The Cycle

Birth, life, death, rebirth (if you so choose).

From time to time, I think of a Chinese mythological figure known as Meng Po. She is the craftswoman of a drink known as the Five Flavored Tea of Forgetfulness.

When it is time for a soul to reincarnate, they must pass through several layers of a hell-like landscape to and reflect upon all that they may have missed in the life they’ve recently left behind. At the end of this grueling journey, Meng Po is there to see them off into the next life. But first, she offers a sip of her drink. The tea induces a spiritual amnesia of sorts, and the soul is sent into its next incarnation with no knowledge of any events prior.

The soul moves into the next vessel, and life goes on, cyclical as ever. The recently reincarnated remembers nothing of their previous life (not unless they found a way to cheat the system), bound by the karma built up in the life that came before.