William Bodiford writes that since the risk of self-delusion is high, it is common for Zen disciples to rely on their teacher to "authenticate and formally acknowledge" their enlightenment experience.
A Sanskrit term which indicates a kind of jñāna (knowledge) attained "through one's own power" (svayaṃbhū) "without an āchārya" (anācāryaka) appears in the Lotus sutra, chapter 3, in a description of the bodhisattva vehicle in the section on the parable of the burning house.
They are just like some of the boys, who escaped from that burning house, desiring a cart yoked with oxen (go-ratha).”[9]The term also appears in the Gaganagañjaparipṛccha:The Lord, having awakened through his own power (svayaṃbhū), entered into the state of perfect awakening (abhisaṃbuddha) by himself (svayam) to all moments of existence without a teacher (anācāryakam); The Lord is the leader (nāyaka), and teaches the right way (samyagmārgadeśika) to those on bad ways (kumārgapratipanneṣu) without any leader (anāyaka).
Perhaps the most famous example of this phenomenon in Chan is that of the sixth patriarch Huineng who, without any prior training, is said to have achieved awakening at a chance hearing of someone chanting the Diamond Sutra.
[15] The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch itself states that it is possible to awaken without a teacher:If you can become enlightened yourself, don’t rely on external seeking—don’t think I’m saying you can only attain emancipation through [the help of] a spiritual compatriot other than yourself.
[16]The Xuemai lun 血脈論 (Bloodstream Sermon), attributed to Bodhidharma though probably a product of the Oxhead School,[17] while arguing that teacherless enlightenment is rare, nonetheless concedes, "If, though, by the conjunction of conditions, someone understands what the Buddha meant, that person doesn't need a teacher.
He didn't establish any slogans or talk about causes and effects of practice and realization.In his time there was a certain meditation teacher who sent a top disciple to listen in on the Zen ancestor.
"[19] During the Ming dynasty, important masters like Hanshan Deqing, Zibo Zhenke, and Yunqi Zhuhong did not belong to any formal lineage.
[20][21] According to Jiang Wu, these eminent Ming Chan monks emphasized self-cultivation while criticizing nominal recognition through "dharma transmission" documents.
Wu writes that for such monks at this time:"...training through self-cultivation was encouraged, and nominal and formulaic instructions from pretentious masters were despised.
Because true enlightenment experience was valued, a few self-proclaimed Chan masters in the late Ming gained reputations as eminent monks without acquiring dharma transmission.
Now by using the power of the direct reasoning of the nondiscriminating mind and without even the slightest use of its consciousness since there was no room for thinking, I gained after eight months a complete comprehension of its profound meaning without having a single doubt left.
"[22] Similarly, the Ming Chan monk Hanyue Fazang (1573–1635) had an awakening as a young man but could not find any masters to confirm his experience.
[23] Hanyue later wrote in his Guiding Words on the Zhizheng zhuan, “from now on, people who attain enlightenment without a master (wushi ziwu 無師自悟) can use this text to verify their enlightenment (yuci zhengzhi 於此證之).”[24] The Japanese Zen teacher Nōnin (died 1196), the founder of the Daruma school, is one Japanese example of mushi-dokugo.
Sometimes, like Dōgen in his hardly veiled criticism of the Darumashū, he insists on the importance of a face-to-face transmission between master and disciple, authenticated by a certificate of succession.
[30] Bankei later expressed dissatisfaction with his teacher's level of attainment, feeling he had not grasped the full meaning of the unborn buddha mind.
[33] The Tokugawa era Sōtō master Dokuan Genkō (1630–1698) was scathingly critical of the dharma transmission method which he called "paper Zen.
Wohnyo is famously known for his awakening experience after accidentally drinking water from a skull one night while staying in a dark cave during his travels.
[38] Buswell observes that, Jinul, having never had a permanent teacher, "made up for the lack of personal instruction by drawing inspiration from the Buddhist scriptures.
In the spirit of self-reliance that is central to Buddhism, he took responsibility for his own spiritual development and followed the path of practice outlined in the scriptures and confirmed through his own Sŏn meditation.
Nguyen writes: "Thích Thanh Từ is considered the founder and the highest master of contemporary Vietnamese Thiền Tông.