Here’s another quote from The Sutra of Contemplation of the Dharma Practice of Universal Sage Bodhisattva that I want to keep around (Reeves, p410):

Then Universal Sage Bodhisattva will emit another ray of light from between his eyebrows, the sign of a great man, and he will send it into the hearts of followers. After this ray has entered their hearts, followers themselves will remember that under countless hundreds and thousands of buddhas in the past they had received and embraced, read and recited the Great Vehicle sutras. Having the ability to penetrate clearly to previous states of existence, they will see their own former bodies with complete clarity, exactly as if they had the ability to see into the past.