There are many people who, when they refer to Ch'an enlightenment, are actually referring to these sort of experiences. However, if such a person were to ask for affirmation from a capable Ch'an master, the master would probably scold him rather than acknowledge the experience. Acknowledging false enlightenments does more harm than good.

True enlightenment is seeing into your self-nature, and achieving a mind of equanimity. The nature of the mind of equanimity is empty. Emptiness means that the mind does not exist, so if a person thinks he has been enlightened, yet he feels elated, or believes he has accomplished something great, then he hasn't seen his self-nature.

The best attitude is to understand and accept that it is the process of practice which is important, not the end result. As the ox herding pictures illustrate, the main objective is seeing into your self-nature. But, even after seeing your self-nature, there is still a lot of work to be done. Remember, in this picture, the ox herder has only seen tracks, and not the ox itself. Do not mistake the tracks for the ox.