Here are some tantalizing excerpts from the newest computer-assisted
translation of Lao Tzu's famous

TAO TE CHIP

The Way of the One and the Zero

With all due apology to Stephen Mitchell, who's translation was the basis for
this, and, of course, Lao Tzu.

Written by Jeffrey Sorensen. This document is not copyrighted and is in the
public domain. The author respectfully requests that his attribution and apology
be retained during reproduction.

1
The tao that can be tar(1)ed
is not the entire
Tao.
The PATH that can be specified
is not the full PATH.

We
declare the names
of all variables and functions.
Yet the Tao has no type
specifier.

Dynamically binding, you realize the magic.
Statically
binding, you see only the hierarchy.

Yet magic and hierarchy
arise
from the same source,
and this source has a null pointer.

Reference
the NULL within NULL,
it is the gateway to all wizardry.

2
When users see one GUI as beautiful,
other user interfaces become
ugly.
When users see some programs as winners,
other programs become
lossage.

Pointers and NULLs reference each other.
High level and
assembler depend on each other.
Double and float cast to each
other.
High-endian and low-endian define each other.
While and until
follow each other.

Therefore the Guru
programs without doing
anything
and teaches without saying anything.
Warnings arise and he lets
them come;
processes are swapped and he lets them go.
He has but doesn't
chown,
acts but doesn't
expect.
When his work is done, he deletes it.
That is
why it lasts forever.

3
When you overesteem great hackers,
more users become
cretins.
When you develop encryption,
more users become
crackers.

The Guru leads
by emptying user's minds
and increasing
their quotas,
by weakening their ambition
and toughening their
resolve.
When users lack knowledge and desire,
management will not try to
interfere.

Practice not-looping,
and everything will fall into
place.

4
The Tao is like a glob pattern:
used but never used up.
It is
like the extern void:
filled with infinite
possibilities.

It is masked but always present.
I don't know who built
it.
It came before the first kernel.

5
The Tao doesn't take sides;
it gives birth to both wins and
losses.
The Guru doesn't take sides;
she welcomes both hackers and
lusers.

The Tao is like a stack:
the data changes but not the
structure.
the more you use it, the deeper it becomes;
the more you talk
of it, the less you understand.

Hold on to the root.

6
The Tao is called the Great Server:
empty yet inexhaustible,
it
gives birth to infinite networks.

Its code is present within you.
You
can apply it any way you want.

9
Fill your disk to the brim
and it will fragment.
Keep adding
features to your utility
and it will become unusable.
Chase after
royalties and license fees
and your heart will never unclench.
Care about
a luser's approval
and you will be his prisoner.

Do your work, then
logout.
The only path to serenity.

12
Graphics blind the eyes.
Audio files deafen the ear.
Mouse
clicks numb the fingers.
Heuristics weaken the mind.
Options wither the
heart.

The Guru observes the net
but trusts his inner vision.
He
allows things to come and go.
His heart is as open as the ether.

14
more, and it can't be read.
find, and it can't be
located.
grep, and it can't be scanned.

In the foreground, it isn't a
hog.
In the background, it isn't idle.
Contiguous, unpatchable,
it
lives below the realm of logic.
From there it includes all formulas,
an
image without a viewer,
virtual, beyond all conception.

Rewind it and
there is no beginning;
Fast forward and there is no end.
You can't know
it, but you can be it,
at ease in your own life.
Just realize where you
log from:
this is the essence of wisdom.

15
The ancient Wizards were profound and subtle.
Their wisdom was
unfathomable.
There is no way to describe it;
all we can do is read their
source code.

They were careful
as someone writing an unbuffered
stream.
Alert as a warrior in a dangerous MUD.
Courteous as an anonymous
ftp.
Fluid as a morphing face.
Shapable as an interpolated
spline.
Receptive as a dialup slip connection.
Clear as a sharpened
bitmap.

Do you have the patience to wait
till the broadcast storm
subsides and the net is clear?
Can you mask interrupts
till the right
thunk arises by itself?

The Guru doesn't seek fulfillment.
Not
seeking, not throwing exceptions,
she is present, and can welcome all
things.

17
When the Guru administers, the users
are hardly aware that he
exists.
Next best is a sysop who is loved.
Next, one who is feared.
And
worst, one who is despised.

If you don't trust the users,
you make
them untrustworthy.

The Guru doesn't talk, he hacks.
When his work is
done,
the users say, "Amazing:
we implemented it, all by ourselves!"

18
When the great Tao is forgotten,
standards and protocols
appear.
When management makes initiatives,
the great pretense
begins.
When there is no peace in the newsgroup,
bigots spread their
theology.
When the system becomes fragmented,
Holy Wars are born.

19
Throw away documentation and manuals,
and users will be a hundred
times happier.
Throw away privileges and quotas,
and users will do the
Right Thing.
Throw away proprietary and site licenses,
and there won't be
any pirating.

If these three aren't enough,
just stay at your home
directory
and let all processes take their course.

30
Whoever relies on the Tao in administrating
doesn't try force
issues
or defeat enemies by revoking privilages.
For every hack there is a
counterhack.
Flaming, even with a good intention,
will only bring flames
in return.

The Guru does his job
and then signs off.
He understands
that the net
is forever beyond his control,
and that trying to dominate
events
goes against the current of the Tao.
Because he believes in
himself,
he doesn't try to convince others.
Because he is content with
himself,
he doesn't need others' approval.
Because he accepts
himself,
the whole net accepts him.

32
The Tao can't be perceived.
Smaller than an bit,
it contains
uncountable files.

If powerful men and women
could remain centered in
the Tao,
all things would be harmony.
The net would become a
paradise.
All users would be at peace,
and the standards would be

those written in their hearts.

When you have versions and
releases,
know that they are provisional.
When you have consortia,
know
where their functions should end.
Knowing when to stop,
you can avoid any
danger.

All things end in the Tao
as sendmail flows into the net.

36
If you want to compress something,
you must first
pkunzip it.
If you want to get rid of a virus,
you must first
allow it to flourish.
If you want to get() something,
you
must first allow it to be put().
This is called the subtle
perception
of the way things are.

Soft mounting overcomes the hard
error.
Brute force overcomes the heuristic.
Let your algorithms remain a
mystery.
Just show users the results.

40
The return is the function of the Tao.
Responding is
the way of the Tao.

All things begin as source code.
Source code
begins with an empty file.

42
The Tao gives birth to One.
One gives birth to One Zero.
One
Zero gives birth to One One.
One One gives birth to all things.

All
things have their backs to the input
and stand facing the output.
When
output and input combine,
all things achieve harmony.

Ordinary users
hate solitude.
But the Guru makes use of it,
embracing his aloneness,
realizing
he is one with cyberspace.

43
A tiny bug in a trivial routine
will overcome a moby
system.
That which has no fee
enters where there is no market
space.
This shows the value of "AS IS."

Teaching without
manuals,
performing without commands:
that is the Guru's way.

46
When a system is in harmony with the Tao,
the compiler makes
applications and utilities.
When a system goes counter to the
Tao,
accounting logs fill the root directory.

There is no greater
illusion than fear,
no greater wrong than in preparing to defend
yourself,
no greater misfortune than having an enemy.

Whoever can see
through all fear
will always be safe.

47
Without opening a graphics window,
you can open your soul to the
net.
Without looking away from the console,
you can see the essence of the
Tao.
The more files you access,
the less you hack.

The Guru
accesses without protocols,
finds his man pages without
keywords,
optimizes without compiling.

48
In the pursuit of knowledge,
every day something is
appended.
In the practice of the Tao,
every day something is
truncated.
Less and less do you need to force things,
until finally you
arrive at non-looping.
When nothing is done,
nothing is left
undone.

True wizardry can be gained
by letting things go their own
way.
It can't be gained by interrupting.

49
The Guru has no mind of her own.
She works with the mind of the
users.

She is good to users who are good.
She is also good to users
who aren't good.
This is TRUE goodness.

She trusts users who are
trustworthy.
She also trusts users who aren't trustworthy.
This is TRUE
trust.

The Guru's mind is like free space.
Users don't understand
her.
They look to her and wait.
She treats them like child processes.

54
Whoever is planted in the Tao
will not have their account
revoked.
Whoever embraces the Tao
will not become obsolete.
Their
.signatures will be met with honor
from generation to generation.

Let
the Tao be present in your home
and you will become genuine.
Let it be
present in your group
and your group will flourish.
Let it be present in
your system
and your system will be an example
to all the systems in the
net.
Let it be present in cyberspace
and all cyberspace will
sync.

How do I know this is true?
By accessing myself.

60
Administering a large system
is like frying a small fish.
You
spoil it with too much poking.

Center your system in the Tao
and
lossage will have no power.
Not that it isn't there,
but you will be able
to step out of its way.

Give lossage nothing to oppose
and it will
disappear by itself.

68
The best MUD player
wants his opponents berserking.
The best
consortium partner
lauds the products of his competitor.
The best
corporate rep
serves the communal good.
The best sysop
follows the
will of the users.

All of them embody
the virtue of
non-contention.
Not that they don't love to compete,
but they do it with
the spirit of hack-and-slay.
In this they are like wannabees
and congruent
with the Tao.

70
My teachings are easy to grok
and easy to include in your
programs.
Yet your neural net will never grasp them,
and if you try to
code them, you'll fail.

My teachings are older than the net.
How can
you grep their meaning?

If you want to know me,
look to your
kernel.

71
Not-knowing is true knowledge.
Presuming to know is a
bug.
First realize that you are broken;
then you can move toward
perfection.

The Guru is her own debugger.
She has flushed herself of
all knowing.
Thus she is truly whole.

72
When they lose their sense of awe,
users turn to religious
wars.
When they no longer trust themselves,
they begin to depend upon the
authorities.

Therefore the Guru steps back
so that users won't be
confused.
He teaches without instructions,
so that users will have nothing
to learn.

73
The Tao is always at ease.
It computes without
grinding,
answers without outputing a word,
switches without being
signaled,
continues without a program.

It accesses all
cyberspace.
And though it spans many volumes,
is doesn't drop any
bytes.

74
If you realize that all code changes,
there is nothing you should
try to archive.
If you aren't afraid of hard drive failure,
there is
nothing you can't achieve.

Trying to control the future
is like trying
to debug a running kernel.
When you try to debug the system's
kernel,
chances are you'll panic and crash.

75
When license fees are too high,
users do things by hand.
When
the management is too intrusive,
users lose their spirit.

Hack for the
user's benefit.
Trust them; leave them alone.

79
Failure is an opportunity.
If you blame another user,
there is
no end to the blame.

Therefore the Guru
fulfills her own
obligations
and debugs her own code.
She hacks what she needs to do
and
demands nothing of her coworkers.

80
If a system is administered wisely,
its users will be
content.
They enjoy hacking their code
and don't waste time
implementing
labor-saving shell scripts.
Since they dearly love their
accounts,
they aren't interested in other machines.
There may be telnet,
rlogin, and ftp,
but these don't access any hosts.
There may be an arsenal
of cracks and malware,
but nobody ever uses them.
People enjoy reading
their mail,
take pleasure in being with their newsgroups,
spend weekends
working at their terminals,
delight in the doings at the site.
And even
though the next system is so close
that users can hear its keys clicking and
biff beeps,
they are content to die of old age
without ever having gone to
see it.