Spiritual Cultivation and Movement
Must personality be completely identical between past and present lives?
English translation draft · Based on the Chinese article. This is not a word-for-word translation approved by Master Shengyuan.
Not necessarily. In stories encountered through religious service, some people’s personalities closely resembled the account, while others showed major change. We cannot say past and present lives must be exactly alike.
I understand familiar similarities through the soul’s habitual tendencies. But I have also encountered another pattern: someone weak in the story regretted being unable to help others and became brave in this life; someone formerly too attached developed different adjustments now. These are religious understandings I drew from those karmic stories.
Both similarities and differences therefore need their individual context. One personality trait cannot establish what everyone did in a past life. After hearing a story, willingness now to change actions that bring regret matters more than merely asking whether the personality remains identical.