破地獄 · Breaking Hell's Gate

Learn the Hong Kong Taoist funeral rite 破地獄 (Breaking Hell's Gate) in a free 3D rhythm game, with Cantonese narration and a step-by-step guide.

破地獄 (Breaking Hell's Gate) is a Taoist funeral rite in Hong Kong. At the wake, a master walks, chants and strikes with a peach-wood sword to break open the gate of hell, so the soul of the departed can leave the underworld and move on to rebirth.

It grew from the Buddhist story of Mulian rescuing his mother from hell (目蓮救母). Families often choose it when someone dies young or suddenly, and the 2024 film The Last Dance (破·地獄) brought it to a wide audience.

破地獄 is one part of the night's funeral service (打齋): the altar is opened and scriptures chanted first, and only after 破地獄 does the soul tour the Ten Courts and cross the bridge. The game follows that night, so steps 1 and 5 come before and after the rite itself. In Hong Kong it is usually led by Cantonese Zhengyi priests (喃嘸), working as a team of several (often six); the game shows one. Not every death needs it: food offerings (施食) and refinement (煉度) can also release a soul.

Step 1 of 5 · 開壇 · Open the altar

At the wake, usually the night before the funeral, the master (喃嘸師傅) purifies the hall and invites the deities to watch over the rite.

The space is made clean and protected before anything else happens.

Ritual instruments are set out: bell, drum, seal and peach-wood sword (桃木劍).
The master sprinkles talisman water (符水) to purify the hall.
Scriptures are chanted to invite the deities (請神) to protect the rite.

Step one: open the altar. The master sprinkles talisman water to purify the hall, then chants to invite the deities to bless the rite.

Step 2 of 5 · 行步 · Ritual footwork

A fire basin called the 獄盤 is set in the centre of the hall, and oil-soaked paper ingots (元寶) bearing the deceased's name are lit inside it. Chanting, the master walks set steps and leads the family around the fire.

The steps lead the soul toward the gate it must pass through.

The basin is the 獄盤; the ingots burning in it carry the deceased's name, and the fire stands for the fire of karma (業火).
Nine tiles ring the basin: the nine levels of hell (九幽地獄).
The master chants and walks set steps; the family follows him around the fire.

Step two: ritual footwork. The fire basin in the centre is called the 獄盤; paper ingots bearing the deceased's name burn inside, and the nine tiles around it are the nine levels of hell. Chanting, the master walks set steps and leads the family around the fire.

Step 3 of 5 · 破瓦 · Break the nine tiles

The master sprays a mouthful of oil or water onto the fire (accounts differ), then strikes the tiles with the peach-wood sword. The priests weave and cross as they circle, until all nine are broken.

The nine tiles stand for the nine levels of hell (九幽地獄). Breaking them opens the way out. The sword drives away harmful spirits.

The master sprays oil or water onto the fire, then strikes the first tile.
The priests weave and cross around the fire, breaking tile after tile until all nine are gone. In the game this step always has nine beats: one per tile.
The peach-wood sword drives off harmful spirits.
Older rites sometimes used a ruyi staff (如意) instead of a sword.

Step three: break the tiles. The master sprays oil or water onto the fire and swings the peach-wood sword to drive off harmful spirits, one strike for each tile. The priests weave around the fire until all nine are broken and the gate of hell opens.

Step 4 of 5 · 繞火盆 · Circle and cross the fire

With the tiles broken, the chief priest (高功) takes the memorial tablet (附薦位) and carries it across the 獄盤: the soul has left hell.

Crossing the basin leads the soul out of the sea of fire toward rebirth.

While the family circles, the filial son usually holds the tablet (some accounts have the master carry it).
When all the tiles are broken, the chief priest takes the tablet.
He carries it across the 獄盤: the soul has left hell.
In the past masters leapt over a flaming pan of oil (跳油鑊). Today that is rarely seen, and the whole rite takes about 20 minutes.

Step four: cross the fire. The chief priest lifts the memorial tablet and carries it across the basin, leading the soul out of the sea of flames. The old leap over burning oil is rarely seen now.

Step 5 of 5 · 過金銀橋 · Cross the gold & silver bridge

After the gate is broken the soul tours the Ten Courts (遊十殿), then crosses a paper bridge of gold and silver.

The bridge is the road to the next life. For the family, the rite marks a farewell.

The soul tours the Ten Courts (遊十殿) to be judged.
Seeing hell's suffering, it lets go of worldly attachments.
It is bathed and dressed.
It crosses the paper gold and silver bridge (金銀橋) toward the next life.

Step five: cross the gold and silver bridge. The soul passes the Ten Courts, lets go of worldly attachments, is bathed and dressed, and crosses the bridge toward the next life.

The band behind the chant

Hong Kong's Taoist funerals have a sound most people recognise: the 大笛, the suona, a bright double-reed horn. At funerals the ritual musician plays the suona and the big gong.

Drum, small cymbals and gongs mark the start of each part of the rite, and the suona plays set tunes in the quiet moments when the master moves without chanting. Funeral musicians dress in white.

In the game the band stands beside the altar: suona, big gong, drum and cymbals, with the wooden fish keeping the beat. The suona plays only between the Sifu's lines. Its tunes are simple pentatonic phrases written for the game, not transcriptions of ritual music.

The Sifu chants 「太乙救苦天尊」, the Heavenly Worthy who saves from suffering: the Taoist deity in charge of rescuing souls from hell. Real scripture varies between masters, so the game does not reproduce it.

Step in time with the master

Four big pads sit at the bottom of the hall and light up on the beat.
Tap a pad when it lights (on a computer: ← ↓ ↑ → or D F J K). The shrinking ring meets the pad at the perfect moment.
Perfect, Good and Steady reward timing. A miss says "Keep going" and the rite carries on: every soul reaches the bridge.
Two pads lighting together are a leap: tap both.
Easy keeps to whole beats. Normal plays the charts as written. Master adds off-beat steps and tighter timing.

Where this comes from

A simplified teaching game, not a liturgy. Practice varies between masters, schools and families. If you are planning a real rite, ask a Taoist master or funeral director. The hall and figures are drawn in code; the portrait is a silhouette. Voices: the macOS Cantonese voice 善怡 (Sinji).