This chapter's epigraph comes from a conversation between Ren and Ren's servant. The servant tells Ren that his master once gave him three bags of silk, telling him that he could open one if he ran into "difficulties" he could not handle. Ren wonders why his master did not tell him which bag to open first, and Ren wonders if his master could have foreseen the current state of affairs. He wonders aloud whether his master wants Ren to accept his fate, or if he wants him to let nature take its course. Ren asks Ren if he is certain that the master left the bags to him. Ren replies that he is, and that he must have a reason for why the master gave the bags. Ren says that the secret of the sect is that whatever happens next, Ren has no option but to accept their fate.