In the chapter Nourishing the Lord of Life in the Zhuangzi, Cook Ding cuts up an ox for his lord. “What I care about is the Way,” he says. “It goes beyond skill.” (臣之所好者道也，進乎技矣)
His knife passes through the spaces between the joints. “The joints have spaces, and the edge of the knife has no thickness,” he explains. “Now my knife has been in use for nineteen years, and its edge is as if fresh from the whetstone.”