Reincarnation stories throughout history have always been fascinating and serve as compelling evidence of the law of cause and effect, often emphasized by enlightened Masters in their teachings. Among these stories, the story of Venerable Master Chin Kung (vegetarian), shared in the 1980s in China, stands out as one of the clearest examples. Through deep meditation, he experienced the journey of his own reincarnation spanning 600 years.
Monk Chin Kung was born into the feudal Li family. In March 1989, with the consent of his wife and children, he renounced the world and took refuge in Buddhism. Even he didn’t fully understand why he felt compelled to do so, as if it were fate not yet completed from a previous life. On the evening of August 25, 1992, the answer to why Monk Chin Kung was destined to renounce the world and pursue the monastic path began to reveal itself. After paying homage to the Buddha, Monk Chin Kung entered deep meditation. His inner vision opened, allowing him to witness the different lives he had lived in past incarnations.
In his first life, he was a young monk of just 20 years old, having taken the three great vows and practicing diligently for over 20 years. Throughout his study of Buddhism and practice, he did many good deeds and accumulated merit. However, while his body had entered the monastic life, his soul remained clouded by attachment to the mundane world, desiring the blessings of human life. Lacking a steadfast heart, he ultimately failed to escape the Six Realms of Samsara and fell into the three gates of hell to endure suffering.
During that meditation session, Monk Chin Kung also gained insight into his second life, in which he was still reaping the merits of his first monastic life. He was reborn into a wealthy noble family, becoming an aristocratic young lord. Every day, he indulged in a life of pleasure and luxury, with as many as eight maidservants attending to him. But that wasn’t all – he was also extremely greedy for fame and fortune, committing many wrongdoings.
In his third life, he was reborn into a powerful, wealthy family and became a mighty general, second only to one but above countless others. However, blinded by his thirst for power, he committed brutal and inhumane acts, causing all of his accumulated merits to be completely wiped away. At this time, he had as many as 24 maidservants, yet his life was full of scandals and controversy. He enjoyed not only endless wealth and luxury but also the finest delicacies without lack of anything. Once a respected and noble general, he gradually lost control of himself. In the end, driven by his desire for pleasure, he caused immense harm by ordering the punishment of many, purely to satisfy his personal whims. He even went so far as to behead innocent people just to toss their heads into the river for amusement.
Due to the heavy karma accumulated from the previous two lives of Monk Chin Kung, upon death, he was cast into the three gates of hell and repeatedly reincarnated as various animal-people. These harsh punishments were the price he had to pay for the crimes he committed in his past lives. Among these reincarnations, there were three times he was reborn as a toad. Because he had beheaded many people during his time as a general, he became a toad without a neck. Additionally, he had to endure various terrifying punishments, such as being beaten, captured alive, beheaded, and skinned, all to repay the debts of his past life.
In addition, due to his gluttonous eating habits, he had to endure further torment, reincarnating four times as a wild chicken-person, forced to fend for himself in difficult circumstances and becoming prey to other creatures. Despite enduring countless sufferings over seven lifetimes as an animal-individual, he still had not fully repaid his karmic debts, which led to three additional reincarnations as a pig-person to bear the consequences of his past wrongdoings. Due to his indulgence in food and laziness in cooking, he would simply lie around waiting for food to be served to him. Not only did he have to eat leftovers and spoiled food, but in his pig life, he also endured suffering from being beaten and butchered, paying the price for the evil deeds he committed in his two previous lives due to his gluttony.
We can see that, thanks to the good fortune from his efforts in practice during his first life, he still received blessings and enjoyed good things in the two subsequent lives, even though he wasn’t fully sincere at that time. However, these very blessings led him to indulgence and degradation, creating countless evil deeds that resulted in severe consequences, forcing him to fall into the realm of animal-people for the next ten lifetimes.
After experiencing thirteen lifetimes of reincarnation over 600 years, Monk Chin Kung gained a profound understanding of the law of cause and effect. He felt fortunate that the seeds of goodness in his soul had once again begun to sprout in his current life. This awakening led him back to the path of practice, to renounce the world in accordance with the Buddha’s teachings, and to sincerely seek liberation.
Buddhism teaches: “One cannot rely on a little bit of good roots, blessings, and affinity to be born in the Pure Land.” This means that it is impossible to attain rebirth in the Pure Land with just a small amount of good karma, merit, or affinity. For someone to be reborn as a human after death is already an incredibly difficult feat. One would face countless challenges just to be reborn as a human being, so why not embrace the path of sincere practice and earnestly pursue liberation? The story of Monk Chin Kung deepens our understanding of the significance of human life. With this precious existence, may we practice diligently to seek freedom and return to our True Selves.
Supreme Master Ching Hai (vegan) has often emphasized the importance of the law of cause and effect. Let’s listen to Her insights on this topic from a lecture She delivered in May 1999 in Athens, Greece.
“(You told us previously about reincarnation and that spirits can choose if they will reincarnate or not. They choose freely. What, therefore, is the law of karma [retribution]? And what are the lessons that we have to learn in each incarnation?)
Actually, we don't have to learn anything here. We just have to remember what we already know. And about the law of karma (retribution), whatever we do in this world will affect us, come back to us. And some follow us until after the physical life. Of course, if we are not enlightened, it will follow us everywhere. Because the law of cause and effect is that whatever you sow, so shall you reap. But sometimes the effect doesn’t come quickly enough before we die, so it’s still there, and we must, of course, take care of that. At the time of death, the soul can choose to be reincarnated wherever it wants, and that always stands true. But because the soul is all-knowledge and all-justice, so if it knows that during the lifetime, it has done something that is not favorable for a higher condition, a higher dimension, then he will, by himself, the soul itself, will choose to be reincarnated wherever’s a suitable circumstance to iron out this debt or this obligation. That’s why I said only enlightened persons have a higher choice or lower choice as he (they) truly can make a choice.”
