All poems

战国战国 · 文 Prose

庖丁解牛

Cook Ding Cuts Up an Ox

庄周

Zhuang Zhou

名篇Masterpiece 寓言Fable 道家Daoism 哲理Philosophy

庖丁为文惠君解牛，手之所触，肩之所倚，足之所履，膝之所踦，砉然向然，奏刀騞然，莫不中音。
合于《桑林》之舞，乃中《经首》之会。

Cook Ding was cutting up an ox for Lord Wenhui. Where his hand touched, where his shoulder leaned, where his foot trod, where his knee pressed—with a whoosh and a whir, the blade sliced through with a swish, every stroke in tune. He kept time to the dance of the Mulberry Grove, and matched the rhythm of the Jingshou.

Listen

Meaning

The opening of the most famous fable of the Zhuangzi, from the chapter 'The Nourishment of Life.' Cook Ding cuts up an ox for Lord Wenhui with a skill that has become art: where his hand touches, where his shoulder leans, where his foot treads, where his knee presses—the sounds of the blade all in tune, keeping time to the ancient dance of the Mulberry Grove and matching the rhythm of the Jingshou. The passage presents the consummate skill of the cook as the highest art, preparing the account that follows: his progress from seeing 'nothing but the ox' to 'never seeing the whole ox,' and the way of 'entering the spaces with a blade of no thickness, room to spare for the blade to wander'—the secret of nourishing life by following the natural grain of things.

厨师丁为文惠君宰牛，手接触的地方、肩依靠的地方、脚踩踏的地方、膝盖抵住的地方，都发出皮骨分离的声响，进刀的声音也哗哗作响，没有一声不合乎音律。那动作既合于《桑林》舞曲的节拍，又合于《经首》乐曲的韵律。

Appreciation

The passage is under a hundred characters, yet a concentrated essence of pre-Qin prose art, to be seen from four sides. First, the structure of the enumeration: the opening four clauses, 'where his hand touched, where his shoulder leaned, where his foot trod, where his knee pressed,' in the same pattern of 'where + verb,' line up the touch of the hand, the lean of the shoulder, the tread of the foot, the press of the knee, four clauses as one, making a rhythm like a sudden gust of rain, writing the simultaneous motion of every part of the cook's body in perfect coordination, the mastery of the skill before one's eyes. Second, the onomatopoeia and the mimicry: 'with a whoosh and a whir' writes the sound of the hide and bone separating, 'the blade sliced through with a swish' the sound of the blade entering, the two onomatopoeic words gathered by the 'ran' suffix, sound and sense together. Third, the allusion of the ancient music: the sound of the cutting 'keeps time to the dance of the Mulberry Grove and matches the rhythm of the Jingshou,' lifting the skill to the realm of music. Fourth, the total effect: the whole passage, from the motion to the sound to the music, presents the cook's skill as an art in tune with the primal sound of heaven and earth.

【白话串讲】庄子写《庖丁解牛》：庖丁给文惠君宰牛，“手之所触，肩之所倚，足之所履，膝之所踦”——“砉然向然，奏刀騞然，莫不中音”。他说：“臣之所好者道也，进乎技矣”——“以无厚入有间，恢恢乎其于游刃必有余地矣”——“游刃有余”、“目无全牛”都出自这里。【意象与手法】本文是《庄子·养生主》的著名寓言。艺术上最突出的是「层层铺写、由实入虚」：先以四个动词「触、倚、履、踦」铺陈动作，再以两组拟声词摹写声音，复以两个古乐典故升华意境，把宰牛这一粗重之事写得如舞蹈、如奏乐；排比句式的运用使行文酣畅，夸张的笔法使技艺神化，而这一切都只是铺垫，意在引出下文「臣之所好者道也，进乎技矣」的哲理。【情感与主旨】全文借庖丁解牛喻养生之道，阐明「依乎天理」「因其固然」的处世哲学——唯有顺应事物的自然规律，避开矛盾与锋芒，才能游刃有余、全生保身，这是庄子「缘督以为经」养生思想的具体化，也寄寓了乱世中保全自身的生存智慧。【名句点睛】「游刃有余」本指刀刃在骨节空隙间运转自如，后世演为成语，形容做事熟练、解决轻松；「踌躇满志」「目无全牛」亦由此文而出，皆成为中国文学中言技艺精熟、得心应手的经典话语。

Background

'Cook Ding Cuts Up an Ox' is from the Inner Chapters of the Zhuangzi, the chapter 'The Nourishment of Life,' the peak of Zhuangzi's fables. Zhuang Zhou (c. 369–c. 286 BC), styled Zhou, a native of Meng in the state of Song, paired with Laozi as 'Lao and Zhuang,' was the great synthesizer of the Daoist school. He lived in the mid-Warring States, when the feudal lords annexed one another ever more fiercely, rites collapsed and music was destroyed, and the scholars lived from dawn to dusk; Zhuang Zhou himself once served as the keeper of the Lacquer Garden, then gave up office and lived in reclusion. The chapter 'The Nourishment of Life' treats the way of nourishing life, its theme 'following the central vein as the constant'—acting along the natural grain of things, neither forcing nor colliding, to preserve one's nature and live out one's years. 'Cook Ding Cuts Up an Ox' is the most famous fable of the chapter, using the cook's progress from skill into the Way to show that nourishing life, like all action, should 'follow the natural principle and accord with the inherent nature of things.'

《庖丁解牛》出自《庄子·内篇·养生主》，是庄子寓言的巅峰之作。庄子（约前369—约前286），名周，战国时宋国蒙人，与老子并称「老庄」，是道家学派的集大成者。庄子生当战国中期，诸侯兼并愈烈，礼崩乐坏，士人朝不保夕，庄子本人曾为漆园吏，后辞官隐居，楚威王闻其贤，厚币迎之，许以为相，庄子笑而不受，宁曳尾于涂中而全其天真。《养生主》一篇专论养生之道，主旨即「缘督以为经」——顺着自然的理路行事，不勉强、不硬碰，以保全天性、尽享天年；「庖丁解牛」即篇中最著名的寓言，借庖丁由技进道的过程，说明养生乃至处世皆当「依乎天理，因其固然」。此段文字即寓言开篇，先写庖丁解牛技艺之精绝，为下文庖丁自述「始臣之解牛之时，所见无非牛者」「三年之后，未尝见全牛也」的修习历程与「以无厚入有间，恢恢乎其于游刃必有余地矣」的心得张本。在战国百家争鸣的背景下，庄子以汪洋恣肆的寓言、奇幻夸张的想象立说，与儒墨的现实关怀、法家的严刑峻法迥异其趣，代表了中国哲学中最为超脱、最为艺术化的一翼，而《养生主》一篇则集中体现了其「全生」「贵生」的生命哲学。

Art

The art is the concentrated essence of pre-Qin prose in under a hundred characters. The opening four clauses in the same pattern of 'where + verb' make a rhythm like a sudden gust of rain, writing the simultaneous motion of every part of the body in perfect coordination; the two onomatopoeic words, 'with a whoosh and a whir' and 'the blade sliced through with a swish,' both entering-tone, short and striking, bring the sound of the cutting to the ear; the allusion of the Mulberry Grove and the Jingshou lifts the skill to the realm of music, 'in tune with the primal sound of heaven and earth.' The whole passage, from the motion to the sound to the music, in one sweep of the strokes, writes the consummate skill of the cook as the highest art.

此段虽不足百字，却是先秦散文艺术的高度浓缩，可从四端析之。其一，铺陈排比的结构：开篇「手之所触，肩之所倚，足之所履，膝之所踦」四句排比，以「所＋动词」的同一句式罗列手的触、肩的倚、足的履、膝的踦，四句如一，造成疾风骤雨般的节奏，写庖丁全身各部位同时动作、配合无间，技艺之娴熟如在目前；这种以句式之整齐写动作之酣畅的手法，是庄子散文「如江河奔涌」风格的典型体现。其二，拟声摹态的修辞：「砉然向然」写皮骨分离之声，「奏刀騞然」写进刀之声，两处拟声词以「然」字收束，声情并茂；且「砉」「騞」皆入声韵，读来短促铿锵，仿佛刀声入耳，是「以声写技」的绝笔。其三，由实入虚的升华：「莫不中音」四字先以判断句总括，将解牛之声纳入音律的范畴；继而「合于《桑林》之舞，乃中《经首》之会」，以商汤乐舞《桑林》、尧乐《经首》为喻，把宰牛这一粗鄙的劳作，升华为与上古雅乐同等的艺术境界，虚笔写实，境界全出，为下文「技进乎道」的哲学飞跃作了最充分的铺垫。其四，叙事视角的巧妙：全段从旁观者视角写庖丁解牛之状，只写动作、声音、效果，不写一句心理，而庖丁之从容、之自信，已在音声之中自然流露，笔法极简而神韵全备。

Allusions

The wonder of the allusions is the use of the famous old music to lift the cutting of the ox into the realm of art. The Mulberry Grove is said to be the music-dance composed by Tang, the founder of the Shang dynasty, a famous piece beyond the 'six musics' of antiquity; the Jingshou is said to be a movement of the music Xianchi of the age of Yao, a music of legend. To say that the sound of the cutting 'keeps time to the dance of the Mulberry Grove and matches the rhythm of the Jingshou' is to say that the rhythm of the motion matches the beat of the dance and the sound of the blade matches the rhythm of the music, pushing the skill to a state in communion with the primal sound of heaven and earth. This method of 'likening the skill to music' accords with the Daoist view of 'the great sound is soundless': the highest skill and the highest music alike come from following the natural grain of things.

此段用典之妙，在于以古乐名曲入喻，将解牛推向艺术之境。《桑林》相传为殷商开国之君商汤所作乐舞，是上古「六乐」之外的著名乐章；《经首》相传为尧时乐舞《咸池》的乐章名，亦是传说中的至乐。以解牛之声「合于《桑林》之舞，乃中《经首》之会」，谓其动作节奏合乎舞乐节拍、刀声合乎乐曲韵律，把技艺推至与天地元音相通的境地。这种「以乐喻技」的写法，深契道家「大音希声」的音乐观——至高的技艺与至高的音乐一样，都源于对自然规律的顺应而非人为造作。从文化内涵看，庖丁解牛所寓「依乎天理、游刃有余」之道，是道家「无为而无不为」思想的具体化：刀刃之薄（无厚）入骨节之空隙（有间），喻人顺应自然理路则无往不利；「目无全牛」则喻认识由表及里、由现象到本质的深化过程。后世「游刃有余」「踌躇满志」「目无全牛」「批郤导窾」诸成语皆源此篇，渗透进中国文学的语汇血脉；而庖丁「技进乎道」的追求，更启发了后世文艺理论「由技入艺」「技道合一」的观念，苏轼论文论书、严羽论诗，皆暗承此旨。此段虽短，实为庄子寓言「以事喻理、理寓象中」手法的标本，也是「庖丁解牛」这一文化母题的原点。

Commentary

'Cook Ding Cuts Up an Ox' holds an eminent place in both Chinese cultural and literary history. In philosophy, it is the most vivid expression of the Zhuangzi's philosophy of nourishing life; the ideas of 'following the central vein as the constant,' 'following the natural principle,' and 'room to spare for the blade to wander' shaped the spiritual orientation of the Chinese scholar to 'follow the natural course and preserve the self,' the complement of the Confucian active engagement, together the twofold spiritual resource of the Chinese intellectual in success and failure. In the midst of troubled times, the wisdom of 'avoiding the conflict and following the grain' that the fable teaches has been taken up by scholars of every age. In literature, the passage's four-clause enumeration, onomatopoeia, and musical allusion are models of pre-Qin prose, and 'the blade wanders with room to spare' and 'the insight of the ox' have become everyday idioms of the language.

《庖丁解牛》在中国文化史与文学史上享有崇高地位。就哲学而言，它是庄子养生哲学最形象的表述，「缘督以为经」「依乎天理」「游刃有余」等观念，塑造了中国士人「顺其自然、保全其身」的精神取向，与儒家的积极入世相反而相成，共同构成中国知识分子穷达进退时的双重精神资源；在乱世之中，庖丁解牛所启示的「避开矛盾、循理而行」的智慧，尤为历代士人所取法。就文学而言，此篇是庄子寓言艺术的典范，以极短篇幅写尽技艺之精、境界之高，其铺陈排比、拟声摹态、以乐喻技的手法，对后世散文、辞赋影响深远；自魏晋至唐宋，「庖丁解牛」反复被诗人文士援引，如李白「解牛若庖丁，妙在得其间」之喻，苏轼更以「庖丁解牛」论文论画，谓作文当「行于所当行，止于不可不止」，可见其影响已由哲学渗入艺术理论。就语言传播而言，「游刃有余」「踌躇满志」「目无全牛」等成语至今活跃在现代汉语之中，成为日常表达的一部分；此文亦长期入选中学语文教材，与《逍遥游》《秋水》并列，为读者认识庄子思想与先秦寓言提供了最直观的入口。历代注家如郭象、成玄英、王先谦、郭庆藩等，对《养生主》及此寓言均有精审疏解，其阐释史本身即构成一部微型的庄子接受史。

Prosody

Form Pre-Qin fable prose (Zhuangzi, Inner Chapters, 'The Nourishment of Life')先秦寓言散文（《庄子·内篇·养生主》）

Rhyme Unrhymed prose; the beauty of the sound comes from the rhythm of the sentence-forms and the onomatopoeia. The opening four clauses, all in the pattern of 'where + verb,' are even in their syllables, knocking like a drum; 'with a whoosh and a whir, the blade sliced through with a swish,' the two onomatopoeic words both entering-tone, short and full此文为散文，不押韵，而以句式节奏与拟声词营造音韵之美。开篇「手之所触，肩之所倚，足之所履，膝之所踦」四句排比，皆「之所＋动词」结构，音节整齐，如鼓点般叩击；「砉然向然，奏刀騞然」以两组拟声词入文，砉、騞皆短促的入声字，读来铿锵如闻刀声；「莫不中音」「合于《桑林》之舞，乃中《经首》之会」句式渐长，节奏由急趋缓，声情由紧张转舒展。

Tone pattern The whole from the four parallel clauses to the two onomatopoeic words to the two musical allusions, the rhythm from even and full to short and quick to the lofty close, the movement of the skill carried by the movement of the prose句式以整齐的四言为主，问以长短，形成「短促—绵长」的节奏对比；「触、倚、履、踦」「向然、騞然」「中音、之舞、之会」等字音轻重相间，读来抑扬有致。语调从容自信，叙事者以旁观之笔写神技，不着一字赞美而赞美自在音声节奏之中，庄子散文「汪洋自恣以适己」的气派于此可见一斑。

Reading note The sound of the passage is carried by the four-clause enumeration, the two entering-tone onomatopoeic words, and the musical allusions, from the rhythm of the skill to the realm of the music.此段以「声」为纲组织音韵：先以排比四句铺陈动作，句句以「之所」起势，音节齐整如列队，造成庖丁全身各部位次第动作的视觉节奏；继以「砉然向然，奏刀騞然」两个拟声短句，陡然由整入散、由静入动，砉、騞二字皆入声短音，读来急促铿锵，仿佛刀声在耳；再以「莫不中音」四字顿断，如乐曲之休止，把前面的声响收束于一个判断；末以「合于《桑林》之舞，乃中《经首》之会」两个散句缓缓收尾，节奏由急趋缓，如乐曲之尾声，余韵悠长。这种「排比起、拟声承、判断转、典故合」的声律结构，与内容上的「动作—声响—音律—乐舞」层层升华完全同构，形式与内容相得益彰。诵读此段，宜先急后缓、先实后虚，方能在声音中体味庖丁解牛由技入道的过程；而这正是庄子散文「以声写意」的高妙之处，其节奏之美，实为后世古文家（如韩愈、欧阳修）行文之气的远祖。

Line by line

庖丁为文惠君解牛，手之所触，肩之所倚，足之所履，膝之所踦，砉然向然，奏刀騞然，莫不中音。

Cook Ding was cutting up an ox for Lord Wenhui. Where his hand touched, where his shoulder leaned, where his foot trod, where his knee pressed—with a whoosh and a whir, the blade sliced through with a swish, every stroke in tune. (The four parallel clauses write the simultaneous motion of every part of the body; the two onomatopoeic words bring the sound of the cutting to the ear; 'every stroke in tune' the consummate skill.)

厨师丁为文惠君宰牛，手接触的地方、肩依靠的地方、脚踩踏的地方、膝盖抵住的地方，都发出皮骨分离的声响，进刀的声音也哗哗作响，没有一声不合乎音律。

Cook Ding was carving an ox for Lord Wenhui. Where his hand touched, his shoulder leaned, his foot stepped, his knee pressed, there came the sound of yielding flesh and bone; as the knife went in, with a clear swish, every movement kept to the music.

此句是全段的描写主体，分三层写庖丁解牛之精。首层「庖丁为文惠君解牛」交代人物与事件——庖丁（名丁的厨师）、文惠君（即梁惠王），庄子的寓言常借君相与庶民对话展开，此处亦然。次层「手之所触，肩之所倚，足之所履，膝之所踦」以四句排比铺陈动作，手、肩、足、膝四个部位并置，「触、倚、履、踦」四个动词各极其态，写出庖丁全身皆动、无一处闲置的娴熟身姿，句式之整齐与动作之连贯相得益彰。三层「砉然向然，奏刀騞然，莫不中音」转入拟声：砉然写皮骨相离之声，騞然写进刀之声，两处拟声词如闻其声，「莫不中音」以全称判断收束，谓其声无一不合音律。全句由人及动、由动及声、由声及律，层层递进，把解牛写得如行云流水、无懈可击，为下文以乐舞设喻蓄足声势，也使「解牛」这一寻常之事获得了审美的庄严。

This line is the passage's descriptive body, three layers writing Cook Ding's skill. The first layer, 'Cook Ding was cutting up an ox for Lord Wenhui,' naming person and event - Cook Ding (the cook named Ding), Lord Wenhui (King Hui of Liang); Zhuangzi's fables often open on lord and commoner in talk, here too. The second layer, 'where his hand touched, where his shoulder leaned, where his foot trod, where his knee pressed,' four parallel phrases laying out the actions - hand, shoulder, foot, knee set side by side, the four verbs each to its utmost, writing Cook Ding's whole body moving, no part idle, the neat order matching the connected motion. The third layer, 'the sound of it, the knife's going, all in rhythm,' turning to sound: the 'swish' of skin parting from bone, the 'shhh' of the knife going in, two sound-words as if heard; 'all in rhythm' closing in universal judgment, no note out of tune. The whole line, from man to motion, motion to sound, sound to tune, layer on layer, writes the ox-cutting like flowing water, flawlessly, fully priming the later metaphor of dance and music, and giving the common work of 'cutting an ox' an aesthetic solemnity.

合于《桑林》之舞，乃中《经首》之会。

He kept time to the dance of the Mulberry Grove, and matched the rhythm of the Jingshou. (The allusion of the ancient music lifts the skill to the realm of art, in tune with the primal sound of heaven and earth.)

那动作既合于《桑林》舞曲的节拍，又合于《经首》乐曲的韵律。

It accorded with the dance of the Sanglin and fitted the measures of the Jingshou.

此句以两个古乐典故为喻，将解牛推向艺术至境，是寓言的「点睛」之笔。《桑林》是商汤所作乐舞，《经首》是尧时《咸池》乐章的乐名，皆为上古至乐；以解牛之声「合于《桑林》之舞，乃中《经首》之会」，谓庖丁的举手投足、刀起刀落，无不与古代圣王的乐舞节拍相应，宰牛的声响竟与天地间的至乐相通。这一比喻极尽夸张，却正是庄子寓言「恢诡谲怪」风格的体现——以不可能的比拟写尽技艺之可能，把人的劳作提升到与神乐同格的境界。在结构上，此句承接「莫不中音」而更进一层：前者尚止于「合音律」，后者已入「合乐舞」，由声入舞、由技入艺；同时「合」「中」二字互文见义，对仗精工，音节和谐。此句亦为后文「臣之所好者道也，进乎技矣」的哲理论断作了最充分的铺垫——正因为技艺已臻于乐舞之境，方有资格言「道」，技与道的桥梁，正是在这出神入化的描写中悄然架起。

This line likens the ox-cutting to two ancient music allusions, raising it to the height of art, the fable's finishing stroke. The Sanglin was the dance composed by Tang of Shang; the Jingshou, a movement of the Xianchi music of Yao's time - both the supreme music of high antiquity; the ox-cutting's sound 'matched the dance of the Sanglin, kept the rhythm of the Jingshou,' meaning Cook Ding's every gesture, every rise and fall of the knife, answered the measure of the sage-kings' dance, the butchery's very sounds in tune with the world's supreme music. The hyperbole extreme, yet precisely Zhuangzi's 'the strange and marvelous' fable style - writing the possible of skill through the impossible of metaphor, lifting human labor to the rank of divine music. Structurally, the line carries 'all in rhythm' one degree further: the former stopping at 'in tune,' the latter entering 'in dance,' from sound to dance, from skill to art; the words 'matched' and 'kept' interwoven in meaning, the couplet crafted, the cadence harmonious. The line also fully primes the later philosophical judgment, 'what I love is the Way, which goes beyond skill' - only because the skill has reached the realm of music and dance can one speak of the Way; the bridge of skill and Way is quietly built in this transfiguring description.

Study

Word focus

踦 Pressed. One of the four verbs of the opening: the knee pressing the ox—touch, lean, tread, press, the four parts of the body in simultaneous motion, the mastery of the cook written in the four clauses as one. 「膝之所踦」之「踦」字，是全文最见锤炼之功的动词之一。踦本义为用一只脚站立、以膝盖抵住，此处写庖丁解牛时以膝盖顶住牛身以固定位置，动作沉稳而有力。此字之妙有三：其一，避熟取生——若作「抵」「支」则平直无味，「踦」字生峭古拙，正合庄子「汪洋辟阖」的文风；其二，状物传神——「踦」写的是用膝的侧面顶靠，既见解牛时的发力姿态，又见庖丁对牛体结构的了然于胸，何处当顶、何处当靠，皆有分寸；其三，与「触、倚、履」三字同列而各极其变——手之触是轻接，肩之倚是依托，足之履是踩踏，膝之踦是顶抵，四个动词各写一部位、各有一种力度，无一重复，极见炼字之功。此字与排比句式相配，使庖丁解牛时全身联动、稳如磐石的姿态跃然纸上，是庄子以精确动词写繁复动作的典范。

中音 In tune. The word of the perfection: 'every stroke in tune'—the sound of the cutting matching the rhythm of the music, the consummate skill of the cook, and the whole fable's way of entering the spaces. 「莫不中音」之「中」字，读去声，意为「合乎」，是此句的关键字眼。「中」在此并非居中之意，而是「切中」「合于」——解牛之声切中音律，一字点破技艺与音乐的相通。「莫不中音」以双重否定（莫不）构成全称肯定，语气斩截，谓其声无一不合，从反面写出庖丁技艺之完备：若有丝毫差错，便非「莫不」。「中音」之「音」亦非泛言声音，而是指音乐性的韵律，与下文「合于《桑林》之舞，乃中《经首》之会」的乐舞意象相呼应，为「由技入道」的主题暗埋伏笔。此二字贵在分寸：解牛之声本是粗重的噪音，庄子却以「中音」二字将其纳入音乐的范畴，以雅写俗、以乐写技，其笔法之奇、立意之高，令人叹服。后世「中规中矩」「中的」等语，皆与「中」字的这一「切合」义相通，可见此字用法影响之深远。