Three Firsthand Accounts of Reincarnation

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I have read several novels by the renowned author Jia Pingwa, and the one that has influenced me the most is "White Nights." This novel introduces a "reincarnated person" (someone who remembers their past life), and its plot has helped me affirm certain remarkable events related to the concept of reincarnation.

01

In the 1970s, I heard an incredible story from a master named Gou while at a mine in Shaanxi. During Hu Zongnan's military campaign against Yan'an, a young man from their village was killed by a stray bullet while "supporting the front." He left behind his parents and wife. Years later, the young man's father heard about a boy in a neighboring county who cried incessantly after birth. When the boy learned to speak, his aunt asked him why he cried so much. The boy recounted his past life, saying he was originally named so-and-so from a certain village in a certain county, and his father's name was so-and-so. He described being struck by a bullet, feeling only fear as he ran in one direction until he saw a chimney and crawled inside. Coincidentally, a child was being born in that house, and the boy became that child. Then he cried out, "I miss my parents and my wife!" The aunt spread the news.

Master Gou continued: "Eventually, the news reached our village. Initially, this 'father' didn't believe it, but after encouragement from everyone, he packed a bag, brought some food, and crossed mountains to the village where the child had been reborn. From a distance, the playing child spotted his 'father' entering the village, ran up to him, and embraced him while crying. The child asked many affectionate questions and even told his 'father' to allow his 'wife' to remarry. The 'father' was moved to tears and said upon parting, 'Just stay here and be their son!'”

02

In 1983, I received surprising news from my hometown: my elementary school classmate and close friend with the surname Li had died of an illness but unexpectedly came back to life five days later. I planned to visit him. A few days later, he suddenly came to my house, and my wife and I were overjoyed. We invited him to stay, and I intended to accompany him to the hospital for a check-up. After dinner, he shared his experience of being ill, dying, and coming back to life. When my wife asked what he saw in the afterlife, he smiled wryly and said, "I can't say; if I do, I'll get a headache!" I quickly replied, "Then don't tell us."

The next morning, I accompanied him to the central hospital in our city for a check-up. After registering, we sat on a long bench waiting for our turn, chatting casually. Suddenly, he said earnestly, "Brother, let me tell you: the six realms of reincarnation and the underworld mentioned in ancient texts are all true!" I was taken aback and asked, "I don't understand; you were gone for five days, how did you come back?" He replied, "I remember walking under the hot sun, feeling thirsty and exhausted. When I reached the bridge over a big river, I saw people rushing across. It turned out there were large vats of rice wine (glutinous rice) soup on the other side, and everyone was hurrying to drink it." I quickly asked, "Did you drink it?" He said, "I picked up a bowl and was about to drink with my head down when someone suddenly snatched it away. When I looked up, it was my deceased grandmother. She scolded me, 'You little rascal, your child is still young; what are you doing here? Go back and take care of your child!' I can't remember how I got back!" I thought the rice wine soup he mentioned might be the "soul-numbing soup," and that bridge could be the "Bridge of Helplessness"!

03

In 2019, my neighbor G shared an unusual story with me: Recently, her family raised a few piglets. Each time she fed them, one piglet would eat only a few bites before leaving the trough and crying in a corner. No matter how hard she tried to stop it or bring it back, she couldn't. Out of frustration, she hit it with a stick. One night, she dreamt that the piglet said to her, "It's not that I don't want to eat; it's that someone is only allowing me to eat a few bites. I'm crying out of grievance, and you still hit me?!" From that point on, she stopped hitting it, but the piglet continued to cry.

After some time, G dreamt that the piglet told her, "In my past life, I was a person. Because I owed your husband forty yuan and didn't pay it back, I was punished and reincarnated as a pig. Remember, tomorrow someone will come to your house to buy a piglet; you should sell me for forty yuan." The next day, they waited all day, but no one came. When evening arrived and they switched on the lights, a hurried person came to buy a piglet. He went into the pigpen and happened to grab that very piglet, paying forty yuan and taking it away. After telling me this story, G sighed and said, "Uncle, isn't it strange? Are there really such unusual things in the world?!" I replied, "Not strange! This is the law of karma; good and evil are rewarded!"