Zen Buddhists, help with Religion Class Question?

Question

I am a teacher and one of my fellow colleagues is getting her teaching degree. She is taking a religion class and had a question posed to her. She asked me if I knew, because of how I believe. I don't know the answer but told her I would help her find out.

"What do Buddhists believe a person was before their parents were born?

Thanks for the help!

Answer 1

The question is referring to the "original face" and the famous question is "What did your face look like before your parents were born?"

It's a concept in Zen Buddhism which I really like (I'm Theravada, not Zen)

It's a question asked to get Zens to understand the emptiness of reality by being able to understand the sense of self outside of what is taught by others.  

Answer 2

buddhist believes in reincarnations. the person could be a dog, a tree, a lion...