The cook of the King of the Beautiful and Gracious began to cut up the carcass of the bull. Every swing of the arm and tilt of the shoulder, every step of the leg and bending of the knee was accompanied by the crack of skin being separated from the bone and the sound of a knife. The work proceeded in a clear rhythm, like the dance “In the Mulberry Grove” or “Jing Shou”.
- Oh, how wonderful! How perfect your skill is! - exclaimed the Beautifully Merciful.
Lowering the knife, the cook said:
“I, your servant, am committed to the path more than to my skill!” When I, your servant, first began to butcher the bull, I saw only the carcass, and after three years I stopped noticing the animal as a whole. Now I don’t look at it, but understand it with my mind, I don’t perceive it with my senses, but act only with my mind. Following the natural fibers, I cut joints, go into cavities, never chop anything that is too hard - the central veins and ligaments, and especially large bones.
A good chef cuts, and therefore changes his knife once a year. A mediocre cook chops, and therefore changes his knife once a month. Your servant’s knife is now nineteen years old, I have cut up many thousands of bull carcasses with it, and its blade seems to have just been sharpened on a whetstone.
There are gaps between the joints, and the tip of the knife does not have a thickening. When you insert a thin blade into a slot, there is plenty of room for the knife to move. Therefore, even after nineteen years, his blade seems to have just been sharpened on a whetstone. But, despite this, every time I approach a complex plexus, I see how difficult it is to cope with it, I am afraid and wary, I do not take my eyes off, I move the knife slowly, barely moving. And suddenly I finish the cutting so quickly, it’s as if I’m scattering a clod of earth. Having raised the knife, I will stand, look around, walk around indecisively and, satisfied, wipe off the knife and hide it.
- Great! - exclaimed the Beautifully Merciful. — After hearing the chef’s story, I understood how to achieve longevity.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru