Reincarnation and retribution based on cause and effect are rooted in traditional Chinese culture. When I was little, I often heard that old people talked about these. If there was a disaster taking place, old people would say that the disaster was caused by the wrongdoing of the older generation. Instead, if there was a good thing happening, they would think it was because of the virtues accumulated from ancestors. There are also many descriptions about this aspect in Chinese literature, from Dream of the Red Chamber to Three Words and Two Beats and so on. However, atheism permeated everywhere in my textbooks so I did not take reincarnation and retribution seriously. After becoming an adult, with my mind more and more open, I find that many of my notions and knowledge are actually wrong. I am starting to re-consider the issue of reincarnation. Here are some examples.
- A Boy’s Experience of Living Two Lives in Hainan Province
An article on the seventh issue of the magazine Oriental Women in 2002 reported a story of a boy who remembered his previous life. The boy was called Tang Jiangshan. He lived in Gancheng Town of Dongfang City, Hainan Province. According to Tang Jiangshan’s parents and old villagers, when Tang Jiangshan was only three years old (in the year of1979), one day he suddenly told his parents, “I am not your child. I was called Chen Mingdao in my previous life and my dad in that life was called Sandie. My home was in Danzhou, where it was close to the sea.” The place he mentioned was more than 160 kilometers away from Dongfang City. The boy also mentioned that he was killed by sword and gun during the Cultural Revolution. What was stranger was that he could speak the Danzhou dialect very fluently. The Danzhou dialect was completely different from the dialect in his hometown in this life of his. There were also some scars made by swords on his waist left from his previous life.
At 6, Tang Jiangshan kept urging his parents to take him to where he lived in his previous life: Huangyu Village, Xinying Town of Danzhou City. Tang Jiangshan walked straight towards the house of an old man called Chen Zanying. Tang Jiangshan called Chen Zanying “Sandie” in Danzhou dialect. He told Chen that he was Chen’s son called Chen Mingdao. After he died, he was reincarnated in Gancheng Town of Dongfang City. He came back for his parents from his previous life. Then he recognized his two older sisters, two younger sisters and other relatives in that village. What was especially interesting is that he could also recognize his girlfriend in his previous life. Even though Tang Jiangshan was only 6 years old, what he talked about from his experiences in the previous life convinced Chen Mingdao’s families and relatives that Tang Jiangshan was Chen Mingdao in his previous life. Chen Zanying was so moved on the spot and cried with Tang Jiangshan. Chan believed that Tang Jiangshan was reincarnation of his own son Chen Mingdao.
Since then, Tang Jiangshan has had two families, parents from two families. Every year, he traveled between Dongfang city and Danzhou. Chen Zanying, his relatives and villagers all regarded Tang Jiangshan as Chen Mingdao. Since Chen Zanying didn’t have a son, Tang Jiangshan took care of him as his son until Chen Zhanying died in 1998.
Editors working for the magazine didn’t believe Tang Jiangshan’s story in the beginning. But after careful investigation, they eventually verified the reliability of Tang’s experience.
2. A British Boy Who Remembers His Previous Life
Not only are there recordings about reincarnation in traditional Chinese culture, but many western scholars have been studying phenomena of reincarnation. For example, Ian Stevenson wrote a book entitled Children Who Remember Previous Lives and Brian Weiss wrote Many Lives Many Masters. In their books, they collected lots of real cases of reincarnation.
The Sun Online of the U.K. reported a story of a boy who remembers his pre-existence in the world on Sep. 8, 2006. This six-year-old boy is called Cameron Macaulay. He is not much different from other boys of his age. What differentiates him from others is that he likes to talk about his “old mum,” his former family and a white house standing on the bay. But none of them is related to his current life. The place he talked about is a place where he had not been to before and is on the Isle of Barra, which is 160 miles away from where he is living now.
Cameron’s mother, Norma, 42, said that Cameron liked to talk about the tales of a childhood of his on Barra. Cameron spoke about his former parents, how his dad died, and his brothers and sisters. He also said that the mother he mentioned here was the one in his previous life. Cameron believes that he has a previous life and he worries that the family in his previous life would miss him.
Cameron’s nursery teacher told Norma all the things Cameron was saying about Barra. He missed his mummy and his brothers and sisters there. Cameron complained that in his current house there was only one toilet, whereas in Barra, they had three. He used to cry for his mummy. He said she’d be missing him and he wanted to let his family in Barra know he was all right. Cameron felt very sad. He wouldn’t stop talking about Barra, where they went, what they did and how he watched the planes landing on the beach from his bedroom window.
Cameron constantly begged Norma to take him to Barra. Eventually Norma decided to make the trip. Meanwhile psychologist Dr. Jim Tucker from Virginia University in the U.S. also went with them. Dr. Tucker specializes in reincarnation, especially in children’s cases.
When Cameron was told about the trip to Barra, he was very happy and jumped all over the place. They went to Barra in February last year. When they arrived at Barra and the plane landed on the beach, everything was just as Cameron described. The hotel people told them that there was a Robertson family, to which Cameron believed he belonged, living in the white house on the bay. But Norma didn’t tell Cameron about this since they wanted to see what would happen after arriving there. When they got there,
Cameron recognized the white house immediately and he was extremely happy. When they walked to the door, Cameron became very quiet. Norma guessed that he must think that his Barra mother was waiting for him in the house as he remembered. But it turned out that there was no one in the house, he looked sad. The former owner of the house already died. The person who kept the key let them in. Cameron was familiar with the house and he knew every bit of the house. As he said, there were three bathrooms and the sea could be seen from his bedroom window.
Since they came back home to Glasgow, Cameron became much quieter. Norma said that it was the best thing to go to Barra. This trip made Cameron much happier and he doesn’t talk about going to Barra any more. Cameron now knows that his mother and brother don’t think he is making up stories. Instead, they found the answers that they were looking for. Apparently, memories about previous life will fade away gradually along with the increase in the person’s age.
Cameron’s story has been filmed into a documentary by TV Channel Five in the U.K. and it is called “The Boy Who Lived Before.”
3. Reincarnation of President Lincoln
Some researchers found something about the reincarnation of Lincoln, one of the most famous presidents in the U.S. history.
According to the report on PRWeb on Feb. 1, 2006, about 50 years ago, a yogi named Paramhansa Yogananda pointed out that President Lincoln (1809-1865) was reincarnated as the famous American pilot and writer Charles Lindbergh (1902-1974). A while ago, a priestess and writer Richard Salva published the book, Soul Journey from Lincoln to Lindbergh, in which he verifies the reincarnation of President Lincoln. In the book, the author describes the commonalities between Lincoln and Lindbergh from their characters, personalities and even hundreds of their living environments, and also compares them physically and spiritually. In addition, the author also explains how his previous life as Lincoln affected Lindbergh’s life based on Lincoln’s life and language habits. All these help explain puzzles of historians, for example, why Lindberg as a pilot was so strongly against the U.S. getting involved in the Second World War.
This report also says that 1/5 of American people believe in the existence of reincarnation, but few noticed that how one’s previous life could influence him or her. But this book compares Lincoln and Lindberg and explains how one’s karma accumulated from one’s previous lives influence his/her current life. For example, both Paramhansa Yogananda and Richard Salva think that Lincoln was a yogi in one of his previous lives. Salva analyzes how his experience of being a yogi influenced Lincoln and how Lincoln’s experience affected Lindberg.
4. Epilogue
Apparently, phenomena of reincarnation have existed in the East and West from the ancient times up to now. Another example is about Emperor Wu, named Xiao Yan, of China’s Nanbeichao period. He held power for 48 years and died at the age of 86. He was the second longest-lived emperor in Chinese history since the first emperor, Qin Shihuang. The longest lived emperor was Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty. According to historical records, Emperor Wu of Liang was a monk in one of his previous lives.
The true existence of reincarnation embodies the fairness of Heavenly principles. It is true that good deeds will receive blessings and wrongdoers will suffer from wrongdoings. Therefore, people should be careful about their words and deeds.
