At the break of day, the two armies were silent.  Each encampment came to wake ready for the battle that lay ahead.  Meals were prepared and swords were sharpened.  It was the warring states period of ancient China.      The two clans faced the day not with excitement, but resentment.  Neither side had been able to break the other's will and serve victory to their feudal lord.  The soldiers morale was not uplifted, disdain for the danger that beckoned over the next hillside weighed heavy on the weary troops.      The two withered armies were locked in a classic stalemate, neither nearing vantage, neither expecting victory, but both anticipating defeat.      For the soldiers they had to reach deep and find a way to stiffen their backs for the coming onslaught.  For the commanders they had to think beyond convention, and grasp a new strategy to wrest victory from their opponent.  The battle would continue only until one side was bent to defeat.      As the sun crested over the high hill to the valley where, his army would once again attack its opposition.  The leader called out for his army to gather all of the inmates from a nearby prison.      They were a sorry lot -- misfits, deserters, petty larcenists, and the occasional murderer.  Following the commanders orders, all of the criminals were given weapons.  Many of the regular troops grumbled with disdain at outfitting these thugs as a part of the honorable kingdom that they defended.      The commander led the criminals, seemingly turned soldiers away from the regular troops.  Too distant to hear his commands to the prisoners, the troops continued to grouse about having to fight alongside such men of disrepute.      The commander returned to the line with his regular troops.  The drumbeat led the lines of soldiers forward.  In front were the criminals, untrained in the tactics of combat, behind them was the regular army.  Another's day battle would soon ensue, but today's battle was different then the many days before, where victory was postponed to stalemate.      The two sides faced one another in the valley that separated their encampments.  At first the one army was surprised to see that their opponent's ranks had swelled in numbers.  But, upon further inspection they sized up the now larger opposition.  The criminals were at best rag tag soldiers, a sickening lot that surely would succumb quickly to the blades of their foes.     Ceremonially, the two sides faced off, as each side's anthem to their state was played.  The commanders stepped forward and spoke partly to their own army about the righteousness of their cause, while heaving backhanded insults disguised as compliments to the listening ears of their enemies.      "We shall win not because of the metal of our blades, but because our enemies though strong in heart have weakened bodies from the lowly pay and crusts of bread their greedy lord lavishes upon them.  Today, our enemies will witness the strength of desire and our unwavering dedication to the victory of our king!"      With the end of the rhetoric from both sides the commanders stepped behind their lines, and retreated to their opposing hillsides to watch the day's combat play out.      The drumbeat from the criminals' side resonated across the valley, with each heavy concussion of the drums the line stepped forward towards the opposition that readied to tear their life from their bodies.     Finally, with only about ten yards separating the criminals from their overwhelming opposition, the drums signaled the criminals to halt.  Then, with no indication of what would happen next, the screeching sounds of horns carved from oxen bones, gave the criminals the signal that they waited for and feared.      The opposition wilted in shear abhorrence as the criminals lifted their heavy blades and turned them on themselves.  Some quickly drew the blade sharply across their own throats, others thrust the metal deep into the pit of their stomachs, spilling their intestines on to the field of combat.  The line of criminals too many to count, stepped forward and in a final act of loyalty to a king that had imprisoned them, took their own lives.       The spectacle was overwhelming, so horrified was the opposition at this brutal display of commitment, it can only be said that their minds' weren't in the game that day.  After the act of self-mutilation had closed, the commander ordered a full-scale attack.      The combatants that had just witnessed scores of their enemy brutally take their own lives, were devastated by the physical onslaught.  The commander had made it clear to the criminals - take your own life, or we shall take it from you in a manner of our choosing.      The threat worked perfectly; the spectacle graphically haunted the enemy and the long-awaited victory was won.     The manner that wars are fought has changed throughout time.  From the swordsmen of ancient China to knights of the middle ages, to the guerilla fighters of Vietnam, each has brought new ingenuity of how to dispose of the resources at the individuals command.  And, many commanders have impacted civilization through their own unique movement of power.      Although these commanders and generals have all done things differently, most all have studied from one fount of knowledge on the subject.  As centuries have tumbled into millennium, Sun Tzu's "The Art of War" has remained the preeminent piece for commanders and combatants to study.      Daily across the nation, and across the world wrestlers take to the mats and weight rooms to hone the body to attack and counter their foes.  Push-ups and sit-ups, power cleans, and double-legs chisel the body into a warring machine.  But if a wrestler only looks to develop the body and his wrestling skill then he has overlooked an essential element of combat, the mind.      Hence the saying, "If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.  If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat.  If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle."    The history of combat traced back to the roots of Sun Tzu calls for our combatants to look deeply into themselves, examine weakness, and study strength.  Only the best thinkers will truly be hearty enough to become champions.  Wrestling to the uninitiated will appear only to be a battle of strength and weakness of the body, but young wrestlers soon learn the toughest demons to battle are in our own minds'.      Sun Tzu's "Art of War" was written as a series of written verse.  It can be read quickly as literature, but the tact of taking the treatise as a page turning short story overlooks the essence of study.      Wrestlers seeking the next level may want to examine the verses in much the way General Patton, Stonewall Jackson, George Washington, Napoleon Bonaparte, and Alexander the Great paid reverence to the ancient teachings of Sun Tzu.  Each verse is meant for the person to reflect upon, much like early versions of the Bible contained the word "selah" following each psalm.  The word selah, from Hebrew, essentially means pause, think and reflect.      Wrestlers seeking the next level will not always be able to just work their way to success through the battle tested physical exertion of wind sprints and chin-ups.  To get to the top---selah-pause, think and reflect.  For thousands of years the greatest combatants the world has known have followed this same path.    * "To secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands, but the opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself"    Selah--pause, think and reflect.      How many ways can this verse be applied to a wrestler seeking greatness?  How has your opponent provided opportunity for his own defeat?  Have you secured yourself against defeat?    * "Standing on the defensive indicates insufficient strength; attacking, a superabundance of strength."      Selah--pause, think and reflect.      Apply the verse to wrestling.  What is your state of mind when you wrestle?    * "To see victory only when it is within the ken of the common