A RECORD OF ALL THINGS UNDER HEAVEN
As gathered from the oldest accounts that remain
PROLOGUE — CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
On the Matter of Meng Po — 孟婆 — the Old Woman of Forgetfulness
Her name is Meng Po — 孟婆.
Meng — 孟 — is her family name. It also means the eldest.
Po — 婆 — means old woman. Grandmother. Elder lady.
Together — 孟婆 — Old Lady Meng. Grandmother Meng.
She is also called Meng Po Niang — 孟婆娘 — Lady Meng.
She is also called Meng Po Niang Niang — 孟婆娘娘 — Honored Lady Meng.
She is also called Wang You Nü — 忘憂女 — the Lady Who Forgets Sorrow.
She is the Goddess of Oblivion — 遺忘女神 — yiwang nüshen.
She is the Mistress of the Naihe Bridge — 奈何橋主人 — Naihe Qiao zhuren.
She resides in the Tenth Court of Hell — 第十殿 — Di Shi Dian.
She stands at the end of the Naihe Bridge — 奈何橋 — Naihe Qiao.
Every soul that leaves the underworld passes her.
Every soul that leaves the underworld drinks from her.
No soul has ever passed her without drinking.
No soul has ever crossed the bridge with its memories intact.
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On the note regarding her earliest records.
Three competing theories of her origin exist.
The first theory: she is mentioned in the Shanhaijing — 山海經 — the Classic of Mountains and Seas. The passage states that Emperor Yao's two daughters swam in a river and went in and out with wind and rain. They were called Po Meng. This account obviously does not conform to the image of Meng Po in Chinese mythology that has evolved for thousands of years. This argument is not considered valid in the scholarly tradition.
The second theory: she comes from a woman of a Meng family lineage in the Western Han dynasty — 西漢 — Xi Han — who cultivated immortality and became a god with a kind heart and then went to the Netherworld. However, the saying of Meng Po Tang has existed since before the Qin dynasty — 秦朝 — Qin Chao. If the soup existed before the Qin dynasty — which is before the Western Han — then its administrator cannot have been a Han dynasty woman.
The third and most widely accepted account is recorded in the Jade Record — 玉曆寶鈔 — Yuli Baochao — of the Qing dynasty — 清朝 — Qing Chao.
Meng Po first appears in the Jade Record where she is described as a reincarnated pious woman from the Han era who brews and serves the soup of forgetfulness at the Naihe Bridge.
All three theories are recorded here.
The Jade Record account is the most detailed surviving source.
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On the origin account from the Jade Record.
She was once a mortal woman of the Han dynasty — 漢朝 — Han Chao.
She was deeply pious — 虔誠 — qiancheng.
She spent her entire mortal life studying and reciting passages from the Buddhist sutras — 佛教經典 — Fojiao jingdian.
She never spoke of the past.
She never spoke of the present.
She had no interest in present affairs.
She had no interest in matters of the world.
When she died she did not reincarnate.
She maintained her purity — 純潔 — chunjie — so thoroughly in life that she had no karma — 業 — ye — to determine where she should go.
She was sent instead to the underworld.
She was assigned the task of brewing the soup.
She gathered herbs — 草藥 — cao yao — from various earthly ponds and streams.
She prepared the Five Flavored Soup of Oblivion — 五味迷魂湯 — Wu Wei Mi Hun Tang.
She has been brewing it since the Han dynasty.
She has not stopped.
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On the Meng Jiang — 孟姜女 — origin account.
A second origin account identifies her as Lady Meng Jiang — 孟姜女 — Meng Jiang Nü.
Meng Jiang was the wife of a man conscripted to build the Great Wall — 長城 — Chang Cheng.
Her husband's name was Fan Xiliang — 范喜良 — in most versions. In older versions his name was Qi Liang — 杞梁.
He was taken from her.
He did not return.
She traveled to the Great Wall to find him.
She brought his winter clothes.
She discovered he had died.
She could not identify his remains from among the countless bones of those who had perished building the wall.
Her grief was so immense that a portion of the Great Wall collapsed from the force of her weeping.
The bones of her husband were revealed.
She took them.
She threw herself into the sea.
She died.
After her death she could not reincarnate.
Her grief was too great to release.
Her attachment to her husband's memory was too strong to dissolve.
She could not drink any soup that would make her forget him.
She could not cross any bridge that led away from her love.
She sat at the bridge of the underworld for an uncountable time.
Unable to leave.
Unable to forget.
Eventually she understood something.
She understood that she was not the only one who suffered.
She understood that every soul that came to the bridge carried suffering.
She understood that the suffering needed to end.
She began brewing the soup.
Not to forget herself.
She still remembered.
She brewed it so others could forget.
She is still there.
She still remembers her husband.
She still gives the soup to everyone who comes.
She gives them what she cannot take herself.
This is the version most widely circulated in contemporary Chinese internet culture.
This is also the most heartbreaking version.
The woman who cannot forget gives forgetting to everyone else.
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On the location.
The road from the Ghost Gate — 鬼門關 — Gui Men Guan — to the Naihe Bridge is called the Huangquan Road — 黃泉路.
Huang — 黃 — means yellow.
Quan — 泉 — means spring. Underground water.
Together — 黃泉路 — the Yellow Spring Road. The road of the dead.
At the end of the Huangquan Road is the Wangchuan River — 忘川河 — Wang Chuan He.
Wang — 忘 — means to forget.
Chuan — 川 — means river.
Together — 忘川河 — the River of Forgetting.
Over the River of Forgetting is the Naihe Bridge — 奈何橋 — Naihe Qiao.
Naihe — 奈何 — means unable to do anything about it. Helpless. What can be done.
The Journey to the West — 西遊記 — Xiyou Ji — describes the bridge as: many miles long. Only three fingers wide. No railings on either side. Below it a drop of a hundred feet into the foul-smelling Blood River — 血河 — Xue He.
Those who had been virtuous were permitted to cross on a higher tier.
Those who had been evil crossed the lower tier.
On the lower tier waited trolls — 地鬼 — di gui.
On the lower tier waited copper snakes — 銅蛇 — tong she.
On the lower tier waited iron dogs — 鐵狗 — tie gou.
Those who fell from the bridge never reached reincarnation.
They stayed in the river.
The Three Lives Stone — 三生石 — San Sheng Shi — stands near the bridge.
On this stone is inscribed the past life, the present life, and the future life of every soul.
The soul pauses there.
It reads its own record.
Then it crosses the bridge.
Then it meets Meng Po.
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On the soup.
Her soup is called Meng Po Tang — 孟婆湯.
It is also called Mi Hun Tang — 迷魂湯.
Mi — 迷 — means to confuse. To bewitch. To make lost.
Hun — 魂 — means soul. Spirit.
Tang — 湯 — means soup. Hot liquid.
Together — 迷魂湯 — the Soul-Bewitching Soup. The Soul-Confusing Broth.
She collects spirits of the underworld — 冥府之氣 — mingfu zhi qi.
She adds water from the Forgotten River — 忘川河水 — Wangchuan He Shui.
She adds the Forgetfulness Grass — 忘憂草 — Wang You Cao.
She adds the Bian Flower — 扁花 — Bian Hua.
She boils everything with the dark fire — 暗火 — an huo — the fire of the underworld.
The finished product is dark yellow — 深黃色 — shen huang se.
Not tea. Not wine. Something between.
The taste is bitter — 苦 — ku. Also layered bitter — 苦澀 — kuse. Also salty — 鹹 — xian.
Some accounts add: there is a sweet aftertaste — 甜味 — tian wei.
The sweet aftertaste represents the promise of a fresh start.
The Jade Record describes five flavors — 五味 — wu wei — hence the name Five Flavored Soup of Oblivion.
The five flavors are: sour — 酸 — suan. Bitter — 苦 — ku. Sweet — 甜 — tian. Spicy — 辣 — la. Salty — 鹹 — xian.
One sip is sufficient.
The amnesia does not take effect immediately.
Drinking Meng Po Tang does not immediately cause the soul to forget. It takes effect only after entering reincarnation.
The soul crosses the bridge.
It enters the Wheel.
The wheel turns.
The soul is reborn.
Then the memories dissolve.
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On what the soup removes.
It removes the memory of every life the soul has ever lived.
It removes the memory of the hell courts.
It removes the memory of the punishments.
It removes the memory of the Pavilion of Viewing Home — 望鄉台 — Wang Xiang Tai.
It removes the face of every person the soul has ever loved.
It removes the names of every person the soul has ever known.
It removes every skill the soul accumulated over a lifetime.
It removes every language the soul ever learned.
It removes every wrong the soul ever committed.
It removes every kindness the soul ever showed.
It removes everything.
The soul is born knowing nothing of what it was.
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On those who refuse.
Woe betide those who refuse to drink.
Her demon helpers shackle them.
A copper tube is thrust down their throat.
They drink whether they wish to or not.
There is no choice at the bridge.
The soup is not optional.
The bridge cannot be crossed with memories intact.
The design of the afterlife does not permit it.
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On those who escape.
In Chinese tradition there are legends of miracle births where a newborn is able to speak because the soul of the baby did not drink the Five Flavored Tea of Forgetfulness.
Children who speak at birth are said to be souls who avoided the soup.
They remember.
They speak of things they should not know.
They speak of people they have never met.
They speak of places they have never been.
Then the memories fade.
The human brain cannot hold what the soul remembers.
Gradually the past life recedes.
By the time the child can walk, the memories are usually gone.
The soup's effect is delayed but not denied.
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On those who are allowed to remember.
The Qing dynasty — 清朝 — Qing Chao — writer Shen Qifeng — 沈起鳳 — recorded a story in his work The Harmonious Frontier — 諧鋒 — Xie Feng.
The lovers Ge Sheng — 葛生 — and Lan Rui — 蘭蕊 — had their doses withheld so they could find each other in their next lives.
Ge Sheng was too poor to marry his love Yu Rui — 玉蕊.
He killed himself for love.
He arrived in the underworld.
Yanluo Wang — 閻羅王 — judged that he did not deserve to die.
He assigned Ge Sheng to be reborn as a human.
Walking toward reincarnation Ge Sheng passed a shelter where crowds were drinking from vessels.
A girl emerged from the shelter.
She was Lan Rui — the deceased sister of his beloved Yu Rui.
She told him: this place is Meng Po Village — 孟婆莊 — Meng Po Zhuang.
She told him: Meng Po was absent that day. I was in charge.
She did not give him the soup.
He crossed the bridge with his memories.
He was reborn.
He found Yu Rui.
He recognized her.
She did not recognize him.
But he found her.
This story raises the question: does Meng Po always give the soup?
Or does she sometimes allow souls to cross without it?
The texts do not answer this directly.
This record does not answer it either.
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On her appearance.
She is depicted as an elderly woman — 老婦人 — lao furen.
She has a tattered appearance — 破舊外表 — pojiu waibiao.
In Qing dynasty religious literature she is described with a tattered appearance, stirring her cauldron amid wailing spirits.
She carries a ladle — 勺子 — shaozi.
She stirs a bubbling cauldron — 沸騰的大鍋 — feiteng de daguo.
The cauldron is always full.
No matter how many souls come, the soup is always sufficient.
She gives exactly one bowl to each soul.
Not more.
Not less.
She does not speak.
She offers the bowl.
The soul takes it.
It drinks.
It crosses.
She refills the ladle.
The next soul arrives.
She has been doing this since the Han dynasty.
She has been doing this without stopping.
She has been doing this without complaint.
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On the internet joke.
The soup is so thorough that an internet joke circulated in China.
The joke reads:
Meng Po ladled a spoonful of soup, tasted it, and smiled with satisfaction.
Meng Po ladled a spoonful of soup, tasted it, and smiled with satisfaction.
Meng Po ladled a spoonful of soup, tasted it, and smiled with satisfaction.
Meng Po ladled a spoonful of soup, tasted it, and smiled with satisfaction.
The joke means: she tested her own soup once.
She forgot she had tested it.
She tested it again.
She forgot again.
The joke is recorded here because it captures something the ancient texts did not.
It captures why the soup matters.
Not only to the souls who drink it.
But to the one who brews it.
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On the Three Lives Stone — 三生石 — San Sheng Shi.
The Three Lives Stone stands near the bridge.
Every soul pauses before it.
On the stone is inscribed:
The past life — 前世 — qianshi — who the soul was before.
The present life — 今生 — jinsheng — who the soul is now.
The future life — 來世 — laishi — who the soul will be next.
The soul reads all three.
Then it crosses the bridge.
Then it drinks the soup.
Then it forgets all three.
The stone retains the record.
The soul does not.
The stone is older than the bridge.
The stone is older than the soup.
The stone will outlast both.
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On what she represents.
She represents the mercy of forgetting — 遺忘之慈悲 — yiwang zhi ciber.
She represents the necessity of release — 放下的必要性 — fangxia de biyaoxing.
She represents the cruelty of kindness — 善意的殘忍 — shanyi de canren.
She is not feared in Chinese popular culture.
She is accepted.
She is sometimes even welcomed.
Many in China welcome her proffered bowl rather than rejecting it.
Weibo users in the modern era speak of wishing to visit her after traumatic events.
After fighting COVID on the front lines.
After the death of someone beloved.
After a loss that cannot be processed.
They speak of wanting one bowl of what she serves.
One bowl of forgetting.
One clean start.
She is still there.
She is still at the bridge.
Her cauldron is still full.
The ladle is still ready.
She is waiting.
She is always waiting.
She has nothing else to do.
She has forgotten why she started.
Or perhaps she remembers.
Perhaps the Meng Jiang origin is true.
Perhaps she still remembers her husband's face.
Perhaps that is why she gives the soup so willingly to everyone else.
Because she knows what remembering costs.
And she would not wish that cost on any soul.
Not even the worst of them.
END OF CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE