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Prince Wen Hui's cook was cutting up an ox.... The ox fell apart with a whisper. The bright cleaver murmured like a gentle wind. Rhythm! Timing! Like a sacred dance.... Prince Wen Hui: Good work! Your method is faultless! The cook: Method? What I follow is Tao beyond all methods! When I first began to cut up oxen I would see before me the whole ox all in one mass. After three years I no longer saw this mass. I saw the distinctions. But now I see nothing with the eye. My whole being apprehends. My senses are idle. The spirit free to work without plan follows its own instinct guided by natural line, by the secret opening, the hidden space, my cleaver finds its own way... Then I withdraw the blade, I stand still and let the joy of the work sink in. I clean the blade and put it away. Prince Wan Hui: This is it! My cook has shown me how I ought to live my own life!

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May 03, 2024

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Quote Author: Nellie Blanchan De Graff

Nellie Blanchan De Graff

Nellie Blanchan De Graff

Nellie Blanchan De Graff (October 23, 1865 - 21 February 1918) was a United States scientific historian and nature writer who wrote books on gardening and birds using the penname Neltje Blanchan. Her work is known for its synthesis of scientific interest with poetic phrasing. She was born in Chicago to Liverius De Graff and Alice Fair. She was educated at St. John's in New York City and Misses Masters' School in Dobbs Ferry , New York.

She married Frank Nelson Doubleday on 9 June 1886. They had two sons and one daughter: Felix Doubleday (adopted), Nelson Doubleday (1889-1949) and Dorothy Doubleday. Nellie's grandson Nelson Doubleday Jr. purchased the New York Mets in 1986. Some of her papers (1914-1918) are in the Frank N. Doubleday and Nelson Doubleday Collection at the Princeton University Library. There is a Neltje Blanchan Literary Award given by the Wyoming Arts Council, which is given annually to "a writer whose work, in any genre, is inspired by nature."

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