The Codeless Code: Case 206 Inaction Hero 
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 A monk emailed master Kaimu:

Last week you hinted at Six Qualities

essential to being a diligent developer.

What are these “Six Qualities”?

Strangely, within seconds he received a long reply:

To understand music,

visit the raucous market at noon.

To understand the Six Qualities,

you have only to look around you:

The First is lacking in the monk Mudána.

If asked to hunt a deer for supper,

he will spend the day in bed dreaming of venison.

We gave him leave to rest all day—far away from here.

The Second is lacking in the nun Nabasu.

If asked to hunt a deer for supper,

she will cringe as if the bow were a pit-viper,

and beg to be relieved of the duty.

The Third is lacking in the monk Djishin.

If asked to hunt a deer for supper,

he will try to invent a weapon for the task.

That week the Temple will go hungry.

The Fourth is lacking in the monk Landhwa.

If asked to hunt a deer for supper,

he will drop his bow and haul along a cannon,

leaving us with little meat, and a large mess.

The Fifth is lacking in the monk Wangohan.

If asked to hunt a deer for supper,

he will choose the shuriken against all objections,

and chase a bleeding deer for thirty days.

The Sixth is lacking in young master Zjing.

If asked to hunt a deer for supper,

she will promise to do so when she has a free moment...

The deer will be dead of ripe old age by then.

The monk thought for a minute and emailed the master:

The First is too lazy to even begin.

The Second too lazy to conquer self-doubt.

The Third is too lazy to look for good tools.

The Fourth is too lazy to strive for precision.

The Fifth is too lazy to start over fresh.

The Sixth is too lazy to focus attention.



Yet if laziness engenders six paths to failure,

how can it be one of the Three Great Virtues?*



Again, within seconds he received a reply:

Master Kaimu is away on a deer hunting trip.

When asked to answer emails during his absence,

he decided to code a slick auto-responder instead.

If you’re reading this, rephrase and resend your question.

* Declared by one of the Patriarchs to be: laziness,
impatience, and hubris.