Kitano Gempo, abbot of Eihei temple, was ninety-two years old when he passed away in the year 1933. He endeavoured his whole life not to be attached to anything.

[…] When he was twenty-eight he studied Chinese calligraphy and poetry. He grew so skilful in these arts that his teacher praised him. Kitano mused: if I don't stop now, I'll be a poet, not a Zen teacher'. So he never wrote another poem.

Recounted here