In the teachings of Taoism, after death the soul passes into another human or animal body. It is believed that there are Ten Tribunals in the Underworld or Hell. When a human being dies, his soul will have to face judgement there and if found sinful, the soul will have to go through all the Tribunals, to be punished according to the magnitude of his sins, and then to the Tenth Tribunal to await retribution before his soul can be reincarnated. In the Tenth Tribunal, the Holy Spirit in charge is "Zhuan Lun Wang" and this is what he said about reincarnation according to the magnitude of sins:

There is a department in the Tenth Tribunal called "Magnitude of Sins Department". This department will investigate what sins a soul had committed when alive on Earth - to judge whether a sin was light or heavy, minor or serious and the consequences.

a] If he had done some small good deeds and had never committed grave sins, he will be reborn with just enough to eat and wear, and will get protection from parents; husband/wife relationship will be normal, the children will take care of him.

b] If his merits and demerits balance even, on rebirth he will have enough to eat and wear, family will be alright; husband/wife relationship will be alright, and he will be surrounded by children, but he will have to slog for his living. If he does not work he will starve, unlike some people who can enjoy life without doing any work.

c] If one had no merits whatsoever, but had accumulated a string of demerits, on rebirth he will meet with many difficulties in life. Although he/she may be well provided for, yet there is bound to be widowhood/widowerhood; or the family circle (parents, brothers/sisters, children) will be broken early.

d] In the case of one who had committed grave sins when alive, he will be reborn a deformed pauper with some form of disability - dumb, blind, lame, deaf, etc.

e] In the case of those who discarded the:

1) Five human relationships; husband/wife; brother/sister; parents/children; friendship; and loyalty to country.

2) Eight Virtues; filial piety; brotherly love; loyalty to country; trustworthiness; courtesy; righteousness; chastity; and shame,

and particularly, in the case of a woman soul, where there are three degrees of dependence to be observed, namely, first upon her father, then her husband, and later upon her children,

and also Four Virtues;

1) right behaviour
2) proper speech
3) proper demeanour and
4) proper employment,

they will be regarded as having committed grave sins and will be reborn as beasts; example born via the female womb, born through eggs, born as sea creatures, born as worms. This is known as retaliatioric recompense. All these punishments are the responsibilities of the Magnitude of Sins Department.

Author: T.A Chew
Website: http://www.white-sun.com