Hsuan Chueh (665 – 713 CE) was a highly influential; Zen monk and teacher in south-east China. Among his works was a collection of Zen teaching poems, such as this one.

When you truly awaken,
You have no formal merit.
In the multiplicity of the relative world,
You cannot find such freedom.
Self-centered merit brings the joy of heaven itself,
But it is like shooting an arrow at the sky;
When the force is exhausted, it falls to the earth,
And then everything goes wrong.

Translation Robert Aitken