What does this saying mean?

“Only remake the deeds of the past, don’t remake the person of the past.”

Found it in Green’s The Recorded Sayings of Zen Master Joshu saying 27.

Joshu reminds the monks that they “are certainly in the third realm of karmic retribution” (human form). “For this reason there is the saying, ‘Only remake the deeds of the past, don’t remake the person of the past.’”

I understand the first part as: better your deeds to get you beyond karmic birth and death. Second part, though — how can you even remake a person? What’s the point in saying that?

Submitted October 29, 2019 at 05:27AM by 25point8069758011279 https://ift.tt/32Z0NXi