Folks who have watched Hong Kong Ghosts / Chinese Vampires Movies of the 80s & 90s will remember Lam Ching Ying, who often acted as the Taoist Priest. Many people would watch the movies, had some laughters and then fogotten about them.
However, there would be some folks who were curious about the yellow paper talismans shown in the movies that were used to subdue the ghosts, stop the vampires from hopping etc. Many people would think that those were just nonsensical props for the movies and never pay much attention to them.
Even to many Chinese Folks, majority of them have no Taoist Magic Training, will never able to differentiate whether those Taoist Talismans shown on the movies are Real or Fake. Anyway, in actual fact, they also don't bother.
Up until now, there is no one, in English medium websites, ever write or discuss about the Taoist Talismans used in Hong Kong Horror Movies, especially those shown on movies featuring Lam Ching Ying, the Ghost-Busting Priest. This becomes my duty.
This article is written to bring to light and share with You folks, who are curious and interested to know the truth about those Ghost-Busting Talismans used by Lam Ching Ying.
Deciphering the Talismans:
After spending many hours re-watching and gathering several 'Taoist-Talismans' Props from the Hong Kong 'Ghost / Vampires' Movies acted by Lam Ching Ying and studying them, it can be concluded that most of the Talisman Props are indeed base on Real Talismans.
It can be said that the Hong Kong Movie Directors must had spent long hours of reseach on Taoist Talismans before using them on movies.
The irony is... some of the talisman props used to fight the ghosts /paste on the zombies's forehead, have their own specific proper usages in real life, but are nothing to deal with ghosts and zombies!
Below will explain further..
Example 1 - From the Movie -"Crazy Safari" , noticed the yellow talisman pasted on the Chinese Vampire's Face. This talisman is actually used for resolving one of the 'Children & Their Demon Gates' (小儿关煞). Nothing to do with subduing Vampires.
Extra Information:
Example 2 - From the TV Series - "Vampire Expert II", the big Taoist Talisman Banners shown were copied from "The Heavenly King's Magic Talismans for Alleviating Disasters" (天王镇宅符法秘诀) , originated from Celestial Master Zhang Daoling. The talismans have nothing to deal with ghosts / vampires.
The actual usage of these 12 talismans are to be kept by folks to prevent sickness, which are caused by spirit entities, being offended by individuals at certain times and certain places, pertaining to their month of birth. There are 12 talismans altogether, which each specific talisman is to be carried, based on each individual's month of birth.
Example 3 - From the TV Series - "Vampire Expert II", the big Taoist Talisman Banners shown, on another scene.. The big talisman-banners used for the props were copied from Zhang Daoling's Books of Talismans. The one on the left is actually used for spiritual-cleansing on water. The 2 of the same talismans on the right are used to expell strange-beings (spirits, ghosts creatures of human forms).
The 2 of the same talismans on the right are taken from the Zao Daoling's Book Of Talismans , from the Chapter, known as 'Talismans to subdue strange-entities of various types of creatures' (张天师镇诸煞神符)
Example 4 - From the Movie - "Mr. Vampire 2" (僵尸先生 2), The talisman pasted on the female vampire's forehead is actually based on a Taoist Sorcery Book, written during 1936 (民国二十五年) , known as '茅山治邪秘本' (The Mao-Shan Secret Magic Book of handling Evil Spirits) .The talisman is called '镇尸符’（Talisman to subdue Vampire).
It was stated on the Talisman book that '镇尸符’（Talisman to subdue Vampire) was created by Zhong Kui (钟馗) (a celestial deity of busting evil spirits) while he reached enlightenment (realised the Tao). (此符乃钟馗得道时所画).
Notice that Taoist Talismans to handle Evil Entities , such as Ghosts, Vampires, Demons etc were already existed few thousand years ago, way before Hong Kong started making Chinese-Vampires / Ghosts Movies in the 1980s.
However, if any Taoist-Wannabes were to copy blindly, without knowing the specific usage of the different talismans shown on the Hong Kong Movies, thinking everyone of them are actual talismans to bust against evil entities, the real ghosts who happened to see the talismans, will be laughing.
Even if the correct talismans were copied blindly, hoping to try to scare away ghosts, but without going through the proper steps of creation and ritual, the talismans still won't work.
- Article shall be continued as time goes -
