user23535: Do Buddhist teachings or scripture say anywhere whether or not a reincarnated soul has memory of their past lives? Referenced passages are encouraged.

user2282: Not all people can recall their past lives. Only some small percentage can or unless one's an advanced meditator. However, it's important to notice that Buddhism doesn't really have the concept of a "soul", meaning there's a perpetual unchanging "self" entity transmigrating from life to life. So although there're rebirths where one's Kamma serves as the fuel/propellant, there's no permanent unchanging "self" associated with it. The expression "I" in the sutta excerpt below simple serves as a label to describe the new manifestation of Kamma in a new person with a new identity in a next life, not a permanent unchanging "soul":

"When the mind was thus concentrated, purified, bright, unblemished, rid of defilement, pliant, malleable, steady, & attained to imperturbability, I directed it to the knowledge of recollecting my past lives. I recollected my manifold past lives, i.e., one birth, two...five, ten...fifty, a hundred, a thousand, a hundred thousand, many eons of cosmic contraction, many eons of cosmic expansion, many eons of cosmic contraction & expansion: 'There I had such a name, belonged to such a clan, had such an appearance. Such was my food, such my experience of pleasure & pain, such the end of my life. Passing away from that state, I re-arose there. There too I had such a name, belonged to such a clan, had such an appearance. Such was my food, such my experience of pleasure & pain, such the end of my life. Passing away from that state, I re-arose here.' Thus I remembered my manifold past lives in their modes & details. ~~ MN 36 ~~


23535: <p>Do Buddhist teachings or scripture say anywhere whether or not a reincarnated soul has memory of their past lives? Referenced passages are encouraged.</p>
 2282: <p>Not all people can recall their past lives. Only some small percentage can or unless one's an advanced meditator. However, it's important to notice that Buddhism doesn't really have the concept of a &quot;soul&quot;, meaning there's a perpetual unchanging &quot;self&quot; entity transmigrating from life to life. So although there're rebirths where one's Kamma serves as the fuel/propellant, there's no permanent unchanging &quot;self&quot; associated with it. The expression &quot;I&quot; in the sutta excerpt below simple serves as a label to describe the new manifestation of Kamma in a new person with a new identity in a next life, not a permanent unchanging &quot;soul&quot;:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&quot;When the mind was thus concentrated, purified, bright, unblemished, rid of defilement, pliant, malleable, steady, &amp; attained to imperturbability, I directed it to the knowledge of recollecting my past lives. I recollected my manifold past lives, i.e., one birth, two...five, ten...fifty, a hundred, a thousand, a hundred thousand, many eons of cosmic contraction, many eons of cosmic expansion, many eons of cosmic contraction &amp; expansion: 'There I had such a name, belonged to such a clan, had such an appearance. Such was my food, such my experience of pleasure &amp; pain, such the end of my life. Passing away from that state, I re-arose there. There too I had such a name, belonged to such a clan, had such an appearance. Such was my food, such my experience of pleasure &amp; pain, such the end of my life. Passing away from that state, I re-arose here.' Thus I remembered my manifold past lives in their modes &amp; details. ~~ <a href="https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.036.than.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">MN 36</a> ~~</p>
</blockquote>
