[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Buddhist Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha) › [Taishō Tripiṭaka (Chinese Buddhist canon)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho) › [廣弘明集](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2103) › 22.24 # 廣弘明集 22.24 廣弘明集 22.24 - **Language:** Classical Chinese ### [22.24](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2103.22.24) 又一刀之質分為二刀形。形已分矣。而各有其利。今取一牛之身而割之為兩。則飲齕之生即謝。任重之用不分。又何得以刀之與利譬形之與神耶。來論謂。刀之與利即形之有神。刀則舉體是一利。形則舉體是一神。神用於體則有耳目手足之別。手之用不為足用。耳之用不為眼用。而利之為用無所不可。亦可斷蛟蛇。亦可截鴻雁。非一處偏。可割東陵之瓜。一處偏。可割南山之竹。 > Moreover, if the substance of one knife is divided into the shapes of two knives, the shapes are already divided, yet each has its sharpness. Now, if you take the body of an ox and cut it into two, the life that drinks and grazes instantly ceases, and its capacity to bear heavy loads cannot be divided. How then can one use the knife and its sharpness to analogise the body and its spirit? Your treatise states that the knife and its sharpness are just like the body possessing a spirit: the knife across its entire substance has a single sharpness, and the body across its entire substance has a single spirit. When the spirit functions in the body, there are the distinctions of ears, eyes, hands, and feet: the function of the hands cannot serve as the function of the feet, and the function of the ears cannot serve as the function of the eyes. Yet the functioning of sharpness is universally applicable: it can sever flood-dragons and serpents, and it can slice through wild geese; it is not that one part exclusively can cut melons from Dongling, while another part exclusively can cut bamboo from the Southern Mountains. > — English (machine translation) (machine translation) - [Previous: 22.23](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2103.22.23) - [Next: 22.25](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2103.22.25) - [Up: 22](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2103.22) ## Translations (1) - [English (machine translation)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2103~en-mt.22.24) — English, machine translation --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2103.22.24](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2103.22.24) · Pramāṇa