Three Quatrains Mourning General Yue
By Miaozheng
Poem 1 With loyal heart and nine-chi spear, he served his country; Blood stained his battle robe on ancient warland. A general’s fame brings age-long tears of woe; Twelve golden command tablets sent the loyal hero to his grave.
Poem 2 “Loyalty to the country” was tattooed red on his back; He learned archery from Zhou Tong, hitting the mark. Loyal and filial, he cast himself aside; A man who reaches this is truly a hero.
Poem 3 He strove to restore land and bring two emperors home, His mighty aspiration struck ten thousand men dumb. He lifts his gaze amid the drizzling rain; Who understands the grief within his vein?
7 / After One Cup of Meng Po’s Soup, All Grudges and Kindness Are Forgotten — A Field Visit to the Platform of Oblivion
Grateful for the empowerment of the Buddha! I departed riding a white lotus flower.
“Amitabha!” Ayù pressed her palms together in greeting to the Magistrate. I asked: “Magistrate, must all beings in the netherworld drink Meng Po’s soup before reincarnation?”
The Magistrate said, “Meng Po’s soup exists only in the netherworld. There is no Meng Po’s soup in the heaven realms, the Western World of Ultimate Bliss, nor in any other Buddhalands or pure lands. Every spirit who arrives in the netherworld must drink Meng Po’s soup before rebirth. The soup wipes away their memories of past lives, allowing them to live with new kinsmen and relatives according to their karmic force. People are innately intelligent and capable of clear analysis. If they do not drink Meng Po’s soup to forget the past completely, even after rebirth, despite the karmic obscuration of entering the womb, they may recall fragments of a previous life under particular circumstances and karmic conditions. Before Goddess Meng Po took up her official post in the netherworld, there was no Meng Po’s soup here.
“Ancient people were inherently virtuous. The earliest ancestors of mankind who first came to the human world were celestial beings from the Abhasvara Heaven (Light-Voice Heaven) of the Form Realm. They journeyed to Earth by spiritual powers for sightseeing. In those times, the land featured clear mountains and limpid waters with pure fresh air. It differs greatly from the present, where air pollution and industrial chemical pollutants prevail. Above all, misleading and harmful information circulating via media gravely corrupts human disposition.