It is said that Po Meng was born in the Western Han Dynasty. She studied Confucian books since she was a child. When she grew up, she began to recite Buddhist scriptures.
When she was still alive, she never recalled the past and never thought about the future. She just wholeheartedly advised people not to kill but to be vegetarians.
Until she was eighty-one years old, she was still a virgin. She only knew her surname was Meng, so people called her "Lao Nai Meng"
Later, Mrs. Meng went to the mountains to practice Buddhism until the Later Han Dynasty. Because at that time, people who knew the causes of previous lives often revealed the secrets of heaven.
Therefore, God specially appointed Mrs. Meng as the God of the Netherworld and built a platform for her to forget.
It is said in the "King of Hell Sutra" that after the ghosts have been punished in each hall, they are sent to the next hall in order, and finally transferred to the tenth hall
and delivered to the wheel. king.
The tenth hall is in charge of the reincarnation of ghosts. All ghosts sent here to prepare for reincarnation will first be taken to the Xiwangtai controlled by God Meng Po
and drank. The soup makes the ghosts forget their past lives.
According to legend, the way to make Mengpo soup is to first take the ghosts who are determined to be sent to various places to become human beings in the ten palaces, and then add medicinal materials collected from the world
to make a wine-like soup. It is divided into five flavors: sweet, bitter, pungent, sour and salty.
All ghosts who are ready to be reincarnated must drink Meng Po’s ecstasy soup. If there is a cunning ghost that refuses to drink, a hook and knife will immediately appear under its feet
He held his feet up, had a sharp copper pipe pierced his throat, and drank it forcefully. No ghost could be spared.
Meng Po opened a Meng Po shop in the underworld, and the place where she lived was called Meng Po Village. In "Xie Feng" written by Shen Qifeng of the Qing Dynasty
Volume 8 has a story about Meng Po Village:
Gesheng returned to life without drinking the ecstasy soup
There once was a story The singing girl's name is Lan Rui, and she has a younger sister Yu Rui who is as beautiful as a flower. Yu Rui and Ge Sheng fell in love deeply, but Ge Sheng was very poor and could not afford to marry Yu Rui. Later Lan Rui died of illness, and Ge Sheng died in love because he was unable to stay with Yu Rui for a lifetime.
After Ge Sheng died, he came to the underworld. King Yama saw that he died innocently and sentenced him to be reborn as a human being. After hearing the order, Ge Sheng prepared to reincarnate again.
Ge Sheng was walking alone in a daze, and suddenly came under a shed covered with rose vines. I saw hundreds of men and women, scrambling to grab the ladles, and hurriedly scooping water from the stove to drink.
Ge Sheng was tired from walking and felt his mouth was dry, so he also wanted to go up and drink the water in the gourd. At this time, a woman came out from behind the shed. Ge Sheng took a closer look and saw that it was Lan Rui.
Lan Rui asked him why he came here, and Ge Sheng told her everything. After Lan Rui found out, she gently said to Ge Sheng: "Don't you know this is Meng Po Village? Fortunately, today Meng Po went to wish Mrs. Kou a birthday. I am in charge of the ladle for the time being.
If you drink the ecstasy soup in this ladle like those people, you will have no way to return to life."
When Ge Sheng heard this, he couldn't help but think. Feel blessed. Later, under Lan Rui's guidance, Ge Sheng found the old path and returned to the world.
The company of beautiful women drinking tea at Meng Po Village
In addition, in the "Meng Po Soup" in Wang Youguang's "Jie of Wu Xia Proverbs" of the Qing Dynasty, there is also a paragraph about ghosts being given ecstasy soup
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Description:
After death, the first thing a person passes through is Meng Po Village. The soldiers escorted the ghost past the wall of Mengpo Village to the Hall of the King of Hell for interrogation. After the judgment, the merits and demerits during the lifetime will be recorded in the transfer book. All ghosts who are sentenced to reincarnation will walk back from Meng Po Village.
At the door of Meng Po Village, an old woman stood there to greet visitors, step up the stairs and enter.
The villa is full of carved beams, painted pillars and red balustrades. Inside the house, there are exquisite and gorgeous furnishings everywhere, including curtains made of pearls and jade.
There is also a large jade sculpture in the hall. table.
After the visitor entered the house, the old woman called out three girls. These three girls were Meng Jiang, Meng Yong and Meng Ge.
The three of them were all wearing red skirts and tops with green sleeves hanging down. They were all as beautiful as flowers and jade, and they were as beautiful as heavenly beings. They called for the husband in a soft voice, and even brushed the mat with their hands to invite the guests. sit down.
After the visitor sat down, the maid served tea. Three beauties were standing by, offering tea to each other with their slender jade fingers. The jade rings jingled
and the fragrance was astonishing. In such a situation, it was really hard to refuse to drink.
As soon as I took the tea cup, I felt dizzy. I took a sip and felt it was so cool. It could quench my thirst and I couldn't help but drink it all in one gulp.
At the end of the drink, I suddenly saw about a spoonful of turbid mud settling at the bottom of the cup. When I looked up, I found that the originally beautiful and charming woman and the old mother-in-law had become frozen skeletons.
When I walked out of the door, I saw that the original carved beams and painted buildings were all rotten wood. It was like being in the wilderness and forgetting everything in my life.
Just when he was panicking and suffering, he suddenly burst into tears and fell to the ground, becoming a little baby who knew nothing.