No, these experiences could very well have been genuine. A good teacher would be able to ascertain the authenticity of the experiences and help these people to have more and deeper Ch'an experiences. But there are no guarantees. A person's practice might slip. Perhaps a teacher and student do not connect. There are any number of reasons. A person who experiences no-self can regress. A perfect example is the story of the American teacher. He had an experience that was confirmed by a teacher, but he still had problems later on. He came to me to see if the right causes and conditions, or karmic affinity, existed between us, but I felt not, so I gave him a method and advised him to return to his old teacher.

STUDENT:

You said in order to have a no-self experience, one needs to have an understanding of Ch'an and also have a qualified teacher. In the case of the woman, what if she had been a Buddhist nun or monk in a previous life or had a deep experience in a previous life, and in this life the causes and conditions finally came together in an enlightenment experience?

SHIH-FU:

Even if you have practiced in previous lives, in this life you still need a teacher and teachings; but if you practiced well in previous lives, things will likely progress more quickly in this life. Even the Sixth Patriarch, who had great karmic roots, and attained enlightenment when he heard a line from the Diamond Sutra, still had to go the Fifth Patriarch for guidance. He didn't hear a line from an ordinary book or from that of a different religion. It was Buddhadharma that he heard.