Chinese Idiom Stories for Software Professionals: #26 Skilled and Magical Craftsmanship (庖丁解牛)
Skilled masters have a deeper understanding on the subject and use the tool well.
This article is one of the “Chinese Idiom Stories for Software Professionals” series.
The Story
written by Zhuangzi, a famous philosopher, ~300BC.
In ancient China, once a Lord was watching the cook Ding who was dissecting an ox. Up went his hand, down went the knife, cutting it just right with dexterous movements. The sounds were all in cadence, resembling classic dance and rhythm. The Lord was very impressed and praised Ding: “Your skill is excellent! How did you achieve such perfection?”
The cook answered: “When I first began to cup up an ox, I saw nothing but the whole ox. Three years later, I no longer saw the whole ox. Now I deal with the ox in my mind instead of my eyes. The senses stop functioning, but the mind is activated. Following the ox’s natural veins, my knife slips through openings between its muscles and slides through crevices in the joints. I take advantage of what is already there. The knife has never hesitated at the juncture of blood vessels, not to mention the big bones.”
The cook continued: “The knives of others become blunt after being used…
