You must realize that what
is at stake here does not
reside in words and phrases:
it is like sparks from struck flint,
like the brilliance of flashing lightning.
However you mange to deal with this,
you cannot get around
losing your body and life.

Yunmen Wenyan (864 CE-949 CE), Yunmen Wenyan was a major Chinese Chan master of the Tang dynasty. He was a dharma-heir of Xuefeng Yicun. Yunmen founded the Yunmen school, one of the five major schools of Chán (Chinese Zen). The name is derived from Yunmen monastery of Shaozhou where Yunmen was abbot. The Yunmen school flourished into the early Song Dynasty, with particular influence on the upper classes, and eventually culminating in the compilation and writing of the Blue Cliff Record.