The Parallel Between Meng Po Soup and the Legend of Er

I remember as a child, I listened to a Chinese story of an lady named, Meng Po whose job is to give an individual soul a drink before reincarnation, or going to the next life. The drink is specially formulated from various streams and ponds that will wipe out all the memories from the present life. This was fascinating to me.

But I didn’t realize a similar story was also found in The Republic by Plato, the Greek Philosopher. In this last chapter of this book, the story of Er described Er as a man who has gone to the underworld and was able to describe what happened because he escaped from drinking from the river of forgetfulness.

The story also describes how a soul, after drinking from the river of forgetfulness, will be lifted to a journey of rebirth. The good ones would be guided to the sky and the immoral souls were headed downward.

In the story of Er, Lady necessity was mentioned which I wonder if she is the resemblance of Meng Po.

While the concept of Judgement day is often found in many religious stories throughout history, this was the first connection that I could find about reincarnation and the similarities of how our memories are erased from Chinese and Greek stories in very different timelines. Could one story travelled from one place to another, spreading it in different languages?

If you know the story of Meng Po, I encourage you to read the last chapter of story of Er in The Republic and see for yourself if you also find the similarities of these stories striking to you.