Shareables · HSK 6 · 文 · Culture
庄子 · 庖丁解牛
Cook Ding's blade never dulls: he cuts where the ox is already open.
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庖丁解牛páo dīng jiě niúCook Ding cuts up an ox: mastery is following the structure, not forcing it
原文 · THE LINES
Yī hū tiān lǐ, pī dà xì, dǎo dà kuǎn.依乎天理，批大郤，导大窾。He goes by the natural structure, striking the big openings, guiding the blade through the big hollows.
Yǐ wú hòu rù yǒu jiàn, huīhuī hū qí yú yóu rèn bì yǒu yú dì yǐ.以无厚入有间，恢恢乎其于游刃必有余地矣。He puts what has no thickness into the space that has room — and there is always room enough for the blade to wander.
Three years in, Cook Ding stopped seeing a whole ox: 目无全牛. He saw joints. A cook who hacks changes knives monthly; his has cut thousands of oxen in nineteen years and is still sharp from the whetstone. 《庄子·养生主》
Learn the joints, not the ox.
What this card is
A one-page Chinese lesson from the HSK 6 set, filed under 文 · Culture. Cook Ding's blade never dulls: he cuts where the ox is already open.
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