The Manas Connecting the Cause and Effect Across Past and Future Lifetimes

After death, the manas and the tathagatagarbha do not perish; together they carry karma into rebirth, giving rise to the next life's version of you. The manas continues unbroken from the previous life to the next, so there is something continuous across lifetimes—that is you. Because in past lives you did not understand cause and effect and disregarded your future selves, acting recklessly and creating karmic suffering, your present self suffers incessantly. If you continue to act recklessly in this manner in the present life, still ignorant of cause and effect, your future lives will remain filled with distress. The suffering is always your own, not others'. Creating karma life after life, regretting it lifetime after lifetime, yet you never learn from this.