For Buddhists, they may want to know about their past lives to examine why something good or bad has happened due to their karma. I saw this briefly mentioned in one of the books I had time to skim through at the monastery's library. Unfortunately, I did not get much information on the correct process for this purpose. The answer I got to this questions from one monk was that the question was beyond his experience and knowledge. So, if a monk who has been studying and meditating every day for the last two or three years doesn't know the process of meditating to learn more about past lives, then it's unlikely that someone else can achieve any results on the first or second attempt.
I think trying to use meditation to learn about past lives would be a very lengthy process over years of practice. One person in attendance mentioned to me that she had better results learning about past lives by practicing lucid dreaming. Like with visions during meditation, I was told to take note of what I saw and experienced but don't believe anything or take it to heart. Don't cling to the imagery or get excited about it, because it is most likely not true.
One Monk's theory for the imagery we see was that we are creating narratives that help us work through problems, a situation, or negative emotion associated with an event in our lives. These scenarios or narratives might help to alleviate pain or suffering, but they might not actually be what happened in a past life. Remember, in the Theravāda practice, the Monks believe in critical reasoning.
In the Iddhipāda-Vibhaṅga Sutta (SN 51:20) the Buddha does "recollect his manifold past lives" so it's not impossible. There are hundreds of stories about the Buddha's past lives as humans, god, and animals. The catch is that the Buddha remembered his past lives after he achieved enlightenment. During my search for more information on this topic, I read in many places, and was reminded that the purpose is to be in the current moment.
( https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/SN/SN51_20.html )
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Meditation and Therianthropy
Non-FictionThis book is an introduction to traditional meditation techniques learned by Ulfrvif during a four day retreat at a Theravāda Buddhist monastery. The book also goes over how meditation can be used to aid Therianthropes on their path of self-discove...
