The Codeless Code: Case 201 Ignorance is Bliss 
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 The Spider Clan had lost many abbots under master Suku, who
had little tolerance for managerial foolishness.* But Suku
was now travelling with her apprentices, and the Temple had
finally recruited its latest replacement abbot: an outsider
from the West named Ruh Cheen.

Ruh Cheen had been hired directly by Madame Jinyu, the
Abbess Over All Clans And Concerns. Since young master Zjing
was currently assigned to the Spider Clan, Jinyu called her
in to meet the new abbot.

Ruh Cheen bowed clumsily to Zjing. “I look forward to
supporting you in our shared mission,” he said cheerily. “I
see us as two big ugly mules pulling the same cart. So I’ll
do my best to stay clean out of your way, lest I trip you up
and we both find ourselves muzzle-down in the mud.”

“That is... good news,” said Zjing.

Madame Jinyu added, “Ruh Cheen is not only new to our
Temple, but new to software development as well. His
previous position was managing a team of fish skinners.”

“That is... less-good news,” said Zjing.

“To me, a java is something you drink, and a tomcat is
something you pet,” said Ruh Cheen with a smile. “So I’ll be
depending on you to teach me the ins and outs of whatever it
is we do here.”

“That is... wow,” said Zjing, finding herself at a loss for
a suitable adjective. “If you will both excuse me, I shall
inform the Spider Clan of this... news.”

Zjing called her monks in to a private conference. Their
astonishment turned quickly to fear.

“How can this abbot hope to manage what he does not even
understand?” asked one.

“How can old Jinyu have hired him?” demanded another.

“Truly she wishes to punish us for having dispatched our
other abbots!” cried a third.

“If only we could have but one of them back, to save us from
impending disaster!” lamented a fourth.

The hubub grew until Zjing called for silence.

“Madame Jinyu is no fool,” she said. “And it is not in her
best interests to set us up for failure. Therefore it is
certain that her choice is best for the Temple. If we cannot
see the wisdom behind it, then the only error is that our
eyes have not yet been opened. Let us be patient, and give
this strange abbot our support. By and by we will be
enlightened.”

And as these words left her lips, Zjing herself was
enlightened.

Madame Jinyu summoned Zjing to her offices that evening.

“My spies tell me of your soothing words to the Spider
Clan,” said the old Abbess.

“They were my words, but I did not believe them,” Zjing
confessed in a low voice. “I wished only to restore order.”

“And order was restored,” said the Abbess. “Why then does
little Zjing look so troubled?”

Said Zjing: “When I was elevated to master, I thought to
myself, Speak the truth as you know it, and you will do good
service. But today I learned that to do good service,
sometimes one must speak lies cloaked in the semblance of
wisdom. What therefore is wisdom? What therefore is truth?”

Said Jinyu: “One evening long ago there was a great storm,
and my firstborn son ran to me afraid. I told him that the
celestial spirits hunted nightmares in the rain; that each
bolt of lightning was a spear cast from the clouds, and each
peal of thunder was a demon’s dying gasp. We both slept well
thereafter. My falsehood is easy to see, but a greater truth
hides in its shadow.”

Qi’s commentary

I would confess that everything I have written in this book
is a lie, but I cannot, for there is not even a book.

Qi’s poem

Mugen asked Eku, Have I grown fat and homely?

Eku asked Mugen, Have I grown pale and wrinkled?

When lie answers lie, truth perishes—

Yet two old masters hold hands in the sunset.

* See cases 61, 62, 67, 120, and 153.
