Why Can Consciousness Not Discern Recollections of Past Lives?

Question: Recollection belongs to the solitary consciousness (mano-vijñāna-eka-citta), and it also relies on the eighth consciousness flowing forth seeds to recollect things instantaneously. Why can the mind consciousness not discern and recollect past lives?

Answer: The mind consciousness of this life is a newly arisen mind consciousness of this life, not the mind consciousness of a past life; the mind consciousness of this life has not experienced the people and events of past lives, so of course it 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 recollect the events of past lives is a provisional way of speaking; it is said primarily from the perspective of the manas, because the manas can connect past lives and future lives. The mind consciousness, however, comes in segments. For the mind consciousness of this life to know the events of past lives is, strictly speaking, not recollection but indirect knowing. A person with superknowledge might say: "I recollect the past"—this "I" refers to the self of the manas. Although the manas cannot recollect, the manas grasps the functions of the mind consciousness as its self, and so it must speak in this way. At this time, the mind consciousness, through the manas, discerns people and events that it itself has never experienced.

The five aggregates of past lives and the five aggregates of this life are in a relationship of neither identity nor difference: they have parts in common and parts not in common. The five aggregates of past lives, without considering the consequences for the five aggregates of this life, created unwholesome karma; therefore the five aggregates of this 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 life? There is definitely a connection! The manas and the eighth consciousness are still the manas and eighth consciousness carried over from past lives; the habitual tendencies and dispositions are still the same as in past lives; creditors and foes are still the same; and the seeds of wholesome and unwholesome karma are still carried along all the time. If in this 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; neither the manas nor the eighth consciousness suffers. So each of you had better conduct yourselves well.