庖丁解牛
Cook Ding
Taoism · parableThe Cook Ding episode in the third chapter of the Zhuangzi (養生主), in which a butcher describes following the spaces in an ox rather than repeatedly forcing the knife. The story is often read as an image of skilled, non-forcing action; linking it to wu wei is an interpretation, not the chapter's literal terminology.
Páo Dīng Jiě Niú · primary text
Primary Textual Appearances
庖丁解牛 …… 以無厚入有間，恢恢乎其於游刃必有餘地矣
— Zhuangzi, ch. 3 養生主 (card zhuangzi-008), Guo Xiang received text
I follow the natural grain, letting the knife find its own way through the spaces between.
— Zhuangzi, Chapter 3 (Yangsheng Zhu) — displayed translation provenance unresolved
What Are the Key Facts About Cook Ding?
- Tradition: Taoism
- Chinese: 庖丁解牛
- Category: Parable
- Definition: The Cook Ding episode in the third chapter of the Zhuangzi (養生主), in which a butcher describes following the spaces in an ox rather than repeatedly forcing the knife.
What Cards Are Related to Cook Ding?
Typed Relationships
What Concepts Are Related to Cook Ding?
Wu Wei 无为What Other Guides Cover Taoism?
Frequently Asked Questions About Cook Ding
What is the story of Cook Ding?
In the Zhuangzi, Cook Ding carves an ox with such ease that Lord Wenhui asks his secret. Ding replies he follows the Dao, not the senses — his knife moves along the natural seams, never striking bone, so it stays sharp for nineteen years.
What does the butcher parable teach?
It illustrates wu-wei through mastery: by attuning to the inherent structure of things and acting without forced effort, one achieves efficacy and longevity (here, the knife's unblunted edge).
How is Cook Ding linked to self-cultivation?
Lord Wenhui says he 'learned the ways of nurturing life' from it — the butcher's skill becomes a metaphor for living in harmony with the world's grain rather than against it.
What is the famous line about the knife?
Ding says a good cook changes knives yearly (cutting), an ordinary one monthly (hacking), but his knife, used along the natural spaces, 'has lasted nineteen years as though newly whetted,' embodying effortless skill.