I knew an American who had an experience twenty-five years ago. He went to a master and his experience was confirmed. Ten years later he felt some of his problems were not resolved so he went to another master and his past experience was again confirmed. Another fifteen years went by and still he wasn't satisfied. He was a teacher at a center, so he left and came to me. I told him there were certain problems with his understanding. I told him that he probably had a legitimate experience and that was good, but he was clinging to a memory. If someone thinks the memory of a long-gone experience is the experience itself, then that person has problems. I told this man to practice hard and say, "No good, " to whatever experience he might have. If he practiced in this manner and later needed guidance, I would gladly help out.
The woman that you speak of was open-minded and flexible and had no attachment to her experience. Therefore, she probably could practice in a smooth manner after her initial experience. But this man had expectations, so he had problems.
STUDENT:
In the Ch'an sect there are numerous examples of people who had genuine experiences of no-self and yet still encountered many problems afterward. Does this mean that the initial experience was not genuine?
SHIH-FU: