been steadily losing the plot.

Firstly, to understand 'prediction' beyond guessimating one must understand that our world has more that three spacial dimensions. There are five, yes five, and in English we have always had basic words for them and they are: Height, width, length, depth and girth.
The first three everybody knows and understands, but the next one gets confusing because we like to interchange it with either width or length. And girth sadly has been replaced with diameter or radius.

Secondly, God does not play dice because God always knows the outcome of anything before it has even begun. This concept is important to understand when you come to realise that a couple of scientically proven facts: 1. It does not matter in which direct a person looks, they will only ever see the past and this gets magnified over distance. And 2. No matter what a person looks at they will only ever see half of the object. To correct ourselves for these handicaps we use time or change (which are the same thing) to confirm what we see to be true.

A real life example would be hold up a box in front of your face and notice that it does not matter which way we rotate the box, we only see half of it and our eyes cannot prove by themselves on the first three dimentions alone that the box is a true rectangle or cube. Yes, you can hold the box so, that you can see seven corners. But a box has eight corners and if you could open the lid of the box or have a transparent box then you can use depth to measure the eigth corner and know that it is a good box.

Thirdly, it may sound weird or strange to read all of this, but we do this in our heads all the time without being aware of it. The only difference between mathematicans and ordinary folk is that while the former have the time and money to be exactingly precise in their measurements, the latter are happy to go for approximations in their hurried calculations.

And when a picture can say a thousand words, pictures can relay the information at a much faster rate than words. In war it is a bit like a spy returning from the front lines and the urgency is such that the detailed messege handlovingly written by somebody in the field may have to edited to a crude three word note that hopefully will convey the intensions of the writer.

The Art of War: States of Change

2009-03-18T19:38:00.000+10:30

A fact that is universal to all things including weiqi (go/baduk) is the Law of Change. Change is the 'thing' that governs the game more than anything else. In chess victory is brought about by annihilating your opponent who represents the enemy. And it does not matter how clever a player may be, the genius and the idiot pretty much win in the same way. Most other games usually invlove victory by being the first to finish whatever it is they were doing.

But in weiqi (go/baduk) annihilating one's enemy only clears out an area for further future battles. Yes, sometimes it can be gratifying to completely wipe your opponent off the board, but howmany have felt that victory erroded by one's opponent placing a new stone inside a nice big area?

All it takes for weeds to grow back is alittle bit of rain and sunshine.

Some comedians like to say that a lot of Jesus' talk is meant to be taken ironically. They could be right, but he talks an aweful lot about gardening and weeding.

Now I realise that I am meandering off the topic somewhat, so I'll get beck to the Law of Change.

To master the game is to master the Law of Change. And change comes no mater what. Because Change equals time and time is a necessary part of our universe. All it takes is seeing things in a different light.

To control the board is to control the direction of the game, its flow. Yes, chess allows it too, but most people are not nerds bent on doing hours of mathematical equations in their heads. weiqi is about seeing logical patterns that form by two opposing forces (black and white) and after much practice being able to predict with some certainty where or how a pattern will form in the future.

It sounds difficult but we do it all the time in our daily lives. The only difference here is, is that we conciously take control of what we are doing and can because of it explain ourselves with basic logic to those that hide behind false science and false religion. If what I write sits uncomfortably with the reader then the reader is living in a dogmatic world.

The Art of War: The Dragon Scroll

2009-03-07T22:25:00.002+10:30

Weiqi and Dejavu

2009-02-28T15:01:00.001+10:30

Dejavu is the bizzarre feeling of seeing something for the very first time and feeling like you have seen or experienced it before. While most people would see it as a curse, I have been blessed to experience it far, far, more than most people. And as I write this I am pleased to say that there is a reason for it.

To understand that reason one must first unveil the mist that leads to confusion. Like recognising that most tourists who visit America will get it because they do not realise or remember that they saw it on television. And that most entertainment of all kinds (whatever the language, religion or culture) revolve around predictable repetitive plots.

Once this has been understood and methodically analized away, the real dejavu can be looked into and if you are lucky like me, you may be able to 'follow-through' on the dejavu and confirm what the future may hold.

I write this on my weiqi (Go/Baduk) blogsite because the aim of the game is to encircle your opponents pieces. The game is so simple that people rarely see the repititions that they are prone to doing - This is the great wheel that Buddhists and Hindus refer to. For monothesists it is like being in the jungle or desert and while you are trying to walk in a straight line, you always end up where you started. Only you don't know that it is the same starting point because each time it changes just enough for you to not notice.

Thankfully there is God and his view. And as a player (this may sound funny but it's not) you get to see lives unfolding on the weiqi (go/baduk) board in many circles.

Some lives are short, others long and their circles may change. But they're still spinning around and around.

Dejavu is God's little gift to us to wake up and pay attention: You've done that before, do something else and straighten the path.

While I am guilty of walking my own circle over and over again, I am using weiqi to pull myself off the weiqi board and see it from the realm of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

A simple lesson in the Art of War, part67

2009-02-21T14:30:00.002+10:30

A giant dark snake
Swims down a murky river
And everybody stares.

And so it reads from the teahouse madam's fortune cookie. A snake in the proverbial grass. You stand up from your table and respectfully bow to your opponent. He holds in his hand a white stone waiting to play but if there ever was a utopian world on the weiqi board, it is about to be tested.

A palm-drawn black stone -
It is smooth and polished black:
The game waits your turn.

You inhale deeply and pause. There is a smile across your opponent's face as the teahouse madam criss-crosses the house like a twirling Beijing opera singer. What is she doing? Others are wondering through the steamy haze. From high above you exhale the delights and place your black stone on the board: You have gotten bored of waiting and attack your opponent's western wall.

There is a counter-strike from your opponent and you retaliate with a fierce open palm against an observor's chest before he could punch you in the face with a hook-punch.

"I see you still like to workout?" Your opponent jests as you spin behind your violently minded obervor and strike his lower back with a chi-blocking palmstrike. His knees give way as the pain surges up his backside and causes him to start weeping like a sinner begging for forgiveness at the temple. Whatever fury remains in the angry observor, it is washed away with his tears as the teahouse madam gently takes the antagonist away.

"Welcome back." Your opponent says.

"Thank you. I will now take your two white stones." You reply.

Your opponent smiles and counters again by removing that black stone you just played. You know that your opponent thinks that his wall still secure. But it has been breeched. You sit down again at the weiqi board and bemusingly smile at your opponent the fact that you could have attacked him at far better sites and instead chose to fight at the great wall of Ba-Sing-Se*.

*Ba-Sing-Se is the fictional city of the Earth Kingdom in the Nickelodeon series Avatar: The Last Airbender (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avatar_the_Last_Airbender)

The Art of War: States of Baguazhang 2

2009-02-21T13:08:00.000+10:30

For those who've never heard of Baguazhang, it is a Chinese martial art that is part of the 'internal' family of kungfu. The internal part refers to the fact that it is a style that imploys walking meditation and is philosophically Taoist and you learn kungfu from the soul outwards.

By walking meditation I am refering to the fact that it is good for people who need to do something to think, pray or ponder. In Weiqi, many players find it a relief to think about a game while doing something else, only for me rather than walking, Baguazhang allows me to put a white stone in one palm and a black stone in the other and I get to see a multidimentional view of the game (problem) unfolding before my eyes.

By Taoism I am refering to the philosophy of Taoism not the religion of the same name. The religion is a counter-religious reaction to the introduction of Buddhism into China. The philosophy behind true Taoism is subservant to God and is best explained as thus: There is God, but between God and you exists to polarities, one good and one bad. Philosophical Taoism tries to explain how our world, lives and being (including soul) fits into the gray murky world that lies in between them. For a Christian it's a bit like having Jesus on one shoulder and the devil on the other and sometimes it is hard to tell which is which. Even though for most of the time, you would be playing against somebody else, the problems our souls confront during a game, have something to do with these opposing sides and because our world is not strictly black and white, we must feel our way through the gray.

By learning Kungfu from the soul outwards, is a matter of how it is learnt or should I more correctly say how the body, mind and soul learns it. I do not recommend Baguazhang to everybody because to learn it well, you will get sick: every illness the mind or soul has stored deep within itself will manifest itself as a real physical ailment... It's a bit like going cold turkey and having a personal exorcism. Weiqi (Go/Baduk) is a bit like seeing God. Most people are not ready to see God because like an unplayed weiqi board, there minds are too filled up with crap to allow the Divine Light to help them make them make the first move.

The Baffled Enquirer

2009-02-15T16:00:00.000+10:30

Recently I was asked to review a game that was played some time ago but had left the enquirer baffled. I asked the enquirer why he was baffled and he was unable to say why but needed an answer to his problem.

Now I promised to help him through his confusion and give him a review. But as fate would have it, my path was diverted onto another course and I left his problem by the wayside. Time passed and now, after many battles, I am back to review the problematic game; battlescared and all.

I retraced the steps played and felt the candlelight flicker as a chill ran up my spin. In the dim candlelight I am faced with a weiqi problem of my own. As if I had been entertained by God himself, I am staring at what seems to be my life as it unfolded from the moment I recieved my enquirer's request to now.

Many moons ago I had written about weiqi (Go/Baduk) and its ability to drive a player insane. But occasionally we find ourselves, not amongst the infantile nerds and geeks that seem to dominate the game, but in the opium filled dens chasing dragons. Now, I am not a junkie, so my illusions are definately mine to enjoy and share with others.

I told my baffled enquirer to see his game from both sides. While in this world we love to take sides and think that we know it all. We do not. Nearly everything we know about anything is only half-truths and illusions. And what I'm telling you is a riddle.

A simple lesson in the Art of War, part66

2009-02-07T18:52:00.000+10:30

Your darkly eyed opponent stares at you from the other side of the weiqi board. He has just thrown a pair of chopsticks at a disrespectful observor and now he seems back to finish you off. You pause and grin your steely white teeth at him. It is your turn to play. The teahouse madam slowly places a small basket of dimsum next to you, but you remain focused on the war at hand rather than on her bosom.

Six by one from the bottom right corner and a side door is held in check. You see a friend of the guy who had a pair of chopsticks thrown at him, being offended by your opponent. This is going to get ugly...

The Art of War: States of Baguazhang

2009-02-05T23:38:00.001+10:30

Several questions have been circulating around the internet concerning the development of my blog and I am back to answer some of them.

1. Where have you been? Answer: I've been away on holiday practicing Baguazhang.

2. What has that got to do with WeiQi? Answer: Everything. Everything? Yes, everything. I love weiqi and the way it can open up the mind, but a practitioner of weiqi should not neglect the body. The body and mind is a powerful tool if both are taken care of in equal measure.

3. How exactly does baguazhang help playing weiqi? I am tempted to answer this question with a surreal answer, but I think I will hold myself back. So here goes on keeping it simple. Nope I can't do that, just yet.

4. Awe come on.... Please explain? Alright then. In weiqi you play by encircling your enemy and he tries to attack you by doing the same. Baguazhang manifests similar principles by turning what is mentally abstract (to some in Weiqi/Go/Baduk) into physical movements in the real world. And a neat little parlour trick that comes with it is the ability to pick up a recorded game and without ever seeing the history of the game, one is able to almost replay the game by themselves. But that is for the weiqi masters when they want to amuse their grandchildren.

5. Am I back to do my blogging? Yes in a round about sort of way.

6. I have seen you make the link between the Art of War and Weiqi many times, but what does baguazhang have to do with the Art of War? Firstly, baguazhang is a martial art and at the end of the day they both deal with fighting. Secondly, if anybody cares to remember SunTzu analogy of the snake then one would have to wonder if SunTzu knew about Baguazhang. Because he did know about the I-ching and it is the basis of all Chinese thinking. All Chinese texts however ancient owes it lineage to it. And weiqi as a game does so too.

7. Why are you always talking sh*t? Am I - You know, baguazhang isn't the fastest, strongest, toughest or most confrontational martial art out there. It isn't even the slowest. But it is God's Kungfu and while it seems weakly, it is far easier to strike somebody with an open palm than it is with a fist. Then again, my hand is open and we could be shaking hands instead.

8. I know my sh*t and may sound a little cookoo. But could you take what you've done on the weiqi board and do it again in the real world? Sooner or later one needs see Eden for what it is: A bong induced illusion that doesn't come close to real heaven and that the ground beneath our feet is just as brown and dusty as a weiqi board. (I believe I am back after all!)

A simple lesson in the Art of War, part65

2009-02-03T19:25:00.001+10:30

Like being in another world, time seems to drift at haphazard speed throughout the steamy teahouse. But between the last move made by White, your opponent, and now, time has been standing still. You draw a black stone from its bowl and feel the pace of time starting to move again. And then BOOM! Your black stone strikes the board. An insane move it maybe and already murmurs are circulating as to what you are doing.

Is it a good move? They wonder.

But who are they? A black dragon does not heed the thoughts of men. A new force is striking westward from the southeastern capital.

Your opponent grins a white dragon's steely smile in response.

A simple lesson in the Art of War, part64

2009-01-10T08:31:00.002+10:30

Madam from the teahouse was indeed pleased to see us. We made our way to a private booth and ordered some dimsums and tea before settling into our world of war and peace on the weiqi board. A discarded newspaper sits nearby and its clear to everyone that war rages on even when the board is folded up.

"Ahh...war." Black muses. "When will man ever learn that it is heaven and earth that decides the fate of men?"

"Mankind lives to fight: He fights against heaven while woshipping God and he fights against earth while trying to look after it." You add.

"Yes. And 'she' his other half is not that much better even though she claims to be the softer, kinder side of him."

"But she's the real reason why he kills so much. And she rewards him with an ever-increasing population."

There is silence as ye both sip your tea with the teahouse madam. She sees the weiqi world unfolding on the table and realising the importance of the game, quickly disappears back into the gray misty fog of steam and smoke filled teahouse. It is overheard that other cutomers are curious as to what we are playing, but those that may know retort that mahjong is a better persuit. You pick up a white stone and hold it up to one defiantly observant customer and then place that stone down immediately to the northwest of the lone black stone on the south-eastern star point.

Is there to be a challange?

Faster than a blink of an eye, your opponent picks up a pair of chopsticks and hurls them stuck into the wall just in front of the defiant customer's eyes. He quickly realises his mistake in thinking he could even challenge a baguazhang master to anything and goes back to minding his own business.

A simple lesson in the Art of War, part63

2009-01-03T08:00:00.000+10:30

The eastern arch slowly takes shape. It feels as if a cold breeze is blowing down your back as you draw a black stone from your bowl. With gray clouds descending overhead you suggest that the game be continued somewhere warmer. Your opponent agrees and then waves his palm over the board to signal that the final move (for now) is yours.

"Thank you." You answer and then play your black stone on the weiqi world between ye. Clink! It chimes like a fine China cup. The one hundred and seventeenth stone to fall on the board rings true.

"Perhaps the nearby teahouse will be better suited to the game?" Your opponent suggests.

"Indeed. Sui Long Baow and tea."

There is a silent dispersion of the gathered crowd as the ignorant birds continue to bicker over the last discarded crumbs from observers. Nobody said that they could not follow ye into the teahouse. You fold the board up and prepare to play the game in a steaming world of tea, food and conspiracy-laced gossip.

"Madam, from the teahouse will be dying to see you again." Your opponent jests.

"The next move may be yours." You reply. "But I am three places up from the south-eastern star point..."

A simple lesson in the Art of War, part62

2008-12-29T08:14:00.001+10:30

You take a white stone. Momentarily study the weiqi board. And then you strike. As you feel your opponent's cryptic last move take hold on the board you replay with an equally cryptic placement of your own. Now the audience around ye has dwindled to a confused dribble of sorry souls scratching their heads as to what is going on.

Your white stone sits close to the northern star point (two places the southeast to be exact) but you are not after that: No. You after the elusive future prize of actually winning...

And so is your opponent. As you wait for your opponent's next move, you study a magpie wandering past disgarded food on the street. And you wonder what could be more important to it that it should ignore what other birds regard as manna from heaven?

A simple lesson in the Art of War, part61

2008-12-22T21:22:00.000+10:30

"It means that the game is nowhere near done." You answer on behalf of your opponent. "My goodly opponent is adrift on a tidal wave of his own making." You also add. The curious observer had expected a rebuff from your opponent but instead is treated to a kind nod. "A game is not a game without two sides." You opponent adds, but both of ye can see that your curious observer and so many like him are unable to see beyond their own 'me's'.

Regrettable. That is what other masters of the game have coined it. Too bad for them. You are fighting a worthy opposite and every move on the board is reflecting itself in real life one stone at a time.

You draw out a balck stone and place it on the board. Thereby staking a claim across the whole far eastern board like Genghis Khan.

Your opponent leans in for a closer study of the game, now that it has again become a true weiqi game of power.

The Art of War: States of being Esoteric

2008-12-13T23:07:00.002+10:30

There has been a critism that my WeiQi (Go/Baduk) is too esoteric to be understood. And that is putting it nicely. I did not know that I had to be the same as everybody else. I did not know that there is a law governing the conduct of the game. Well if there is, then the forked-tongues of the devils trying to block the truth shall be nailed to the board as black and white stones rain down on their ignorance!

Is that clearer?

I have only tiptoed across the ocean of WeiQi (Go/Baduk)... Dabble, dabble... And I tried to speak clearly about things in the game that eventually crop up. I could write bought technique, but aren't there dozens of websites that already cover that area?

Yes there are. That is why the base of a mountain is board and vast. Ahh... How lonely and cold it is at the top of the mountain.

To be fair WeiQi (Go/Baduk) is just a game, just like mountains are just mountains. But then why are some mountains held to sacred?

These are the types of questions that WeiQi masters ponder over as they persue the divine in their game.

Nine weiqi star points
Show the way as two lords fight
With black and white stones.

Esoteria
It is not. But God's good plan
Held by two dragons.

These haiku so deep
Confuse even the masters
As they play their stones.

Now I am really being esoteric!

The Art of War: States of Sixth Sense

2008-11-24T21:14:00.001+10:30

There is a certain amount of madness that goes into playing WeiQi. And it gives a certain amount of madness back. This is an important concept to understand and know when becoming a master of WeiQi. You become a part of the ever-changing storm of black and white stones and it is never about taking sides in the game unless you are a player yourself.

For some people, WeiQi (Go/Baduk) is too abstract a game for them to ever use the Art of War or even come to grips with how it is applied, should be applied and could be applied.

So here's another angle: WeiQi is a player a sixth sense in precieving the world around them, because within a game the whole world is manifest. As a player you become the embodiment of one of the two yin-yang elements that compete over the board. And if you are an observer then you are the third neutral element (That unfortunately Chinese have no concept for... but if you speak a language uses the three articles system, then you know what I mean).

The sixth sense manifests itself in all sorts of strange ways: Like getting a cramp in your joints whenever a thunderstorm approaches or a severe pain in your leg when you know that something really big is coming and don't know why.

But whatever the case may be, WeiQi also gives a way to overcome the approaching storm and that is summed up in the riddle:

What happens when an irrisistible force meets an immovable object?

What happens when an immovable object meets an irrisistible force?

SunTzu's mustard: Yi Qian Lung Dian...

2008-11-16T21:17:00.002+10:30

The Art of War is a fine mustard that few can truly stomach. While SunTzu never made a mention about food, it is one of the reasons why people go to war. And while I did not intend to write about food, food also helps to end wars. But alas, in a world where there are billions of people and growing and moralists want to defy God and the laws of nature, nobody ever gives a thought about how to feed the straving millions.

I am not proposing a solution. For if I were to use the wisdom of Solomon, many many many people would die. Therefore I will stick to fighting in the light and fighting in the dark: If you are accustomed to naming things and are hooked on trivia then you will never be able to blindfold the fog!

...And this is a response to one of many critisms I get over my weiqi. Yi Qian Lung Dian...

A simple lesson in the Art of War, part60

2008-11-11T19:20:00.002+10:30

The weiqi world is awash in a sea of changes. And like with all things yin and yang there must be two moves to make one whole move. And so... it fall upon you to make the next move upon the great weiqi world. Dragons hover in the sky as people like birds watch over a seemingly unfathomable game. But ye both know what's at stake and what is not.

You draw a fan to cool your brow as you sip from your cup before playing the next move.

Your opponent sighs briefly and then nods to a comment made by an observer that a black dragon has been solidly born in the midst of a turbulent storm.

A cool breeze flutters as you study the dragon swimming for its lord. It is solid and firm and not worth an immediate fight, so you play somewhere in the east. Careful not to butt against the eastern wall of your weiqi dominion, you place your stone two-thirds up the line and in the fridget waste you look south and see an abandoned black ship.

"What does this mean?" You hear an observer ask another observer and you smile at your wily opponent.

A simple lesson in the Art of War, part59

2008-10-28T19:43:00.000+10:30

Rulership is an axle that turns at its centre slowly while everything else is a blur. Kong! A black stone from between your fingers lands at its destination on the great weiqi board. Your opponent had expected you to defend your turf. Instead you declare your supremacy by doing what you want to do.

"Patience." You speak. "You must have faith in the power of dragons to even remotely understand what I say when I tell you that a twig can change the course of mighty rivers."

"Hmmm...." Your opponent muses. "I see you building a wall when you can attack me. So you have put your black stone to the immediate south-west of the central star point. I wouldn't have done that."

"You look almost as disappointed as some of the people studying our game."

"Ha!" He says. "I have just as much patience as you. With every stone, black or white, played across this weiqi world this world changes."

"It is your turn to play."

The Art of War: States of Crisis

2008-10-17T14:50:00.000+10:30

It is hard for non-weiqi players and Go players brought up on the techniques of the game to understand my words. It is also hard for them to think outside the square, box, circle, ball or anything else that does not resemble what they learnt. That is fine, but in the politics of the world, just in weiqi, it pays to stay ahead of the game and see the game in its entirity.

This is a hallmark of what it means to be a leader: A good ship needs a good rudder.

Too many leaders in the world are just overpriced managers who know that if the sh*t hits the fan there will always be somebody above them to bail them out. Sometimes this is a good thing and at other times the ship and crew come first.

Huff and puff you may, but the fact is, I am talking from wisdom gained from experience. It never stops to amase me how much executives like to call themselves Captains of Industry, but they are the bane and laughing stock of, we, bosses who do not mix with these fat cats and their fluffy hats. No. And just to make a further point: I have also played against these so called executives and in weiqi (Go/Baduk) they have been shown to be wanting. Weiqi is a game of one crisis after another. When you compare weiqi to Manopoly, Manopoly is a straight forward game of buying, holding, selling and swapping property and/or their mortgages and normally attrition of one sort or another will produce a winner (Yawn!) eventually. Very few people play the game long enough to hit a finanical crisis and learn from it. When I was about twelve years old, I got lucky to experience a financial crisis in Monopoly and it was my mother (God bless her!) who showed me how to get out of it even though she knew nothing about real-life business and finance.

Now weiqi is a little different. From the very first stone, every stone is a crisis that needs solving. You would not believe how many people get stuck on the first stone! It is true that over time you will get better at the game and this can be seen on our illustrious leaders and what they do. But weiqi has a deeper and darker element to it. It reveals to those watching and listening how a player will respond to a situation and this can be a weakness or a strength.

A simple lesson in the Art of War, part58

2008-10-03T21:18:00.005+09:30

A black stone is played upon the weiqi world: Just like some of the people watching, it is a move that must be deeply fathomed. But already you can hear murmurs like the rustling wind over uncut grass that it means nothing to most people. You oberve your opponent and acknowledge the fact that he has reached the point of staganation because you have failed to touch him.

You study the board and decide that the time has come to pick at some of the festering wounds that lay waiting, knowing full well that the repreccusions could be devastating if your opponent were to lose his cool.

You draw your hand over the central western region and strike at the obvious. Thereby opening one of his circles. And the line between between his northern forces and southern forces is cut.

I know not its terms,
Definitions or meanings
But in Go I reign.

Your opponent leans forth and sweeps the flies that linger over the weiqi board away. And says with bemusement, "Panama! The white dragon whips its tail and pisces is split in two."

Black and white dragons,
Opposed over a square world
Their claws are their stones.

A simple lesson in the Art of War, part57

2008-09-25T20:00:00.000+09:30

The white lotus blooms
In the east amid a war
In the Weiqi world.

Your opponent frees their white stone from its prison on the isle of the eastern star point. People have gathered to watch ye play and there is a faint murmur as to what is going on. Now it is your turn to play and another haiku shoots forth from your lips.

Gone is the sagely...
From a wooden board for stones
Dancing in a storm.

A simple lesson in the Art of War, part56

2008-09-17T21:39:00.001+09:30

Actions and words are what your opponent seeks clarity in. And as if to taunt you into submission it is his turn to play. So you watch and wait. People come, watch a little and move on. Most are not that interested and those that are, are content to see what they see before happily moving along. But as you wait for your opponent to play his vital black stone, you also wonder if their lives are governed by the black stones' power?

You hold a white stone confidently between your index and third fingers but your opponent just sits there.

Perhaps impatience is what he is trying to instill in you, you wonder?

You smile as the time on this weiqi world flows along its own pace and then he plays. Your opponent plays in the eastern hemisphere at one place off the edge. It sits dangerously close to the southeast of one of your white stones. It looks odd and an observer of the game scratches his head before leaving. Perhaps his mind is too engrossed in the game, but instinctively you and your opponent watch him as he stops and returns to the game as if his life depended on it more than ever.

The Art of War: States of Strategy 6

2008-09-09T22:45:00.001+09:30

Strategy thirteen: Know thy whom, know thy what?

SunTzu said: Know thy enemy, know thy self and you can win a hundred battles out of one hundred. That's wonderful if you are playing any one of the many versions of chess out there, but in WeiQi (Go/Baduk) the pieces are not all on display. In WeiQi, it isn't a matter of fighting an asymmetrical style war, for sometimes the orthodox can be just as effective. It's more of a matter of understanding that that while the Chinese knew the Mongols extremely well, and yet, alas, Genghis Khan was still able to conquer them. Or if I put it in a more American way: When playing poker, your friend facing you may have to be taken out with revolver.

The Art of War: States of Strategy 5

2008-09-04T21:44:00.000+09:30

Strategy ten: Some things are not negotiable

The WeiQi (Go/Baduk) board is flat and square. And on that board there is a grid of 19 x 19 co-ordinates. And all of those co-ordinates are fair game. Never ever let others dictate where you can play. Obvious you say? Well, I have seen many players win a game because they tricked their opponent into thinking that playing in a certain way or place was improper. Alexander the Great did not go to a university, he went to an Academy. And the conquest of Asia was non-negotiable.

Strategy eleven: Don't drink the water you're pissing in

WeiQi like war is a messy business. Keep your mind clear and remember: There's a time for fighting, a time for killing and a time a booty-calling and the rest you sort out before you go into war. Too many wars and games are fought with SunTzu's words in mind for a quick victory but a good WeiQi player will know that some wars seem to take forever especially if the goals are abstract. Thank God that in WeiQi the rules are simple and go like this:

White: I want what you have and I am going to take it from you!

Black: Fuck off!

White: And when I'm done I'm going to make you eat your words!

Black: Bring it on!

If, at some point, you have forgotten why you are sitting at a WeiQi board and do not know why you are playing, then you have pissed in your drinking water and deserve to lose.

Strategy twelve: Who the hell is Ruth?

Even though the game of WeiQi (Go/Baduk) can be quite serene and philosophically up there in the clouds, there comes a point in the game where the pussyfooting has to stop and ruthlessness steps in. You can always go back to pussyfooting later. If your opponent tries to talk you out of it, just remember that they also have an agenda and it is called winning by other means. So let Betty deal with Ruth so you can finish the game as the winner.

The Art of War: States of Strategy 4

2008-09-01T21:53:00.000+09:30

Strategy seven: Nerds need not apply

You don't have to be a genius to play WeiQi (Go/Baduk). When it comes to thinking, the game has more in common with the art of flower arranging than it does with calculus. Anybody who has ever tried to win on brainpower alone usually ends up mad. So don't try unless you are truly insane.

Strategy eight: Jocks need not apply

Jocks need not apply unless his father was Rambo and his mother was James Bond and knows how to sell sand to the Arabians. WeiQi (Go/Baduk) is like a very long series on heated negotiations filled with traps and dodgy salesmen representing snakes. Yes, you are trying to win but at what cost?

Strategy nine: Leave the nukes at home

If you want to win the battle through attrition, then hand the fight over to chessmen. They are experts in their field. And chess is supposed to be ninety percent tactics. What most people do not realise or understand about the Western Middle Ages is that while the actual battles fought may have looked more like a chess game, the real Medieval Art of War was mostly conducted off the battlefield. And the very first chapter would have been titled: How to negotiate a wedding between warring factions so that the neutral third party has the final say in everything.

The Art of War: States of Strategy 3

2008-08-28T11:37:00.002+09:30

Strategy four: Learn the game

Learn the game. WeiQi (Go/Baduk) is like martial arts, you can be taught the game but the learning part comes from the learner. What you learn and how you learn is up to you.

Strategy five: Learn the game

Sometimes when we think we are playing a game, we may actually be playing another game. It is a bit like watching the news, sometimes like everybody else the newscaster thinks a certain conflict-du-jour is about 'x' and it is studied over and over again to death but when it comes down to the wire the events unfolding may be leading you down a different path. The loser is the one that was playing the wrong game.

Strategy six: Count your pieces

Reality check: Do you even have a WeiQi set? A general needs soldiers. There is nothing in the rule books about the quality or style of the set, all that matters is that you have a board with a grid of 19x19 lines and 181 black stones and 180 white stones. I started with an el-cheapo and it turned out to be a wise decision because I could take it anywhere to play and I didn't have to worry about its loss or condition. Imagine trying to play a game and always worrying about those things - it would be like giving your opponent a handicap.

The Art of War: States of Strategy 2

2008-08-27T14:38:00.001+09:30

Strategy one: Check the weather

This sounds corny, I know, but the weather is the silent influence that can make or break a game. In the lion's battle against the crocodile it was, in the end, the weather that decided the outcome: It got to hot for the crocodile. In this case the weather was benign but in the affairs of men the weather can be manipulated to suit one side over another. There are countless stories of wars lost because of the weather. So, you could be playing your game indoors, but how many games were lost because an open window somewhere allowed stormy weather to blow in and distract you?

Strategy two: Where are you sitting?

The terrain is more than the lay of the land. Weiqi (Go/Baduk) is more than just a flat piece of polished wood. Everything in a competition could be made to be fair and even but if your opponent is sitting a little higher than you then he or she has the advantage. In war the high ground is always prized above the low ground and while in olden days armies used to try to out-flank each other to be in the best position, these days the advantage of high ground is done through dominating the skies. Even if your opponent is not really any good at the game, how many times have you felt the slight tinge of intimidation that comes from him being just a few centimetres taller than you?

Strategy three: What the hell are you doing?

Playing WeiQi (Go/Baduk) is like being judged by the Great and Terrible Judge of Judgment Day. In order to be really really good at the game, one has to know in honest terms who they are and what they are really doing because while one wishes to believe that they are the underdog in truth they may be the top dog that everybody is trying to defeat. The does involve death and just because you are using stones on a wooden board that doesn't mean that those stones can represent real people. You do not have to believe as you sit in your comfortable homes but outside of it life is far harsher and crueler then people in the modern world would care to consider. Life feeds upon death and death feeds upon life.

The Art of War: States of Strategy

2008-08-27T11:32:00.000+09:30

This morning I saw a lion and a crocodile fighting over a fat carcass. Rarely do we realise that playing WeiQi (Go/Baduk) is just the same. In chess the object it so annihilate the opposition and leave your opponent standing nakedly alone in shame. And yet while this is being done we rarely take stock of what we are fighting over: Terra Firma.

A reasonably good WeiQi (Go/Baduk) player will never forget what it is all about. And will not let them be blinded by points and scores on a blackboard somewhere else. The game is the game and it is the land that a player controls that matters.

Power is brought about by domination and domination is brought about by what you have.

In the fight between the lion and crocodile, the lion won. Not because the lion was stronger etcetera, but because she exploited the crocodile's greatest weakness at the most opportune time. The lion got to eat the fat carcass.

Playing WeiQi (Go/Baduk) involves a lot of strategy...

Weiqidao

2008-08-23T10:29:00.001+09:30

Warning: Only read this if you believe the game is more than just a game!

The following text could be hazardous to your sense of Tranquility

Recently I came across a statement accusing some people of only thinking in terms of black and white while they believe that the world is about eighty percent gray. In playing and studying and then playing some more WeiQi (Go/Baduk) a Sage of the WeiQiDao (Godo) comes to understand that while on the board it is a world of mostly gray, that gray is made up of black and white.

It does not matter how one looks at the world i.e the terms of reference, there are always to extreme ends that influence the course of the universe. For most people it is the idea of Good and Evil, Right and Wrong. (Even science has its absolutes.) Because of this in WeiQiDao the most simple of games are the most cherished. Why?

Just like too much diplomacy an over-played game can be confusing like a bowl of muddy water. And we do not know where we are heading. We forget the two forces of black and white stones dictating the situation and struggle to make sense of the path in the middle. Then it is left to a Sage to give the players a Devil's Choice by showing them the fork in the road and what they lead to. The players may hate the Sage for waking them up and giving them glasses to see but for the rest of us, some sort of balance returns to the game.

A simple lesson in the Art of War, part55

2008-08-22T22:18:00.002+09:30

They say sometimes it is easier to be the victim than the hero or villain. But like the pigeons flapping about under your feet, it is even easier to stand back a little and let the two toughest pigeons duke it out over the crumbs you have scattered around your feet. You watch them fight and wonder which one will win?

Your opponent is watching them too and jokes that maybe a stone from the weiqi board will settle them. So you throw another crumb at them but a third pigeon seizes his chance for a meal. "I do not think one of your white stones would have helped." You comment as a black crow walking nearby strolls right into the two pigeons and gobbles up the crumb.
"Black wins again." You say as the crow flies away.

And as if your previous opponent's move meant nothing, you place a black stone north of the north-western starpoint. "North, south and east: From three sides. A tight squeeze." You taunt him. "Whatever shall you do?"

"Whatever shall I do?" Your opponent answers as he places his white stone on the board. From his strong western starpoint he pushes eastward on the weiqi board and laughs, "North, south and west. What we's have here-ya is an ol'fashion'd Texas ho'down."

"You are still losing." You retort.

"You know it takes only one bullet to kill a man."

"Maybe you are right." You say. "But so far your words haven't really matched your rhetoric."

The Art of War: States of Recognising

2008-08-18T21:13:00.000+09:30

War and peace are a part of life. They exist as two sides of the same coin and anyone studying the art of war should and must know this. For sometimes it is left to the great sages to keep the balance between the two.

While for most people the concept of weiqi being just a game is akin to having no understanding of the consequences involved in pursuing the way of war and the way of peace. You cannot have one without the other.

I do not know from memory if chess and the like have a situation where at the end of the game players discuss the game and know where they went wrong, but in weiqi it is common to know the exact time and place where the situation turned decisively either for or against. Most players will tell you that, after weeding out the complicating excuses, it was usually something very simple like tossing a coin.

Now we will be entering a stage in humanity where for the very first we can choose the path we wish to take in the great human timeline. I wrote once before on that nagging feeling of dejavu and it is still there. Only this time it is not dejavu because I can see with hindsight the patterns that humanity is making. At the moment, most of us do not have a say in what is going on, but for the generals and soldiers who have noticed the familiar patterns on the weiqi board that they are part of they have a choice to influence the black and white stones that are being played or prepare themselves to where they want to be after this game is over. And a new one begins. For in the game of humanity there will always be a game being played.

A simple lesson in the Art of War, part54

2008-08-17T20:18:00.000+09:30

There is a temptation to take the fight right into the heart of black's dominion and win this weiqi world once and for all. But your gut feeling is telling you that your opponent is living the nightmares of hordes and so you wait your time as your opponent, whose turn it is, tries to keep you holding on at the edges.

Your opponent fires another shot at your white stone on the north-western star point. Now you feel the push from the east. You study the situation carefully. Is it the star point that matters or the white stones nearby?

You place a white stone next to your opponent's new black stone. He is trapped on three side and the only way out is up and over. Your move feels predestined and as you watch your opponent places a black stone just to the north of his last black stone. And immediately you match him by following through with another white stone on that little white worm that could.

As you wait for your opponent to play you feel calm because whatever is going to happen will happen.

The Histories of WeiQi - The Poluted Vision

2008-08-16T16:58:00.001+09:30

Weiqi (Go/Baduk) is a game of time. Weiqi (Go/Baduk) is a game of war. Weiqi (Go/Baduk) is a game of war and time. And at the end we have records known as the Histories of WeiQi.

What a load of crap!

I bet that is what a lot of you are thinking. But how many have felt that things in the world seem like a dejavu?

How many players are there who have upon musing over a game just played felt a shiver that it has happened all before?

That is trickier to answer.

In practical terms WeiQi helps a player (if they want it) to see into the future and to know how how fate dabbles its unseen hand over the world: Two foes and one world to fight over. As I sit here typing I am calmly serene like the eye of a massive storm that is growing in all directions. I know I should say a lot more and make sense of what I am babbling about, but sometimes like now the storm has to first come and go before it can be truly understood.

Think of all of this as finally being able to look directly at the sun because of the smog. You can see it but not clearly. It is better than nothing.

A simple lesson in the Art of War, part53

2008-08-11T21:39:00.000+09:30

From a chain of four black stones guarding some of the western fringes, you push out and place a fifth black stone immediately to the southwest of the white stone perched like a vulture on top of the north-western star point. Then you sit back and wait for the opposition to reply. Any moment from here you wait to hear those sweet words of victory "I surrender." But you wonder as to what kind of man you are facing.

Your opponent is fixed on other areas of this weiqi board and takes his time in looking back on what you have done.

Your opponent studies the situation and remarks...

Even a blunt knife
Can cut the finest of cuts
With a single stone.

You pause at that thought - On a crowded weiqi board that grows ever more confused, you think, just like a bump in the street and a man lies fatally bleeding on a busy street with nobody the wiser. You wait for your opponent to play. He draws out a white stone and places next to your last move thereby keeping the western border free. You quietly smile at your opponent as he goes back to studying other areas of the game.

It is your turn again.

A simple lesson in the Art of War, part52

2008-07-29T23:53:00.000+09:30

If this was a normal ordinary weiqi game, you would have resigned a long time ago. By all accounts it is clear that white is on the losing end of the stick - It seems hopeless to carry on.

But this is not an ordinary war. If you were to give up then the consequences would extend far beyond the realm of men. No. You pause on your problem. And then you pick up a white stone. All hell's about to break lose as you place that white stone on the western star point: Weiqi is much more than just a game. It is life being reborn like a seed that has stood dormant for centuries and now its time has come.

Your opponent watches you but does not say anything.

A simple lesson in the Art of War, part51

2008-07-25T21:33:00.000+09:30

Fifty-five south, forty-nine west, one hundred and five north... One more turn of the key and the lock to white's destruction on the mountain of the great eastern star point shall belong to black. From the very first stone upon the weiqi board until now, nothing has truly touched your composure or power over this world.

It is true that this world, with each stone placed upon it, grows ever more fragile and your intuition is sensing the approach of a great battle that will consume this weiqi world.

You sip a cup of tea and stare calmly at your opponent as he glances briefly at the birds nearby. You put your cup down on the table and fold your hands inside your long sleeves. Your opponent is young and a growing strength within him touches every stone that he plays. Even some of that influence is beginning shine on your own black stones.

"Ahh...." He says "You have decided to complete your conquest of the eastern star point. Playing closer to home. I am tempted to save my..."

"But you will not. We both know that." You answer. "But I will be compassionate and leave the back door open."

Your opponent smiles as he studies the situation.

Below the white peak
Where once stood wood are houses
And a sea of black.

"So what will you do?" You ask your poetic opponent. You already know the answer. Every black stone living on the weiqi world of ye stands ready to take what your opponent has to offer.

A simple lesson in the Art of War, part50

2008-07-15T22:07:00.000+09:30

So it seems... A grouping of white stones on the southern part of the weiqi board are now stuck. Trapped in a prison that they cannot get out of. You pause and sigh that you must leave them there for the time being. Perhaps, you wonder, if an angel of the night could be sent to give them hope between the broken black walls of your opponent?

You take out a white stone and continue to play whereabouts you played before: You place your white stone next to your last white stone. Sitting on the east of your stone, your opponent is forced to concede that at least from the north he cannot save the black stone in danger.

And what if he saves it from the south?

It is possible. But is it worth it?

You watch the birds flap and flutter around ye: Such simple pleasures belying the stark reality of what is being wrought by the cold black and white stones on this weiqi world.

烏翔肥: Circling the White Mountain

2008-07-12T17:29:00.001+09:30

Many years ago, an exhibition of the famous Terracotta Warriors visited Auckland, New Zealand. Eager as always for these things I went with my wife to see them. While it was only a snippet of a small show I enjoyed it very much. But something happened on that day that I won't forget: While wandering past the many statues I was struck by a freezing cold shiver up my spin by the presence of one statue. I froze and starred back at the statue of a bearded general with a great sword at his side. Who was this general?

Some would say that nobody knows but now that I know his story I will tell the story as best as I can.

His name was General Xiang-Fei of the Wu clan 烏翔肥. And he lived the life worthy of a good hard working man trying to get ahead but stuck in middle-management during the Qin Dynasty 秦朝. As a loyal general he did what he was told, yet he had a bit of a stubborn streak to him. And as such he always had the nasty job of commanding his troops into the waiting phalanxes. Perhaps it seems he was destined to be forever fighting a losing a battle as it was always impossible to get some glorious action while hopelessly seeing his men being speared like marshmallows over a campfire.

Eventually in life, 烏翔肥 became so disheartened with the way his career was going that he politely quit before he too ended up like his troops. He resigned his commission and ensuring that his wife and family were kept well-off, decided that his best way to improve his status and fortunes was travel the land in search of a true military sage that can show him how to avoid pointless frontal assaults.

烏翔肥 traveled far and wide, but found nobody. And his journeys were marred by news of his wife's infidelities. But he would not give up his quest. In fact, the only thing in the end blocking his path was a huge mountain range of white peaked tops. He paused to catch his breath and the spectacular view before making his way to a small village at the base of the mountain range.

Upon arriving at the village 烏翔肥 was met by a messenger from home informing him that he and his wife were now divorced... (Things do happen in strange ways.) Furious at his misfortune, he tried to go straight through the mountain and only became the butt of the villagers jokes. He tried to go over the mountain but failed in that too. Upset and angry and being unable to the mountains out of his way, he settled down in the village and took a local maiden to be his new woman.

Funnily enough, the interesting thing about him was that when travelers came to the village and asked what was the best to get to the other side of the mountains, he would tell them to follow the road that goes around them. It was only after his simpleton wife pointed out during one of their arguments what he was doing, did it finally dawn on him that he had his long searched for answer.

And there was now a new dynasty around: The Han Dynasty 漢朝. Unable to return to court, politics being what it is, He decided to write down his profound insights in a book called Circling the White Mountain.

Unfortunately like the terrocotta general's name some thing remain a mystery until somebody goes out and looks for it.

A simple lesson in the Art of War, part49

2008-07-12T00:31:00.001+09:30

Your opponent thinks you are weak against the elements and weak against him. But you are black. You are still the master of the game. You pick up a stone and place it on the board. Had he foreseen your move?

By the look in his eye, you doubt he truly understands the reality of the situation or maybe he does now: Two steps in from the southern edge - a black stone steps into the fray from the void of insignificance and yet it touches upon white's confidence with a tight bind.

You wait to see amidst his taunts and jests whether or not he can break the stranglehold around his five whites stones.

You are still the master of the game.

小無價士: What the hell

2008-07-08T22:19:00.002+09:30

They say that these days I look worse than fair and if a stranger came up to me and peered deep into my eyes they would see a man that needs more sleep. I believe that I do need more sleep because last night I had another interesting dream involving WeiQi (Go/Baduk).

Today I had to tell my friend about it because it involved him too. His reaction was "What the hell".

I dreamt that I was in Japan with my friend. His name is 小無價士 and he is also a very proficient player of the game. Although our views of the meaning of the game diverge a bit, I would challenge anybody with the guts to do so, to challenge him.

In the dream, 小無價士 was playing a weiqi against a school between the approximate ages of seven and ten years old. Now this boy was supposed to have been some kind of genius of the game, but I could see that behind him was an old man of gray hair in the upper echelons of the weiqi world. And it was this 4-dan ranked player who was directing the shots. The boy was really just a gofer.

My friend played against him on a huge board that used school children (or was that dwarfs) dressed in white or black clothing to represent the stones. While in a normal weiqi (go/baduk) game, the players get a bird's eyeview of the game, in this game both players were playing at street level and so when the board was starting to fill up with stones, it became hard to see the moves.

He played the game until his wife called him away about something to do with food. He's a real lover of Hokkaido delicacy Snow Crabs.

When he left the game I took over but the prettimuch had ended because I knew the old man's trick and he also left to be with his trophy wife of a girlfriend. I followed him and saw him being struck down by an elephant that hated him. Next came the funeral and I was surprised to see the elephant there mockingly mourning his death.

小無價士 has told me that he hopes to have a follow up dream that will explain this bizarre dream.

小無價士 is not his real name.

A simple lesson in the Art of War, part48

2008-06-27T22:25:00.001+09:30

And darkness covered the sky... You gaze upwards at the heavens above as a cloud drifts over ye. A gray shadow seems to cast its ominous blanket over the whole weiqi world between ye as your opponent waiting for your move covers himself with a thick coat. His tea could not ward off the chill enveloping him, but you are too focused on getting even to care for his plight.

You gaze upward to see if it will rain, but only the sun is in hiding and yet through the cloud it still shines like a black disk in twilight.

Every cloud has a silver lining you remind yourself as you refocus your attention over the board. You try to cross the equator and strike one of his black stones, knowing that it will look like that you failed in your objective because of one of his black stones sitting in the way. But in fact you are trapping two of his black stones beneath you while blocking that stone in your way from advancing south: A tiny bold mouse crossing a frightful elephant's path.

A simple lesson in the Art of War, part47

2008-06-26T10:47:00.000+09:30

Your white opponent has been stealing your space upon the weiqi board with taunts and brazen stones. Now it your turn again and the dozen or so calculations that have been playing out in your head have come to an abysmal naught. So you pull out a black stone and give it a quick polish between your dry fingers before settling your superior move upon the south-western hemisphere of the weiqi board.

"God sent Sun Bin upon the earth" Your opponent taunts again, "So that men who think they know what righteousness is, will see true righteousness bowed under God as the light in the darkness blinds the corrupt."

You sip from your teacup and avoid to look at your opponent. Then you decide to finally play. But wait a moment - You pause and ask him squarely "How many ants have you squashed in an attempt to win this game?"

Your opponent cannot answer, so you play with him dumbfounded. You thrust northeast from the south as you cut your opponent from behind his last move: A fatal spear lunge into his right leg artery!

You sit back and enjoy the crisp breeze enveloping you while drinking your warm tea.

A simple lesson in the Art of War, part46

2008-06-21T17:09:00.001+09:30

You look down upon the weiqi board. That ant your opponent killed, seems to be having a second life: A cripple struggling to leave its mark on a violent world - Lazurus the Ant defiant to the end.

If God wanted to kill an ant, he would have given it wings.

Your opponent hears those words and this time crushes the ant fully. Now only an unmovable stain remains. And it is your turn to play. You take the challenge offered by your opponent's last move and place a white stone next to his black stone on the eastern side. You know your opponent will take it to mean that a battle is about to begin: He has you cornered on two hilly sides as your troops try to advance upon him with a reserve holding your left flank.

Yes, you ask yourself, what are you doing? Your opponent has the advantage. But one of the strengths of a cyclone is that its spiraling wind can attack what is behind a wall while seemingly working on destroying that wall built to keep it out. Ant or no ant, your opponent will have to think hard as he reassesses the weakness of his plan.

The Art of War: States of Measuring

2008-06-13T21:18:00.002+09:30

The lands of Tibet are known to some as the roof of the world. Science answers this fact by showing us where it is in terms of altitude, but faith gives it another meaning. Tibet is unique in that it sits in the middle of the two competing forces Yin and Yang. And these forces like giant tectonic plates are forever remembered in the names of the two most powerful countries to ever influence the Tibetan destiny: India which is known to Tibetans as the White Lands and China the Black Lands.

I am not a buddhist and I don't intend to become one, but I do understand the path of the first acknowledged Buddha. It is not a path for the absoluteness of science. For some things are not meant to be measured in metrical units.

I am not going against science, but pointing out fundamental flaws in the science operates. Only the laws of probability and quantum physics come close to explaining the Lung coiled over my shoulders, but even that does not do either of us justice. If you a true follower of the i-ching then you may understand what I am talking about, otherwise I will use the game of weiqi to explain it further.

In the beginning weiqi (Go/Baduk) starts with the very real scientific elements of one board marked out in a grid of nineteen by nineteen, two players, and two bowls of exactly one hundred and eighty white stones and one hundred and eighty-one black stones. But what is the ending?

Anybody that plays weiqi will tell you that the end's deciphering requires a shaman and not a scientist. Not a single measurement can explain the pattern made, or even its growth over time. Come to think of it, science cannot even explain why black has one extra stone. And yet everything on the board is physical and quantifiably real. So what is going on?

Some answers are best left to the shamans playing in God's honour.

A simple lesson in the Art of War, part45

2008-06-08T16:03:00.002+09:30

If this be the Day of Reckoning that for so long has been predicted, you wouldn't know it by your opponent's latest move. The oceans are calm and the lands are still upon the great weiqi board. You watch as a lone ant crawls over the board. It tries to avoid the black and white stones but it has no idea of what they mean, yet the birds nearby wearily watch on from a safe distance.

Your opponent calmly munches on the last of the breakfast buns before commenting "Congratulations on finalizing the last battle."

"Ah yes..." You answer. "Yin and yang stand motionlessly in fixed balance. It is a rare ocurrence."

"So you've noticed it as well? I would hate to be that lone ant on the board if it was her world that was being fought over."

White smiles at you as you pick up a black stone. When the ant has reached the outer edge of the weiqi board, you crush her with your stone; leaving behind a smear. You opponent simply frowns at what you've done and says "It's cruelties like this that will make the divine side with me."

"Can you really say that I killed the ant?"

"If you say to me that you helped the ant to reincarnate into a higher being. Then I will ask you into what higher being will that be? Because I am sure that she will want her revenge."

You wipe the stain off your black stone while checking that none of the stones have not moved on the board. Satisfied that the world is still in order you play your stone. Rather than take on your opponent directly, you switch the focus back to the southwest. Your opponent had thought that that area of the board was unplayable but you stealthly sneak in like a nuclear submarine with the intent of making as much damage as possible, if it should come to that. From a great tactical wedge you throw a simple choice to you opponent should he choose to fight you there: Do you a) Attack the two white stones to the northwest of you; or b) Attack the one white stone to the southeast of you?

A simple lesson in the Art of War, part44

2008-06-06T21:13:00.000+09:30

Walk away from the lost battle you tell yourself. Another day like today's dawn will come again.

You pick up a white stone and remembering not to throw it to the birds perched nearby you study the weiqi board. A faint chill gusts up your backside as you close in on the board. There is a strange calm drifting over the board that belies the true horror of the war wrought between you and your opponent.

South of the equator on four-tenths latitude you fire your white stone in the eastern hemisphere, just two places shy of the edge. A new weiqi war has begun.

Ahmadinejad and the Ayatollah

2008-06-04T20:25:00.000+09:30

The Gods will make it appear to mankind
that they are the authors of a great war.
before the sky was seen to be free of weapons and rockets:
the greatest damage will be inflicted on the left.

Today I remembered this quatrain from Nostradamus (C1,Q91). Why? I do not know, but it may have something to do with the dream I had last night. All I know is that when I woke up I found myself wondering heavily on why I had such a dream and why the first sentence kept repeating in my head over and over again. Perhaps I will discover the answer by sharing the dream with others.

I dreamt that I met the Iranian President Ahmadinejad in a small room painted with the colour of Shiraz. We were alone together and I only seemed to want to say only one thing to him "You are very good at making speeches but you are not the one with the power. You have no authority or power to do anything. You are just a firebrand mouthpiece for your master." Actually in the dream he reminded me of my old grammar school friend named Mohammad: A little too passionate about his faith, yet in private a good honest man who understood the realities of the situation. Ahmadinejad did not dispute my statement, but instead kindly led me to see the true master of Iran, the Ayatollah.

As I entered the Ayatollah's presence, he said "So you are the one causing me trouble?" What trouble I wondered? I have a dragon coiled around my neck and shoulders and while there are two executioners with swords standing menacingly behind the Ayatollah, I remained unphased by the question.

Instead I shook the Ayatollah's hand and said without thinking "A weiqi board can be overturned by fools that do not know the game, but a new game shall always be played from the stones that have been overturned."

Now what does that mean? All know is that I woke up and have been wrestling all day on whether to write down this dream. So now I have and my words are there for all to read.

When Gods do quarrel
The blood of men flows freely
Between the Go stones.

A simple lesson in the Art of War, part43

2008-06-01T21:03:00.002+09:30

Yesterday a game was left undecided and today that game still remains as such.

You unfold the travelers' weiqi board and place the stones exactly where they were before the game was adjourned for the previous evening. A new dawn approaches as ye have decided to contest the duel in a neutral setting at the local park.

Your opponent approaches with breakfast: Piping hot fresh steam chicken meat buns and a smile. As he sits down opposite you, some birds stride around keenly aware that a game is about to unfold. Unsure of what to make of the stones, they watch and wait from a distance, hoping that they will get some leftover crumbs. But these stones, black and white, are not crumbs but stones that will choke those small unfortunate birds stupid enough to steal one.

Once the pleasantries have been exchanged, you place the first black stone on the board. You place it on the tail end of white's northern cross, thereby forming the potential of a double eye and limiting your opponent's options there.

Your opponent counters by trying to grow a new eye by stealing the last eye you have formed. You throw a tiny crumb at some of the eager birds and a riot breaks out amongst them. "Is it not strange how birds that have no need for humans subjugate themselves under our feet for scraps?" You ponder. Your opponent, who having watched the birds fight over your crumb, throws the birds some extra crumbs to share amongst them before answering "They are beholden unto us because we rule their world."

Your opponent throws at the birds another crumb and asks that you continue the game.

You reply by closing a black hole on the board. Three white stones are about to be eaten alive and another constellation may soon be extinguished: What an extremely good way to start a new day!

A game played in 1994 part 2

2008-05-28T19:48:00.002+09:30

After uploading the most recent game (that I'll refer to as the African game from here on end) I received a number of emails and comments about my interpretation.

Firstly I would like to say thank you. I enjoyed reading them all and after much thought I have decided to answer Bob. Bob is not his real name and in the interests of privacy I will not be publishing his email. But I will openly respond.

And secondly....

Dear Bob, I found your own views on the African game enlightening and now that you have pointed it out to me, I can agree with you that it does look more like an African continent torn asunder by extremely violent tectonic plates. While I am unfamiliar with the writings of Edgar Cayce, many other writers throughout history have speculated that the world can change overnight. Nothing is beyond God's reach.

Maybe it will happen, but in the meantime, you will notice that the most frustrating part of the game happens in its heart: A hearted jewel fought over by many, but only one may possess it.

On a political digression, I do not advocate a return to colonisation, but pray that Africans stop living in the past and make good of what God gave them. Africa is its own worst enemy and best hope.

Perhaps it will take the rupture of the African faultline to set things straight. We will see because things have only just begun in Africa: One path says that the African game is prettimuch finished and the other path says that the game could have been played out to a stronger conclusion. Which should it have been?

That will be between you and God to decide.

A game played in 1994

2008-05-24T19:54:00.002+09:30

For most of medieval and modern era history, The British and French have had a long rivalry. While it started with William conquering England, it ended with an African continent in chaos. And the score card for both nations was exhaustion and subjugating to newly risen nations like America.

Looking to play a nice simple game, I chanced upon this one. With only a hundred and thirty-one moves, it looked to being a quick game as well. Yet by the end of it I was left with a master's palette of unfinished business.

Upon this game one can see three distinct battles in which the outlines mark out Greater Africa: Africa, Madagascar and Arabia. In the first battle (lower right corner) black wins even though white nominally holds the corner. In the second battle (upper right corner) white wins while black holds the corner.

But it is to the third battle (left-hand side of the board), that the real ebb and flow of the game exists and it is in this unfinished business called Africa that the score card remains mixed.

The game could have been continued, but a master's game is never straight forward and the exhaustion is now left to the new generation to finish.

Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika, Nkosi Sikelela.

A simple lesson in the Art of War, part42

2008-05-21T22:33:00.002+09:30

You pause at your turn. A series of ghostly blows out of nowhere, slicing through the darkness, has tried to stop you. Yet now you stand and face the sun.

Even if your opponent may be thinking that you may be thinking twice about continuing, you reaffirm your commitment to see this war to the bittersweet dusty end.

You pause and try to discover his real motive. Instincts tell you to look beyond the horizons of your logic and strike: You take a white stone and hit him back hard.

Sands of water, and
Sands of sand blight the mighty
And drown the black stones.

Your opponent, unsure of your logic, smurks his hostage and you thunder back with a cross. There is a sense that you may have averted a larger goal of his and this is confirmed by his need to sure up an eye that was created nearby. Black is silent. He watches and waits for you to kill one of his stones, but you play instead near his eye in order to say: He may still nominally rule the board, but he is beholden unto you like a fallen granite pharaoh of yore.

Yes, it has been a while since your opponent has needed to seriously ponder over his strategies.

The Art of War: States of Competition

2008-05-20T20:32:00.003+09:30

Our world is like a fragmented WeiQi (Go/Baduk) competition in which the players of one board will never get to play the players of other boards. Players can congregated around the most interesting game and possibly comment on what's going on, but nobody dares to cross the invisible fences that exist between them all. Provided you essentially stay out of other people's games, you can pretty much anything upon your own board: Even kill your rival if need be.

What small chess boards everybody is playing on!

Perhaps that is why the blood flows so effortlessly out of the loser's dagger wound. But even as one of Murphy's Laws states that a Smith and Wesson always beats four aces, nobody will ever know how good a player is if their best move upon the WeiQi (Go/Baduk) board is violence.

But there is another fundamental problem with this competition. Once a competitor has won their individual game, the rules unfortunately do not allow other winners to challenge them to a game. To do so would be a violation of the rules and would merit disqualification.

So who would be the winner of this strange competition?

On the one hand it would be the person that devised the rules, and on the other hand all the other players would go along with the rules so long as is suited them to do so. After that, if the creator of the rules cannot decisively prove their dominance then those unworkable rules shall no longer apply. Either the players leave the competition or just simply defy the judge and switch players.

There can only be one true proven winner of a competition for the rest of the players to be happy (sort of).

A simple lesson in the Art of War, part41

2008-05-17T23:38:00.000+09:30

"How impressive." You remark at your white opponent coming in to attack from the south. "You are playing well. But not well enough."

You launch straight into your long-thought-over attack. You place a black stone above his white stone that had come from the west. And as expected, he has tried to stop your sideswipe jab with a second stone from the west. But you do not pause. You attack with your next black stone on his white stone's southern flank. You use speed to force the issue upon your opponent on whether to save the white stone or not?

Your opponent, on feeling the blizzard rush of the wind-attack saves the white stone.

But you aren't finished. You move swiftly and keeping your winded opponent on the backfoot as to what's going on, you fire off the third black stone where he least expected it: Right in between his white citadel on the northern star point and the white stone to its west. Then you stop as if both of you heard a plate shatter into halves.

Your opponent is about to react, but then all becomes silent as he realizes that another white stone may fall into your hands. But even if your opponent decides to save that feeble white stone, it does not matter. You did not become black by going after small fish, then again, smoked salmon and trout are nice fish to eat.

A simple lesson in the Art of War, part40

2008-05-16T21:19:00.001+09:30

You see not a reason for your opponent's last move, but then his motives are based around holding to a world of his making. To him, your ascension to the throne of his making is just a new chapter in a very long series of dramatic chapters. Beneath black's calm sagacity lies the wearied ruthlessness of bloody histories.

Now you have come like a parting wake pushing aside other challengers in order to face this old dog.

You see the board and ponder over a number of easy places you could challenge him to a bloody fight. But dragons would not be dragons if they fought like mortal men. So you return to the north of the board and climb high into the air before plunging down with your white stone on the world of weiqi.

Look upon my moves
And weep as my dragon stones
Build a weiqi world.

Yes, on a new board
Where the seven tyrants lie
Corpsed under me.

"How impressive." Your opponent remarks as his northern domain is marked by you from the south. "You are playing well. But not well enough."

The coming of Will Smith

2008-05-14T23:50:00.000+09:30

Sometimes I recommend that people should not play WeiQi (Go/Baduk). It can make you go quite literally insane if you dwell to deeply into things. Luckily, most people only play the game as if they are going boating in the sea and never need to worry about lurks beneath the surface.

For the rest, WeiQi (Go/Baduk) is like the ocean itself. And then you have to wonder: Are you prepared to dive in and go deeper?

I know that I sound mad. And I should sound mad because I am about to give you an example of what WeiQi (Go/Baduk) can do to you.

Recently I saw a poster of the movie 'I am Legend' starring Will Smith. Will Smith was walking under the broken arches of a bridge. Now most of the time I would not think anything of it, except that the poster looked strangely familiar. And then it hit me. I saw the same image in the movie 'I, Robot' which also starred Will Smith. In that movie, one of the robots had a dream and Will's character was shown a picture of that dream: A man standing under two broken arches. It could just be a coincidence, but after playing WeiQi (Go/Baduk) you start to connect the dots that others just don't see and Will Smith has been playing a number of Saviour of the World movies like Independence Day.

The Art of War: States of Ebb and Flow

2008-05-12T14:40:00.001+09:30

The weiqi ( Go / Baduk ) board represents, to whomever is playing, their idea of the world. While this earth is just a single planet, there are many worlds that is why many rulers can claim to be the Ruler of the World and share it with other rulers. Currently this title is called President.

Unfortunately this is like living in a house full of snakes. You can never be sure which one bit you and if you do find it is your snake, your snake is still a snake that has a lot in common with the other snakes. Can you be sure?

And while most board games allow for many players on the board, ultimately a good fight is only between two players. And ultimately it is between these two protagonists that the weiqi ( Go / Baduk ) board ebbs and flows as they try to decide whose idea of the world shall prevail.

But you know what? The house, itself, always wins and that is made self evident by the pattern that was made by the black and white stones. And it is only the wise player that understands this that truly wins.

The Yi Banner

2008-05-08T21:55:00.001+09:30

Last night I had a dream.

I dreamt that I was standing on a old stone bridge that crossed a mighty river. As I started crossing the bridge I saw that it arched high into the sky to where its crest was hidden by dense clouds. I wanted to see the other side of the bridge so I continued to cross it until I passed the cloudline and came upon a row of old broken flags flapping in the breeze. On each flag there was a Chinese character: 夏 Xia, 商 Shang, 周 Zhou, 秦 Qin, 漢 Han, 晉 Jin, 隋 Sui, 唐 Tang, 宋 Song, 元 Yuan, 明 Ming and 清 Ching. As I studied the twelve flags, two old men approached me and asked if I would like to have a game of weiqi? But they were already playing a game amongst themselves on held the flag of Yu 鱼 and the other's flag was Hong 红.

I felt rude to interfere in their game and politely told them that I was on my way to the other side of the bridge. Strangely though I wanted to stay and play with them but their seemed to be a great wave pushing me to complete the journey. I had crossed about two-thirds and could see a beautiful paradise ahead of me when I decided to stop and look back from where I came.

There behind me stood a massive army of something like out of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms with all off them carrying the banner with the Chinese character Yi. Yi the mighty Dragon of Changes: Radical Yi, suffix Jing!

I froze as a chill raced down my spine to the sound marching feet coming to a halt.

I woke and found a hot cup of Lung Jing Cha waiting for me on my bedside dresser.

A simple lesson in the Art of War, part39

2008-05-07T21:34:00.001+09:30

You are not worried by your opponent's last move because this game has a long way to go. To show your control you place an intimidating black stone right above white's stone on the northern star point. Your opponent looks on and says "Do you attempt to sneak past me from the north?" You look but say nothing.

"This pathway is closed." Your opponent says as he drops a white stone beside your black as if to bring an entire army into the fray from the west. Something in the future will have to break to resolve this stand-off. But for now you play your real move to the south and block that white snake's tail that has been left to grow towards the border!

A simple lesson in the Art of War, part38

2008-05-01T22:16:00.000+09:30

Outside a nearby window a tree's lower branches are being felled. One turns to the noise of men sawing and one wonders how long this mighty cider has got to live; Is it not perfect as it is?

With every branch felled, it seems that a world of darkness was slowly lifting over the weiqi world being played between you and your stubborn opponent.

Sunlight is casting over the board made of ancient oak. Then you ask your opponent "Is it not true that empires rise and fall?"

Your opponent, holding a black stone, clenches his fist and answers "Is not true that commonwealths wax and wane like the golden winter sunlight of low cast days?"

"Indeed you are right. Upon this board every move is right. Every stone has its dominion like the untouched yew tree standing outside."

"The yew tree escapes the axe, the saw and the deer. It will remain safe like this black stone I now place on the board."

Your opponent releases the black stone from within their fist and gently places it behind your last move. It is a perfect unknowable move as it sits on your stones northern border like a patient tent city that one does not know what to do with. This is one of those moments that history will record as being the time of fateful decisions that will decide how the next age will begin.

You pause for a moment.

The sunlight from outside shines upon a spot that makes little sense. It blinds you to look further and if one cannot see then you must play there anyway. You take a white stone and place it to the south of the cold northeastern star point where black holds sway. The light dims and your opponent is bemused by where you have placed your stone: Two places from the edge of the board and two places from his black stone.

The Yew Tree's meaning of WeiQi 2

2008-04-30T22:03:00.000+09:30

Of all the trees known to mankind, the Yew tree is known to outlive almost all of them. It does this by employing many strategies and some of them are very unpleasant. That is why it is sometimes associated with death.

WeiQi (Go/Baduk) over the course of the centuries has come to be associated with death as well.

The Yew Tree's meaning of WeiQi

2008-04-22T20:53:00.003+09:30

An often said strategy is a good offense makes a good defense. How true. Yet in WeiQi (Go/Baduk) we learn that too much aggression, too much push can leave you weak in the defensive. A tree is a good example of this. Once a mighty tree reaches a certain size, it becomes its own worst enemy and starts to rot from the inside.

In WeiQi (Go/Baduk) this can be our undoing, so we try to on the one hand gain as much territory as possible while on the other keeping it in such a state that it cannot become a new battle ground.

Then there is the other side of the coin, too much caution and defense will leave a player weak through out the game. Small can be beautiful, but it has to be done right.

If the tree isn't a good example then consider this: With more and more complex abstract rights given to us in the world, why is it that we seem to be losing our most basic rights? I know that for some the topic of politics is a no-no and I am not trying to make this blog hard for them to read, but the early WeiQi masters foresaw the roots of tyranny and tried to teach the way of harmony through the stones on the board.

War and Peace, both have their place in the world but few ask at what price? Perhaps we should leave such things to the Yew tree.

A simple lesson in the Art of War, part37

2008-04-19T23:36:00.000+09:30

Is not amazing what a difference a single black stone can make?

Your opponent takes a white stone and goes to place it next to his last white move. And then he pauses. The move is hastily aborted. Where will he play instead?

You wait in total control.

You are calm as you sip your tea and snack upon a biscuit.

The northeast can thaw a little slower as you study your opponent's revised move: He transfers his white stone closer to his white citadel on the northern star point while outmaneuvering your last play.

Jack is nimble, and
Jack is quick. As Jack dances
Around the black stick!

The little fox taunts from afar as your opponent smiles a devil's smile. Hmmm.....

Strung upon my gate
Are your brethren: Frozen stiff.
Be warn'd Jack BeQuick.

A simple lesson in the Art of War, part36

2008-04-14T20:54:00.000+09:30

In a vortex, time grinds slowly on the frozen edges of the world. You watch and wait like a starving fox upon a canopy that hardly moves. Your opponent has gone sleeping with their thoughts as you wait for his response to your move against his fortress on the north-eastern star point from the northern fringes.

He takes a black stone and holds it between his fingers. Twirling it round and round... A pause, and then his move: He places his black stone two places to the west of your white attack. It is not a challenge, but a quiet reminder to tread carefully.

A simple lesson in the Art of War, part35

2008-03-30T19:39:00.000+10:30

"It is your turn to play." You calm say. And now you wait as you try to decipher your opponent's next move.

"It is indeed my turn to play." He says. "I will not waste it."

"I don't expect you to. Unless you intend to."

"It may be the norm for politicians to huff and puff, but I will take my time."

You watch your opponent slowly sip his tea and pour himself another cup before offering to pour your cup as well. You accept the offer and get up to grab some cookies from the kitchen pantry in the hope that a little further distraction will help him.

You return to your seat and offer him some of the cookies with the thought that revenge is best served on a cold dish.

But how cold must that dish be - a Siberian winter on the edge of a frozen sea that never sees daylight?

"Death comes quickly to those lost from the herd." You opponent grins as he throws his white stone next to your black stone sitting alone on the north-eastern star point: Forgotten yet not forsaken.

"So you have attacked me this far north. Your white stone just to the north of my black stone. Is that wise?"

"We shall see."

A white fox in the
Snow nipping at a black stone
That it thinks is food.

"Like I said: We shall see..." Your opponent repeats.

A simple lesson in the Art of War, part34

2008-03-20T20:03:00.002+10:30

An eye for an eye - In war it seems that only the blind can see. Here on a weiqi board you turns a bad situation into another. Your opponent seems in control but you are showing him with every chance that control can be easily taken away.

On the world's frontier
A forgotten port stands still
Beneath a white storm.

Your opponent, however strong or controlling, must now decide: To surrender a black stone or rescue the situation?

Faith in the future can be very fragile. Your opponent pauses and watches. You know that black is calculating the odds stacked against them: To save the black stone means lose a piece in the future. Or to surrender it means to bring equality for white. You watch and wait and plan where you will attack next.

Ship, ship, ship ahoy
The last boarding of a prince
cloaked by the moors.

Black saves black and takes a deep sip of their tea. You have made your point but you realise that this is not chess, where you can have a style of play resembling amateurish barbarity. You study your opponent's posture to see if the point has been felt, but he is too clever to let you know.

Black pillars holding
As the weiqi lords battle
Over shifting wood board.

"It is your turn to play." He calmly says.

The Art of War: States of Distraction

2008-03-10T23:38:00.000+10:30

One of the hardest things to master in WeiQi (Go/Baduk) is to stay focused. For followers of the Art of War, there is a lot to learn and staying focused is essential because a lot of the strategies are to do with distracting, confusing or misdirecting an opponent.

How many games have been played where one would wish or did blame it on being 'not there'? I bet there have been a few.

If you are distracted a lot during the game, take heart. It may only mean that one's goal may be something other than what the opponent can offer. All the tricks and illusions in the world cannot distract one from what their heart truly seeks from the game.

Sometimes war is the same: You are standing at the gate watching the hordes climb up the hill to your house and the only worthwhile response is to say that the situation is bullshit and that they should come back when they have better proposal. Until then the board will remain a virgin field for the right opponent to make themselves known.

Now about being misdirected....

The Art of War: States of Noble Governance

2008-03-08T20:28:00.003+10:30

How can a noble prince govern righteously when the wicked are stabbing him in the back?

This simple question has perplexed many sages while playing WeiQi (Go/Baduk). And it is no wonder that many have felt defeated by what they see around them: Good people being struck down for doing the right thing. (For most players I recommend that they focus on playing the game and avoiding tough questions as it can drive the weakly minded insane. But...) For those with the stamina to fight battle after battle after battle until they have won, may the daggers not go too deep on your climb to the top.

And as for the wicked cheaters that enslave others to do their dirty work against the noble prince I ask this question: How can the wicked sleep safely at night when their roofs leak and cockroaches scuttle under the floorboards?

I guess sometimes it is better to violently collapse the WeiQi (Go/Baduk) board and light-heartedly blame it on an earthquake than to frustratingly go on playing a game in which the other player is cheating. Then again, a good laid plan means nothing if the patterns on the board have been destroyed.

So the noble prince can govern righteously the righteous. To the wicked, woe unto them the fury of SunTzu, SunBin and the other sages.

A simple lesson in the Art of War, part33

2008-03-08T14:03:00.000+10:30

Black shall not be led down the garden path. While it was nice to visit the world's edge, power does not reside along the fringe where hell resides. You bring home the point by placing a black stone immediately to the northwest of the southern star point. Thereby trapping from three sides the first white stone at the beginning of the path. The next move should be simple for your opponent.

To lose or save it?
Influence and arm-twisting.
The path is not clear.

Or is it? Your opponent makes their move and saves their trapped white stone. You in response place a black stone immediately to the north of your last move and complete the wall that you have been building.

Your opponent is baffled by the play but he is wise enough to know that it is there for the future that you can see clearer than your shortsighted opponent.

Your opponent tries to counter your move by flanking along the extreme southern edge of the weiqi board and traps your southernmost black stone.

Clear is the white path
Taken to the weiqi edge
By whom that plays there.

Predictability and Sameness

2008-03-01T15:56:00.001+10:30

After years of playing WeiQi (Go/Baduk) a player gets used to idea of expecting the unexpected and dealing with it appropriately. The term 'Expecting the unexpected' is more than just a saying for us. It is not even a motto. It is a truth and fact. And as we get better at the game and play ever more challenging games we come to see more and more of it.

Predictability and sameness tends to be the trade of a novice. We start with the orthodox and become unorthodox. In chess, however, the opposite tends to be true.

Recently I have been plagued by a series of interesting dreams that while I cannot figure them out, they have left me with a warning that I will come across a challenge. Today I met that challenge. A woman from the Pentecostal Church met me in a teahouse as she was handing out fliers and asked me if I knew the first two commandments?

Saddled with bags and things that were distracting me, I could not answer her and she told me the first two were: 1. Love thy God and 2. Love thy Neighbour. Something told me that it did not seem right, but I remained polite and told her twice (when asked twice) that my name is Peter. Strangely she did not seem to recognise its meaning until I reminded her of the story of Jesus and Simon: You I shall name Peter the rock... And upon you I shall build my church. She quickly left.

I only remember it because a lot of people have commented that I am as stubburn as a rock sometimes. And that I do also carry the burden of sometimes being a keystone for others.

Anyway, my suspicions were well founded. The first two commandments are: 1. Thou shalt not worship any gods other than God, and 2. Thou shalt not make any idols. The first ten say nothing about loving thy neighbour. And God wants to be worshiped, not loved.

I may not have played the situation well, but I hope I get a fifty-fifty on my scorecard.

A simple lesson in the Art of War, part32

2008-02-24T20:31:00.000+10:30

A counter on your move against your push on the southern star point. Now an open trap awaits for a white stone. You swing around it and push again from the west. This a little further south and your opponent repeats their defence. If this plays out well you can lead him right to the edge of the known world and then swing into full attack. You place another white stone to repeat the previous move in expectation of black's predicted response...

Like a tornado
On a sightseeing visit
Of the weiqi world.

White waits but black does not show. Instead your opponent blasts their way back north on top of your first attempt to push against his southern star point stronghold.

A simple lesson in the Art of War, part31

2008-02-23T22:24:00.001+10:30

Dogs of war indeed, you ponder as the incessant barking outside has transformed into two dogs going at each other while other dogs could be heard frantically barking to join the fight. Inside, however, you are trying to turn a declaration of war from your opponent back to the status quo. Things have become all the more tense since the last move. There is the thought of having a convenient accident...

But this is war and black will fight to win.

The weiqi board stands poised. You draw out a black stone and study your opponent's last move. He seeks to close you into a tiny southern enclave like a helpless puppy. You play your stone and tear at his misplaced heel.

A simple lesson in the Art of War, part30

2008-02-22T20:29:00.001+10:30

"And so war has begun." You find yourself saying out loud.

"Then let slip the dogs of war." Your opponent concludes.

There have been only sixty-five moves on the board and now it is with every coming move rapidly heading towards a common man's bloodsport. You take out a white stone from its bowl and carefully study the map on where to attack first. Where is your opponent weak yet strong?

Upon this square board
The weiqi war is now fought
Between black and white.

You place your white stone next to the black stone on the southern star point on its western side. Nothing more needs to be said. Hell, war, love and peace... All seems to be tied up in this single innocent move that on the surface goes nowhere. Your stayed hand trembles with grim expectation.

The Art of War: States of Middlemen

2008-02-15T21:37:00.002+10:30

In war there is always a middleman. I cannot remember if I have ever talked about the time I saw a special chess board. It was made so that three people can play at the same time. One player was white, another black and the third player was red. It seemed so cool at the time and in my mind it still leaves me wondering what a chess game with three people would be like?

In WeiQi (Go/Baduk) there are only two players and apart from the mess the two players make on the board, the outcome is nearly always straightforward. Still, that doesn't stop somebody from wondering what it would be like to have more that two players at the same time...

Then again. One may not have to wonder. Many years ago I used to enjoy meeting friends at a unique little bookstore and play a game or two of WeiQi (Go/Baduk) there while sipping tea or coffee and chatting. Most of the time the games were straightforward. But there were always times when their girlfriends would start putting their two cents worth into the game. It was very annoying. But I learnt some valuable lessons on middlemen.

1. They are always there for their own interests.
2. The player that invites them never seem to notice them.
3. Unless the middlemen's interests are clear like supplying arms, they never seem to know what they are doing.
4. Middlemen always make the situation worse.
5. And finally, their presence forces a conflict to be prolonged longer than normal.

After a while of dealing with these problems, I proposed a novel solution: Since I am in fact playing against two people at the same time, I suggested that I play them both. Each taking a turn in making a move on the same board and I would counter them both. Now I thought - brilliant - I will get to stimulate my mind by playing against two brains and my partner would get to know his girlfriend better. But just to be sure if it did not happen that way, I brought my girlfriend along to keep his girlfriend busy.

I turned up at the following game, excited and ready to play. But surprising, my friend came alone. When I enquired as to where his girlfriend was, his answer was one of those that implied that I was not going to see her again. I learnt a few more things about middlemen.

6. Some are puppets.
7. Get rid of the middlemen and the conflict may be over before it even begun.
8. There is no such thing as a neutral middleman.
9. Middlemen are beyond good and evil, all that matters is that they are working for you and nobody else.