The Taoist Wang Che:

“Leaving the ordinary world” does not mean leaving it physically or shunning earthly life, it refers to a state of mind. The body is like a lotus root and the mind is like the lotus blossom. The root is in the mud, but the blossom is in the air. People who attain the Tao are physically in the ordinary world engaging as a full human, and mentally also in the realm of sages. People today who want to avoid the ordinary world are imbeciles who do not understand the principle of the Tao.

circa 1160 A.D.