In Cantonese Taoism, when one passed on, the dead souls of the deceased will be escorted by the “law enforcer, bull head and horse face” (牛头马面) to face judgement from the ten kings of the netherworld. “Breaking the Hell’s Gate”, to lead the dead souls of the deceased to leave the netherworld and enter into reincarnation is one of the prayer rituals in Cantonese Taoism.

One would think that “Breaking the Hell’s Gate” ritual is to break open the door of hell and let the deceased enter. In fact, this is not correct. In Cantonese Taoism, it is actually to break the door of hell to save the deceased and lead the dead souls out of the netherworld and enter into reincarnation.

Before the start of the ritual, Taoist Priest will set up the “Gates of Hell”. The setup consists of placing a small pot of boiling oil (represent the hell where the dead soul is kept) at the center of tiles (represent the gates), eggs (represent the hell soldiers), candles and joss stick.

During the ritual, the leading Taoist priests, holding the deceased paper tablet, will lead the team of Priest to circle around the “Gates of Hell” in a fish-like steps.

The leading Priest will break the gates with his sword and spit water into the pot of boiling oil and jump over the burst of fire. The spitting of water into the boiling oil created a burst of fire effect, this represent the dead soul of the deceased is brought out from the netherworld.

The Cantonese Taoism version of ‘Breaking the Hell” in Singapore has known to be existed for more than 70 years and is still the main requested prayers ritual practice till today.

破地狱

在广东道教中,当一个人去世后,亡者的灵魂将由来自地狱执法者“牛头马面”护送到阴间,以接受地狱的十殿阎王审判。而“破地狱”带领亡者的灵魂离开地狱世界并进入轮回也是广东道教的拜祭仪式之一。

人们会认为“破地狱”是打破通往地狱的大门,让死者进入。实际上,这是不正确的。在广东道教中,它实际上是为了拯救死者而打破地狱的大门,将亡者的灵魂带出地狱世界并进入轮回。

在仪式开始之前,道长将摆设“地狱之门”。设置涉及使用瓷砖代表门,鸡蛋代表地狱士兵,蜡烛,香烛和一个小圆容器中盛满沸腾的油放置在“地狱之门”的中央。(代表死亡灵魂被囚禁的地狱)

在仪式期间,带领的道长带着亡者的纸牌位,与他的团队围绕“地狱之门”,以象鱼的步法穿梭来回。道长用他的剑打破“地狱之门”,并将口中的水喷入沸腾的油中然后跳过。水入沸腾的油中产生了一阵火焰效果,这代表道长把亡者的灵魂从地狱中救出。

新加坡广东道教的“破地狱”仪式经已存在70多年以上,至今仍是广东道教的最主要超度仪式之一。