Among the many treasures tucked into the Daozang, ritual manuals and liturgies take center stage—think of them as the blueprint for Daoist spiritual engineering. The jiao (offering) ceremonies top the list, elaborate affairs designed to bridge heaven and earth. These rites call for incense, symbolic food offerings, music and communal prayer, often performed in communal temples during harvest festivals or at the turn of the lunar year.

Exorcistic rituals also feature prominently. The Thunder Rites, for example, invoke celestial forces to dispel malevolent spirits; priests recite thunder talismans straight from the Zhen’gao texts, accompanied by percussion and rhythmic chanting that feels like a heartbeat for the cosmos. Alongside these, the Nuo rites—once thought to ward off epidemics—have garnered renewed attention in recent years as communities revisit traditional healing amid global health concerns.

Ordination ceremonies (lu yu) receive thorough treatment, too. Prospective priests memorize scriptures, don ritual robes, and undergo symbolic “deaths” and “rebirths” to mark their entrance into the Daoist clergy. The Lingbao and Shangqing schools each have their own flavors: Lingbao’s focus on cosmic regeneration through elaborate cosmic diagrams; Shangqing’s emphasis on visualization of celestial deities for inner alchemy.

Scripture-chanting liturgies form another pillar, with detailed notation on melodies that vary by region. Some of these chants made headlines recently when a Fujian temple uploaded high-fidelity recordings online, showing how ancient chants can go viral in the digital age.

Funerary rites, too, get comprehensive coverage—rituals to guide departed souls through the ten courts of underworld bureaucracy, complete with talismans and ritual banners. The Mortuary Tablets ceremony illustrates how to keep ancestral spirits “in the loop,” ensuring familial ties remain unbroken.

Beyond dusty scrolls, these rituals are very much alive today—festivals in Taiwan’s Mazu pilgrimages and urban Daoist associations in New York City both lean on Daozang templates to keep the ball rolling. It’s a living tradition where past and present dance together, proving that the Daoist ritual repertoire is far more than just the tip of the iceberg.