庖丁為文惠君解牛，手之所觸，肩之所倚，足之所履，膝之所倚，砉然響然，奏刀騞然，莫不中音。合於《桑林》之舞，乃中《經首》之會。
文惠君曰："廻，善哉！技盍至此乎？"庖丁釋刀對曰："臣之所好者道也，進乎技矣。始臣之解牛之時，所見無非全牛者；三年之後，未嘗見全牛也；方今之時，臣以神遇而不以目視，官知止而神欲行。依乎天理，批大郤，導大髖，因其固然。技經肯綮之未嘗，而況大軱乎！良庖歲更刀，割也；族庖月更刀，折也；今臣之刀十九年矣，所解數千牛矣，而刀刃若新發於硎。彼節者有間而刀刃者無厚，以無厚入有間，恢恢乎其於遊刃必有餘地矣。是以十九年而刀刃若新發於硎。雖然，每至於族，吾見其難為，怵然為戒，視為止，行為遲，動刀甚微，謋然已解，如土委地。提刀而立，為之而四顧，為之躊躇滿志，善刀而藏之。"文惠君曰："善哉！吾聞庖丁之言，得養生焉。"
Cook Ding was carving an ox for Lord Wenhui. Every touch of his hand, every heave of his shoulder, every step of his foot, every thrust of his knee — the slicing and slashing of the cleaver — was in perfect rhythm, as though he were performing the Dance of the Mulberry Grove or keeping time with the Jingshou music.
Lord Wenhui said: 'Wonderful! How has your skill reached such heights?' Cook Ding laid down his cleaver and replied: 'What your servant loves is the Way, which goes beyond mere skill. When I first began cutting up oxen, all I could see was the ox itself. After three years, I no longer saw the whole ox. And now I meet it with my spirit rather than look at it with my eyes. My senses know where to stop, but my spirit moves where it wants. I follow the natural structure, strike in the great hollows, guide the knife through the great openings, and follow things as they are. I never touch the smallest ligament or tendon, much less a main joint! A good cook changes his knife once a year — because he cuts. An ordinary cook changes his knife once a month — because he hacks. I have used this knife for nineteen years and have cut up thousands of oxen with it, yet the blade is as sharp as if it had just come from the grindstone. There are spaces between the joints, and the blade has no thickness. If you insert what has no thickness into spaces, there is plenty of room — more than enough for the blade to move about in. That is why after nineteen years the blade is as good as new. Even so, whenever I come to a complicated place, I size up the difficulty, become cautious and alert, fix my gaze, slow my movements, and work the knife with the greatest subtlety — then with a single stroke the whole thing comes apart like a clod of earth crumbling to the ground. I stand there holding the knife, look all around me with complete satisfaction, then clean the knife and put it away.' Lord Wenhui said: 'Excellent! I have heard the words of Cook Ding and learned how to care for life!'
