The Causes of the Inability to Recall Previous Lives

Sentient beings, lacking the divine eye of knowing past and future lives, remain unaware of the karmic causes and effects spanning their previous and future existences. Only with this divine eye can one perceive all the intricate causal connections of past and future lives for oneself and others. Upon death, the five aggregates transform and are no longer the same; the six consciousnesses change and are no longer identical. Consequently, all matters, people, and affairs related to one's previous life become unknown, and the web of karmic causes and effects fades entirely from awareness. In the present life, the six consciousnesses operate upon the same continuum of the five aggregates, maintaining sequential memory. As the six consciousnesses discern the people, affairs, and phenomena of this existence, they retain all experiences encountered in this lifetime. However, in the next life, with a new set of five aggregates, the six consciousnesses arise anew dependent upon this fresh foundation. Having no experience of the previous life, they hold no memory of its people, affairs, or phenomena, rendering recollection of past events impossible.

In contrast, the manas (mind-root) has continued unbroken since beginningless kalpas, enduring the people, affairs, and phenomena of countless ages, accumulating habitual tendencies across lifetimes and resonating with karmic seeds sown throughout those existences. Thus, the five aggregates of this life and those of past lives maintain continuity in terms of habitual afflictions and defilements. If one does not cultivate practice, and instead allows new unwholesome habits to form in this life, these tendencies will grow increasingly heavy. The eighth consciousness (ālaya-vijñāna, storehouse consciousness) has likewise persisted unbroken since beginningless kalpas and will never cease in future lifetimes. Therefore, the self of this life and the self of past lives are intrinsically connected, not unrelated. In our practice, we must diligently strive for the benefit of our future selves.

The acquisition of the divine eye of knowing past and future lives is attainable only after achieving the fourth dhyāna. Upon reaching the fourth dhyāna, one can cultivate the five supernatural powers (abhijñā), gaining them progressively as the practice deepens.