Brief Sharing on Taoist Ritual Po Yu (道教破獄科儀法事簡介)

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Po Yu, translated into English is known as Breaking Open the Hade or Breaking Thru the Hade, etc.

Due to the limitation usage of English terms, a lot of people are being mislead by the translation of Breaking Open or Breaking Thru of Hade, people may just think that, the person who conducting the Ritual/Ceremony is going to tear-down the whole Hade in-order to release the souls from the suffering Hade, etc.
Actually, this is wrong.

Po Yu Ritual/Ceremony, is one of the many Taoist Rituals that engaged for the salvation of suffering souls in the Hade (earliest records for such similar Rituals being engaged was in Han Dynasty 最早記載為漢朝時期). By conducting such Rituals, the leading Priest will called upon the Salvation Lord Tai Yi (啟請太乙救苦天尊慈悲降靈光以度化亡魂) to give blessings on the suffering souls and also by using the Light energy or so-called Positive energy (聚集燈火之能量以助亡魂超生 - 因此又稱破獄燈儀法事) to guide the suffering souls out from the suffering realm and assist them in lessen their sins and debts, in order for them to promote to the Eastern Palace (東極青華宮) for enjoying of peacefulness or wait for another chance of reborn into the Mortal Realm.

Due to the attraction that such Rituals can gain, a lot of other Religions imported our Taoist Po Yu Ritual method into their Salvation Ritual practice.

Usually such Ritual can be seen on the 7th Month Festival (中元普度會), Funerals (喪禮) or some Religious Events, such as Deities Anniversary Celebration (神誕) or New Temple Opening Ceremony (新廟晉宮儀式), etc.

Today, due to different teachings and customs-influencing by the different dialect groups, Po Yu Ritual has changed quite a lot as compared to those being conducted in the Ancient Era, but one thing didn't change, which is the purpose of such Rituals being conducted – to salvage the suffering souls.