Detailed Introduction
Taoist liturgical ceremonies (also called "keyi" or "doing fashi") are professional religious rites conducted by Taoist priests through a series of rigorous ritual procedures to communicate with deities and spirits, pray for blessings, and dispel misfortune. In Taiwanese folk religion, these ceremonies encompass every significant life event from birth to death, serving as a vital bridge between the human world and the spirit realm.
What Are Liturgical Ceremonies?
Liturgical ceremonies are presided over by professionally trained Taoist priests or ritual masters. Through chanting Taoist scriptures, performing "bugang tadou" (ritual pacing that symbolizes treading upon the stars of the Big Dipper), reciting sacred incantations, and practicing "cunxiang" (visualization of deities descending) and other ritual elements, the goal of communicating with divine spirits is achieved. Unlike ordinary worship or prayer, these ceremonies require specialized religious knowledge and years of training and cultivation that ordinary worshippers cannot perform on their own.
Common Types of Ceremonies
- Blessing ceremonies: Tai Sui pacification, lighting of bright lamps, fortune restoration rituals, and peace prayer assemblies. Their purpose is to pray for peace and smooth fortune in the coming year and to ward off calamity. These are usually held around the first lunar month or during major temple celebrations.
- Salvation ceremonies: Ghost Month universal salvation (Zhongyuan Pudu), memorial services for the deceased, and merit-making dharma assemblies. Their purpose is to accumulate merit for deceased relatives or wandering spirits, helping departed souls escape from suffering. This is the most important religious activity during the seventh lunar month Ghost Festival.
- Exorcism ceremonies: House purification (cleansing a home), shoujing (calming frightened souls), and driving away evil influences. When a household experiences unrest, when family members fall ill one after another, or when anomalous events occur, a ritual master may be invited to the home to perform exorcism rites.
- Thanksgiving ceremonies: Ceremonies of gratitude to fulfill vows, and jiao rituals (community-wide peace rituals). After worshippers' prayers are answered, they hire ritual masters to conduct ceremonies thanking the deities. Jiao rituals are large-scale community peace ceremonies typically held once every three to five years on a grand scale.
- Funerary ceremonies: Merit-making for the deceased, soul-guiding, coffin-sealing, and burial rites. Taoist ceremonies play a crucial role in Taiwanese funeral customs, guiding the soul of the departed on their journey to the next world.
The Scene and Ritual Implements
The ceremony site is typically arranged with an altar bearing images of the Celestial Worthies, command flags, talismans, and other sacred objects. The priest wears an embroidered robe decorated with bagua (Eight Trigrams) patterns (red for blessings, black for salvation rites). Ritual implements include: the Emperor Bell (a bell shaken to summon deities), the wooden fish (for keeping rhythm during chanting), the dragon horn (a horn blown to intimidate evil spirits), the treasure sword (for slaying demons), and command flags (for issuing divine orders). The musical ensemble at the rear includes gongs, drums, suona (Chinese oboe), and cymbals. The ceremonial music is both solemn and intensely dramatic, forming one of the most distinctive elements of Taiwanese religious musical culture.
Costs and Selection
Ceremony costs vary greatly depending on scale and duration, ranging from simple shoujing (free to a few hundred NT dollars) to grand jiao rituals (hundreds of thousands to millions of NT dollars). When selecting a ritual master, those recommended by reputable temples or with good word-of-mouth reputations are preferred. Avoid unlicensed or dubious "itinerant practitioners."