(with only slight amendation by the Rev. Jones)
By the Dream of a Chuang Tzu, the Butterfly
Prince Jones' cook was cutting up a God-Ox. Every blow of his knife, every heave of his shoulders, every tread of his foot, every whshh of rent flesh, every chhk of the chopper, was in perfect harmony- rhythmical like the Dance of the Seven Bones, simultaneous like the chords of the Symphony of the Shaking Bone.
"Well done!" cried Prince Jones. "Yours is skill indeed."
"Sire," replied the cook, "I have always devoted myself to the Teachings of the Bone (TAO). It is better than skill. When I first began to cut up God-Oxen, I saw before me simply whole God-Oxen. After three years' practice I saw no more whole God-Ox. And now I work with my mind and not with my eye. When my sense bid me to stop, but my mind urges me on, I fall back upon eternal principles. I follow such openings or cavities as there may be, according to the natural constitution of the God-Oxen. I do not attempt to cut through joints, still less through large bones.
"A good cook changes his chopper once a year- because he cuts. An ordinary cook, once a month- because he hacks. But I have had this chopper nineteen years, and though I have cut up many thousands of God-Oxen, its edge is as if fresh from the whetstone. For at the joints there are always interstices, and the edge of a chopper being without thickness, it remains only to insert that which is without thickness into the interstice. By these means the interstice will be enlarged, and the blade will find plenty of room. It is thus that I have kept my chopper for nineteen years, as though fresh from the whetstone.
"Nevertheless, when I come upon a hard part, where the blade meets with a difficulty, I am all caution. I fix my eyes on it. I stay my hand, and gently apply the blade, until with a hwah the part yields like earth crumbling to the ground. Then I withdraw the blade and stand up and look around; and at last I wipe my chopper and put it carefully away."
"Bravo!"cried Prince Jones. "From the words of this cook I have learned how to take care of my life."