CatB.org's Unix Koans | |
The discovery of the collection of koans known as the | |
Rootless Root, apparently preserved for decades in the dry | |
upper air of the Western Mountains, has ignited great | |
controversy in scholarly circles. Are these authentic | |
documents shedding new light on the teaching of the early | |
Unix patriarchs? Or are they clever pastiches from a later | |
age, commanding the authority of semi-mythical figures such | |
as the Patriarchs Thompson, Ritchie and McIlroy for | |
doctrines which evolved closer to our own era? | |
It is impossible to say for certain. All sides in the | |
dispute have made much of an alleged similarity to that | |
venerable classic, The Tao of Programming[1]. But Rootless | |
Root is quite different in tone and style from the loose, | |
poetic anecdotes of the James translation, focused as it is | |
on the remarkable and enigmatic figure of Master Foo. | |
A newer work, the Unix Power Classic[2], translates the Tao | |
Te Ching into an idiom similar to that of Rootless Root. | |
Unix Power Classic may well have been influenced by Rootless | |
Root, or further research may disclose that they had common | |
sources. | |
It would be more apposite to seek parallels in the AI | |
Koans[3]; indeed, there are textual clues that the author of | |
the Rootless Root may have redacted certain versions of the | |
AI Koans. We are also on much firmer ground in seeking | |
connections with the Loginataka[4]; indeed, it is quite | |
possible that the unknown authors of Rootless Root and of | |
Loginataka were one and the same person, possibly a student | |
of Master Foo himself. | |
Mention should also be made of the Tales of Zen Master | |
Greg[5], though the Nine Inch Nails references have cast | |
some doubt on their antiquity and it is thus unlikely that | |
they influenced Rootless Root. | |
That the title of the work was intended as a reference to | |
the Zen classic Gateless Gate[6] of Mumon, we can say with | |
fair confidence. There are echoes of Mumon in several of the | |
koans. | |
There is considerable dispute over whether Master Foo should | |
be assigned to the Eastern (New Jersey) School, or the | |
Western School that grew out of the Patriarch Thompson's | |
epochal early journey to Berkeley. If this question has not | |
been settled, it is perhaps because we cannot even establish | |
that Master Foo ever existed! He might merely be a composite | |
of a group of teachers, or of an entire dharma lineage. | |
Even supposing the legend of Master Foo accreted around the | |
teaching of some a single person, what of his favored | |
student Nubi? Nubi has all the earmarks of a stock figure, | |
the perfect disciple. One is reminded of the tales | |
surrounding the Buddha's favorite follower Ananda. It seems | |
likely that there was a historical Ananda, but no trace of | |
his actual personality has survived the euhemerizing process | |
by which the life of the Buddha was polished into timeless | |
myth. | |
In the end, all we can do is take these teaching stories on | |
their own terms, and extract what kernels of wisdom may be | |
found there. | |
The redaction of the Rootless Root is a work in progress, as | |
the source materials present many difficulties in | |
reconstruction and interpretation. Future versions may | |
include more stories as these difficulties are overcome. | |
[1]The Tao of Programming is available on the Web. | |
[2]The Unix Power Classic is available on the Web. | |
[3]The AI Koans are available on the Web | |
[4]The Loginataka is available on the Web. | |
[5]The Tales of Zen Master Greg are available on the Web. | |
[6]The Gateless Gate is available on the Web. | |
.. | |
end-user.txt 2021-Jun-14 03:39 1.5 KB | |
gui-programmer.txt 2021-Jun-14 03:40 1.2 KB | |
hardware-designer.txt 2021-Jun-14 03:40 0.9 KB | |
mcse.txt 2021-Jun-14 03:40 1.2 KB | |
methodology-consultant.txt 2021-Jun-14 03:41 1.1 KB | |
nervous.txt 2021-Jun-14 03:41 0.8 KB | |
oldhand.txt 2021-Jun-14 03:41 0.9 KB | |
prodigy.txt 2021-Jun-14 03:41 2.1 KB | |
recruiter.txt 2021-Jun-14 03:41 0.9 KB | |
returning.txt 2021-Jun-14 03:41 1.3 KB | |
script-kiddie.txt 2021-Jun-14 03:41 1.6 KB | |
shell-tools.txt 2021-Jun-14 03:41 1.1 KB | |
ten-thousand.txt 2021-Jun-14 03:41 1.7 KB | |
two_paths.txt 2021-Jun-14 03:41 1.9 KB | |
unix-nature.txt 2021-Jun-14 03:41 1.1 KB | |
zealot.txt 2021-Jun-14 03:41 1.1 KB | |
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