Meng Po (Goddess of Forgetfulness)

The legend of Meng Po crystallized during the Ming and Qing dynasties, portraying her as a divine being of the netherworld who maintains a soup stove at the Naihe Bridge. Before reincarnation, every soul must drink her Soup of Oblivion to relinquish all attachments—love, hatred, gratitude, and grievance—from previous existences, thus entering rebirth with a clean slate. One tradition identifies her with Meng Jiangnu, who, after weeping down the Great Wall in futile search of her husband, became compassionate toward human suffering and began brewing the soup to help souls release their earthly obsessions. Together, the Naihe Bridge, the Stone of Three Lifetimes, and the Soup of Oblivion constitute one of the most tender Chinese imaginings of death and parting: forgetting is not an end, but the gentle prelude to reunion in a future life.