One day Yao-shan Wei-yen (750-834), one of the well-known Chinese Ch'an master, was asked by the host of the monastery to give his sermon to the assembly who for a long while was expecting his teaching. Yao-shan said: "Strike the bell."
"My son is 12yrs old. He's always been the most down-to-earth, reasonable and polite kid I've ever met...
I once asked him what it was like before he was born. This was when he was three. He replied "I was like a picture frame with no picture in it." Many a time he has taken my breath away."