The Memory Within Our Fingers

This interview with Venerable Chang Ren was conducted by the chief writer, Shi Fa-jing, on March 1, 2023. In this discussion, the Venerable explores the spiritual architecture of the human body and the hidden memories that bind us to the cycle of reincarnation, offering guidance on how to achieve true liberation.

Venerable Chang Ren speaks:

"Namo Amituofo. When you look at your hands, take a moment to truly observe your ten fingers. While these fingers belong to your physical body in this current lifetime, you must realise that they contain the accumulated memories of your past lives. The human body is not merely flesh and bone; it is a vast storage bank for memories that have been gathered throughout the cycle of reincarnation. This concept of memory is inextricably linked to the nature of space itself.

The Body as a Living Archive

If you open your hands and focus your attention, you will find that information begins to emerge from your fingers. Throughout the countless cycles of reincarnation, these hands have performed an uncountable number of actions. Every single action occupies a specific space, and every one of those actions is etched into the spatial memory of your hands. This intricate, microscopic space within your hands and fingers—does it affect your current physical body? Of course, it does. It influences your movements, your inclinations, and even your health in ways you have yet to fully comprehend.

Within each of these memory spaces, there reside sentient beings connected to you by karmic affinity from the past. They have followed you through life after life, and in this present existence, they still dwell within the space of your hands and fingers. In every one of these spaces, there is a version of you that still exists, and these beings live within that specific space where you are present. They cling tightly to the memories they share with you. They continue to live in the space of their final moments before death—the moments they found most difficult to let go of, the attachments they held most dearly. At any given time, they can manifest to seek revenge or karmic retribution through these hands, these ten fingers, and indeed, your entire body.

The Hidden Inhabitants of Our Fingers

Of course, not all the beings residing in these spaces are here to collect a debt. There are also friendly beings who have followed you to this day because of the goodness you shared in the past. They are attached to the emotional bonds and the connections you once had. Because they cling to the intentions and the karmic affinities of their previous lives, they remain within the space of your hands even now. They are like silent companions, bound by the echoes of a time long forgotten by your conscious mind.

Have you ever had the experience of performing a habitual action without thinking, or finding that when you do a certain task, you naturally adopt a specific technique? No one taught you these things, yet you feel comfortable and familiar with them. When you perform these actions, your body feels at ease, natural, and entirely at home. This is not something you learned in this lifetime; rather, it is because the memories of the past still exist within the space of your fingers. Your hands, following these ancient memories, unconsciously and naturally perform these movements or techniques without any need for conscious thought or analysis by your brain.

Echoes of Past Talents and Habits

Consider someone who is naturally gifted at massage; their hands always seem to find the right pressure, a skill that others struggle to learn. This is because they were engaged in such a profession in a past life. That innate dexterity still resides within the space of their hands, allowing them to use it with ease. This is the reality of past spaces manifesting through this current body. It is a testament to the fact that we are walking vessels of our own history.

If the ten fingers contain such spaces, then it goes without saying that every organ in your body contains similar spaces. Densely packed, these spaces are hidden within your own physical form. A smile or a frown from a past life is still there, preserved in that space. Beings with whom you had karmic connections in the past are still there, foolishly gazing at your beautiful face. Even if you have a completely different appearance in this lifetime, they remain attached to the image of you they remember from the past.

The Illusion of the Physical Form

The human body is truly a profound mystery. If you broaden your perspective, look into the past, and then look toward the future, you must ask yourself: throughout the cycle of reincarnation, have you finally awakened? Within the body you possess in this life, there are so many memories of endless cycles of reincarnation. Do you wish to continue writing these experiences into the memory space of your next physical body? Or would you rather allow the soul within this body to attain eternal liberation and achieve rebirth in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss?

In truth, all these memory spaces are filled with suffering. No matter how beautiful or wealthy your past lives may have been, they were all part of the cycle of reincarnation, and therefore, they were all a form of suffering. These experiences were limited to the use of the physical body. Once the body is lost, what remains of those things? They were all illusions, yet they have become the very shackles that bind you, preventing you from attaining liberation to this day.

A Call to Final Liberation

It is time to wake up. Do not continue to sacrifice every precious second of your life for the desires and attachments of this physical body. You should cherish the opportunity of having a human body and actively prepare for rebirth in the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss. Do not let this body continue to write one memory space after another. It is time to bring this cycle to an end. Namo Amituofo."