Escape Hell’s Torment: Daoist Rites for Karmic Redemption

The Wonderful Scripture of Delivering Beings from Birth and Death Through Rescuing Them from the Three Paths and Five Torments in the Cavern Mysterious and Numinous Treasure Scripture

Author: Unknown

Judging from its textual content, it should have been written by Taoist priests during the Northern and Southern Dynasties or the Sui-Tang period. It consists of one scroll and is included in the Original Text Category of the Cavern Mysterious Section in the Taoist Canon.

The scripture is framed as the Jade Primordial Heavenly Venerable explaining the karmic causes and conditions of birth and death, as well as the retribution of samsara, to the Perfected Being of Dharma Liberation.

It asserts that countless beings in hell are suffering from the torments of the Three Paths and Five Torments, all because “in the end times, morals decline, people are frivolous and deceitful, there are few who do good, and many who commit evil”.

Acts such as disloyalty and unfilial piety, lack of benevolence and righteousness, disrespect for the Three Jewels, slandering and destroying scriptures, harming creatures and injuring lives, and insatiable greed and cruelty are all roots and sources of sin and evil.

The methods for deliverance and liberation require accumulating merits and virtues, extensively cultivating fields of merit, reverently invoking the Heavenly Venerable Who Saves the Suffering, lighting lamps and hanging banners, copying and distributing scriptures, and donating money to relieve the poor.

By doing so, one can be freed from the sufferings of hell, transcend the souls of the deceased to be reborn in the Pure Land, bless and protect descendants, put an end to disasters and misfortunes, and obtain boundless blessings.