Why the Mind Consciousness Cannot Discern and Recall Past Lives

Question: Recollection belongs to the solitary mental consciousness, and it also relies on the eighth consciousness streaming forth seeds to recall things moment by moment. Why can the mind consciousness not discern and recall past lives?

Answer: The mind consciousness of this life is a newly arisen mind consciousness of this life, not the mind consciousness of past lives. Since the mind consciousness of this life has not experienced the people and events of past lives, it naturally has no memories of past lives. If it could discern the people and events of past lives, it could not be called recollection; only things one has personally experienced can be called recollection. Saying that one can recall events of past lives is a provisional way of speaking. This is spoken with the manas as the primary subject, from the perspective of the manas, because the manas can connect past lives and future lives. The mind consciousness, however, exists in segments. When the mind consciousness of this life can know events of past lives, strictly speaking it is not recollection but indirect knowing. A person with superknowledge might say: "I recall the past"—this "I" refers to the self of the manas. Although the manas cannot recollect, the manas clings to the functions of the mind consciousness as self, and so it must speak in this way. At this time, the mind consciousness, through the manas, discerns people and events it has never personally experienced.

The five aggregates of past lives and the five aggregates of this present life stand in a relationship of neither identity nor difference: they have both common parts and non-common parts. The five aggregates of past lives did not consider the consequences for the five aggregates of this present life and created unwholesome karma; therefore the five aggregates of this present life must endure the bitter fruits of the unwholesome karma created by the five aggregates of past lives. Is there a connection between past lives and this present life? Certainly there is! The manas and the eighth consciousness are still the manas and the eighth consciousness carried over from past lives; the habitual tendencies and dispositions are still the same as in past lives; the karmic creditors are still the same; and the seeds of wholesome and unwholesome karma are still carried along all the while. If in this present life one continues to create unwholesome karma, the five aggregates of future lives will have to suffer—and it will still be one's own five aggregates that suffer, while neither the manas nor the eighth consciousness suffers. So each of you had better conduct yourselves well.