Human life is really a puppet show.
So long as I am in control, not a string
gets out of order, folding or unfolding.
I decide on movement or rest, not a bit
controlled by others. This is the way
to transcend this world.

Vegetable Roots Discourse: Wisdom from Ming China on Life and Living - Caicentan by Hong Zicheng (Shoemaker & Hoard, 2006), Translated by Robert Aitken with Daniel W. Y. Kwok, p. 158