Meng Po

Meng Po 孟婆; 'Old Lady Meng' is the goddess of forgetfulness in Chinese mythology. According to Chinese mythology, there exist several realms beneath the Earth. Meng Po serves in Diyu, the Chinese realm of the dead, in the 10th court. She awaits the dead souls at the entrance of the 9th round (Fengdu). It is her task to ensure that souls who are ready to be reincarnated do not remember their previous life or their time in hell. To this end she collects herbs from various earthly ponds and streams to make her Five Flavored Tea of Forgetfulness 迷魂汤; 'waters of oblivion'. This is given to each soul to drink before they leave Diyu. The brew induces instant and permanent amnesia, and all memory of other lives is lost. Having been purged of all previous sins and knowledge, the dead spirit is sent to be reborn in a new earthly incarnation according to the karma accrued over their previous lifetimes, and the cycle begins again. In Chinese tradition, there are legends of miracle births, where a newborn is able to speak because the soul of the baby didn't drink the Five Flavored Tea of Forgetfulness. Occasionally people are able to avoid drinking the brew, resulting in past life memories surfacing in children. In some variations of the myth, the true identity of Meng Po is that of Lady Meng Jiang. After the death of her husband, Meng Jiang found herself unable to reincarnate due to her grief. In order to relieve the pain of life of other spirits, Lady Meng took the initiative to create a bowl of soup that would allow spirits to forget the suffering of their material life.

Character

Goddess

33%

Darkness is characterized by the absence of visible light. The emotional response of humans to darkness has led to many culturally different metaphorical usages. For example, in Christianity the first narrative of creation begins with darkness. Darkness is said to have existed before the world, then light was introduced. Death is perceived as the ultimate form of darkness, there has not been a single culture in the history of humankind that has not spent a significant amount of time thinking about death and darkness. It should be no surprise, therefore, that we attribute the mysterious processes of death and darkness to supernatural forces. Consequently, we have envisioned beings that usher souls from the mortal coil into the afterlife. These perceptions of darkness and death are largely associated with evil. However, this has not always been the case. In the past, darkness and death were seen as a part of natural order, something that had existed since the beginning of time.