Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

World's Oldest Book is GPLed

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the Stallman-is-a-latecomer dept.

figlet writes "The Diamond Sutra is the 'World's Earliest Dated Printed Book.' It was discovered in China in 1907 and now resides at the British Library." The colophon reads: "Reverently [caused to be] made for universal free distribution by Wang Jie on behalf of his two parents on the 13th of the 4th moon of the 9th year of Xiantong. (May 11, 868 A.D.)" Apparently this was version 0.001 of the GPL.

3 of 235 comments (clear)

  1. What License for the Bible? by MattXVI · · Score: 5
    It appears that the Bible has a more restrictive license. From the last few lines of the last chapter of the last book of the Neww Testament:

    I warn every one who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if any one adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if any one takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book. - Revelation 22:18-19

    Of course, there is no restriction at all on redistribution. :)

    --
    When I'm singing a ballad and a pair of underwear lands on my head, I hate that. It really kills the mood.
    -Tom Jones
  2. Re:Waiting... by Myddrin · · Score: 4

    I'm going to be a wet blanket and respond seriously to a funny post...

    It's origin is highly speculative. Some Buddhists believe that it (along with all other Sutras) where written during the lifetime of the Buddha and hidden by the King of the Nagas "until the world was ready." (Nagas are intelligent water-snakes.)

    Western scholars put the authorship of this and other sutra to around 2-400 years after the death of the Buddha (around 2,500+ years ago), and the location in Northern India.

    This type of "license" was common amongst Buddhist writting, and some books by modern monks are realeased with similar statements at the begining. (However, they have a big ol' copyright at the begining.)


    Note: I _am_ Buddhist (Tibetan Drikung Kagyu), and find the Diamond Sutra to be a powerful and beautiful statement of Buddhist belief.

    --
    Myddrin
  3. That's "Diamond *Cutter* Sutra." by mellon · · Score: 4
    Of course, the title is empty of any nature of its own, so maybe I shouldn't be making corrections... :')

    The Diamond Cutter Sutra is one of the main Buddhist teachings on Emptiness. You can get it in Tibetan, along with a lot of other Buddhist texts in Tibetan at The Asian Classics Input Project. Yes, that's right, it's available on the web, and also in CD form. Ain't technology wonderful?