Cao Dai's Holy See, called the Tay Ninh Holy See, is located in Tay Ninh, Viet Nam

Caodaism (Vietnamese: Cao Đài (help· info)) is a relatively new, syncretist, monotheistic religion, officially established in Tây Ninh, southern Vietnam, in 1926. Đạo Cao Đài is the religion's shortened name, the full name is Đại Đạo Tam Kỳ Phổ Độ (Great Religion [of The] Third Period [of] Revelation [and] Salvation). The term Cao Đài literally means "high place." Figuratively, it means that highest place where God reigns. It is also the abbreviated name for God, the creator of the universe, whose full title is Cao Đài Tiên Ông Đại Bồ Tát Ma-ha-tát (Chữ Nôm: 高臺天皇大菩薩摩訶薩, translation: High Place Great Heavenly Emperor Bodhisattva Mahasattva). The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Chữ nôm (𡦂喃 lit. ... Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 531 pixelsFull resolution (2240 × 1488 pixel, file size: 758 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Cao Dai Temple wide angle image, shot by Vashikaran Rajendrasingh I, the copyright holder of this work, hereby release it into the public domain. ... Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 531 pixelsFull resolution (2240 × 1488 pixel, file size: 758 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Cao Dai Temple wide angle image, shot by Vashikaran Rajendrasingh I, the copyright holder of this work, hereby release it into the public domain. ... Tay Ninh (in Vietnamese, Tây Ninh) is a town in southwestern Vietnam. ... Image File history File links Cao_Dai. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Monotheism (in Greek monon = single and Theos = God) is the belief in a single, universal, all-encompassing deity. ... Tay Ninh (in Vietnamese, Tây Ninh) is a town in southwestern Vietnam. ... Year 1926 (MCMXXVI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article discusses the term God in the context of monotheism and henotheism. ... Chữ nôm (𡦂喃 lit. ...

Caodaiists credit God as the religion's founder. They believe the teachings, symbolism and organization were communicated directly from God. Even the construction of the Tây Ninh Holy See is claimed to have had divine guidance. Cao Đài's first disciples Ngô Văn Chiêu, Cao Quỳnh Cư, Pham Cong Tac, and Cao Hoài Sang claimed to have received direct communications from God, who gave them explicit instructions for establishing a new religion that would commence the Third Era of Religious Amnesty. This article discusses the term God in the context of monotheism and henotheism. ... Ngô Văn Chiêu is the first disciple of Đức Cao Đài. ... // Ho Phap Pham Cong Tac (1890-1969), an important leader of Cao Dai, was born in Viet Nam. ...

Adherents engage in ethical practices such as prayer, veneration of ancestors, nonviolence, and vegetarianism with the minimum goal of rejoining God the Father in Heaven and the ultimate goal of freedom from the cycle of birth and death. Estimates of the number of Cao Đài adherents in Vietnam vary, but most sources give two to three million. Some estimates are as high as eight million adherents in Vietnam. An additional 30,000 (primarily ethnic Vietnamese) live in the United States, Europe, and Australia. For other uses, see Prayer (disambiguation). ... Ancestor worship, also ancestor veneration, is a religious practice based on the belief that ones ancestors possess supernatural powers. ... Nonviolence (or non-violence), whether held as a moral philosophy or only employed as an action strategy, rejects the use of physical violence in efforts to attain social, economic or political change. ... A variety of vegetarian food ingredients Vegetarianism is the practice of a diet that excludes all animal flesh, including poultry, game, fish, shellfish or crustacea, and slaughter by-products. ... This article is about the theological concept. ... Overseas Vietnamese (Vietnamese: Việt Kiều), refers to communities of Vietnamese living outside Vietnam in a diaspora. ... For other uses, see Europe (disambiguation). ...

[edit] Origin of God and the universe

Cao Dai ceremony

A pantheon of venerated entities: the Buddha, Confucius, Jesus Christ, Lao Zi, Guan Yin and Guan Yu.

According to Cao Dai, before God existed, there was the Tao, that nameless, formless, unchanging, eternal source referenced in the Tao Te Ching. Then, a Big Bang occurred, out of which God was born ( emanationism ). The universe could not yet be formed and to do so, God created yin and yang. He took control of yang and shed a part of himself, creating the Goddess to preside over yin. In the presence of yin and yang, the universe was materialized. The Goddess is, literally, the mother of the myriad of things in the Universe. Thus, Caodaiists worship not only God, the father, but also the Goddess, literally refer to as the Mother Buddha. Note that God's importance and role is higher than that of the Mother Buddha. Also, the Mother Buddha is male, as are all buddhas. The Mother Buddha only oversees yin and is not a part of yin, which is female. Cao Dai Ceremony (C)opyleft 2003, Thomas Hirsch File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Cao Dai Ceremony (C)opyleft 2003, Thomas Hirsch File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (1024 × 768 pixel, file size: 228 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File historyClick on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time. ... Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixelsFull resolution (1024 × 768 pixel, file size: 228 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File historyClick on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time. ... Media:Example. ... Confucius (Chinese: ; pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Kung-fu-tzu), lit. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... Lao Zi (Chinese 老子, also spelled Laozi, Lao Tzu, or Lao Tse) is a major figure in Chinese philosophy whose historical existence is debated. ... For the Chen Dynasty empress whose Buddhist nun name was Guanyin, see Empress Shen Wuhua. ... This is a Chinese name; the family name is Guan (é—œ) Guan Yu (關羽) (160–219) was a general under the warlord Liu Bei during the late Eastern Han Dynasty and Three Kingdoms era of China. ... This article is about the Chinese character and the philosophy it represents. ... The Tao Te Ching (道德經, Pinyin: D Jīng, thus sometimes rendered in recent works as Dao De Jing; archaic pre-Wade-Giles rendering: Tao Teh Ching; roughly translated as The Book of the Way and its Virtue (see dedicated chapter below on translating the title)) is... For other uses, see Big Bang (disambiguation). ... This article discusses the term God in the context of monotheism and henotheism. ... Emanationism is a component in the cosmology or cosmogony of certain religious or philosophical systems that argue that a sentient, self-aware Supreme Being, born from an unmanifested The Absolute (Root of Existence) beyond comprehension, emanated lower and lower spiritual modalities and lastly matter (the physical universe) as the resultant... Japanese name Kanji: Hiragana: Vietnamese name Vietnamese: In Chinese philosophy the yin and yang (simplified Chinese: ; traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ) are generalized descriptions of the antitheses or mutual correlations in human perceptions of phenomena in the natural world, combining to create a unity of opposites in the theory of the Taiji. ... For the 1934 film, see The Goddess (1934 film). ... Media:Example. ...

There are 36 levels of heaven and 72 planets harboring intelligent life, with number one being the closest to heaven and 72 nearest to Hell. Earth is number 68. It is said that even the lowest citizen on planet 67 would not trade place with a king on 68 and so forth. In metaphysics and esoteric cosmology, a plane of existence (sometimes called simply a plane, dimension, vibrating plane, or an inner, invisible, spiritual, supraphysical world, or egg) is conceived as a subtle region of space (and/or consciousness) beyond, but permeating, the known physical universe (or a portion of the physical... For other uses, see Heaven (disambiguation). ... The Inferno redirects here. ...

[edit] Scriptures

The Tây Ninh Holy See recognizes three main scriptures:

1. Thánh Ngôn Hiệp Tuyển

2. Pháp Chánh Truyền (The Religious Constitution of Caodaiism)

3. Kinh Thiên Đạo Và Thế Đạo

Other sects have additional scriptures.

[edit] Symbolism

God is symbolized by the Divine Eye, specifically the left eye because Yang is the left side and God is the master of Yang. This article does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

A sphere depicting the Divine Eye inside the Tây Ninh Holy See

Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 450 × 600 pixel Image in higher resolution (1944 × 2592 pixel, file size: 2. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 450 × 600 pixel Image in higher resolution (1944 × 2592 pixel, file size: 2. ...

[edit] The Three Teachings

In the order of most to least difficult, the Three Teachings within Caodaiism are:

Buddha

Sage

Saint

The Three Teachings represent levels of spiritual attainment, with buddha as the highest. Caodaiism's various stages of spiritual development from human on up are: Thần (no suitable translation yet), Thánh (saint), Tiên (sage), and Phật (buddha). Thần, saints and sages may have, accordingly, extremely long lives in the realms of heaven, but only buddhas are free from the cycle of birth and death. Media:Example. ... Look up sage in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... For other uses, see Saint (disambiguation). ...

[edit] The Three Periods of Revelation and Salvation

First Period:

1. The Teachings of Buddhas - Dipankara buddha

2. The Teachings of Sages -

3. The Teachings of Saints -

Second Period:

1. The Teachings of Buddhas - Shakyamuni buddha

2. The Teachings of Sages - Lao Zi

3. The Teachings of Saints - Confucius and Jesus

Third Period:

God is at the helm.

Jesus is regarded as a buddha and true Son of God, shed directly from God. According to some Buddhist traditions, Dipankara was a Buddha who reached enlightenment eons prior to Shakyamuni, the historical Buddha. ... Standing Buddha, ancient region of Gandhara, northern Pakistan, 1st century CE. Gautama Buddha was a South Asian spiritual leader who lived between approximately 563 BCE and 483 BCE. Born Siddhartha Gautama in Sanskrit, a name meaning descendant of Gotama whose aims are achieved/who is efficacious in achieving aims, he... Lao Zi (Chinese 老子, also spelled Laozi, Lao Tzu, or Lao Tse) is a major figure in Chinese philosophy whose historical existence is debated. ... Confucius (Chinese: ; pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Kung-fu-tzu), lit. ... This article is about Jesus of Nazareth. ...

[edit] Religious constitution and organization

Inside the Tay Ninh Holy See in Tay Ninh, Vietnam

Caodaiism's organizational structure closely resembles that of the government of the United States. Caodaiism's governing body consists of three branches that are functionally equivalent to the U.S.'s legislative, executive and judicial branches: Cửu Trùng Đài, Hiệp Thiên Đài and Bát Quái Đài. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1000x1333, 317 KB) Cao Dai temple outside Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Cao-Dai-Tempel ausserhalb von Ho-Chi-Minh-Stadt, Vietnam. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1000x1333, 317 KB) Cao Dai temple outside Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Cao-Dai-Tempel ausserhalb von Ho-Chi-Minh-Stadt, Vietnam. ... Tay Ninh (in Vietnamese, Tây Ninh) is a town in southwestern Vietnam. ... A legislatureis a type of representative deliberative assembly with the power to ratify laws. ... The Politics series Politics Portal This box:      In the law, the judiciary or judicial system is the system of courts which administer justice in the name of the sovereign or state, a mechanism for the resolution of disputes. ... // Hiệp Thiên Đài, one of the three branches making up the governing body of Cao Đài Church, literally means where man communes with God. ...

The head of the Executive Branch is called "Giáo Tông," which means leader or head of a philosophical or religious organization. Similarities between the hierarchy of Caodaiism's dignitaries and those of the Roman Catholic Church have led translators to borrow terminologies such as pope, cardinals, bishops, priests, etc. In practice, Caodaiism has more ranks and titles of which there are no official English translation as of yet. The actual Vietnamese term for Pope, as in the Catholic Pope, is "Giáo Hoàng." Catholic Church redirects here. ... Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Wycliffe Tyndale · Luther · Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Pope · Archbishop of Canterbury Patriarch of Constantinople Christianity Portal This box:      The Pope (from Latin... For other uses, see Cardinal (disambiguation). ... Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations · Other religions Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Luther Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Archbishop of Canterbury · Catholic Pope Coptic Pope · Ecumenical Patriarch Christianity Portal This box:      This article... This article is about religious workers. ...

Caodaiism stresses equality among men and women in society. However, in the spiritual domain, ordained women may not attain the two highest positions: Legislative Cardinal and Pope. The church claims this is ordered by God, who declared that because Yang represents male and Yin corresponds to female, Yin cannot dominate Yang spiritually or else chaos would occur.

[edit] Schism

Caodaiism has also faced schisms like other religions. Some of the Cao Dai sects that have broken away from the Tây Ninh Holy See are Chiếu Minh, Bến Tre and Đà Nẵng. Ngô Văn Chiêu founded Chiếu Minh when he left the original church structure, refusing his appointment as Caodaiism's first Pope. He was neither involved in the religion's official establishment in 1926 nor the Tay Ninh Holy See; he accepted another entity as Đức Cao Đài and the Chiếu Minh sect of Caodaiism was formed. The word schism (IPA: or ), from the Greek σχίσμα, skhísma (from σχίζω, skhízō, to tear, to split), means a division or a split, usually in an organization or a movement. ...

[edit] Saints

A painting depicting the Three Saints signing a covenant between God and humanity. From left to right: Sun Yat-sen, Victor Hugo and Nguyễn Bỉnh Khiêm.

Although various sects of Caodaiism claim to have received messages from numerous spiritual entities, the Tây Ninh Holy See acknowledges significantly fewer. Inside the Holy See is a painting depicting the Three Saints [1] signing a covenant between God and humanity. From left to right, they are Sun Yat-sen, Victor Hugo and Nguyễn Bỉnh Khiêm. Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 450 × 600 pixel Image in higher resolution (1944 × 2592 pixel, file size: 2. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 450 × 600 pixel Image in higher resolution (1944 × 2592 pixel, file size: 2. ... Sun Yat-sen (November 12, 1866 – March 12, 1925) was a Chinese revolutionary and political leader often referred to as the father of modern China. Sun played an instrumental role in the eventual overthrow of the Qing Dynasty in 1911. ... Victor-Marie Hugo (IPA: (26 February 1802 — 22 May 1885) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, essayist, visual artist, statesman, human rights campaigner, and perhaps the most influential exponent of the Romantic movement in France. ... Nguyễn Bỉnh Khiêm (1492-1587) was a Vietnamese poet and is a saint of the Cao Dai religion. ... Sun Yat-sen (November 12, 1866 – March 12, 1925) was a Chinese revolutionary and political leader often referred to as the father of modern China. Sun played an instrumental role in the eventual overthrow of the Qing Dynasty in 1911. ... Victor-Marie Hugo (IPA: (26 February 1802 — 22 May 1885) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, essayist, visual artist, statesman, human rights campaigner, and perhaps the most influential exponent of the Romantic movement in France. ... Nguyễn Bỉnh Khiêm (1492-1587) was a Vietnamese poet and is a saint of the Cao Dai religion. ...

[edit] See also

• General Trinh Minh The

Trình Minh Thế (1922 - May 3, 1955) was a Vietnamese nationalist and military leader during the end of the First Indochina War and the beginning of the Vietnam War. ...

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Cao Dai

• Centre for Studies in Caodaiism, Sydney
• The British Cao Dai Community
• Tam Kỳ Nguyên Nguyên Bản Bản
• Cao Đài Overseas Missionary
• caodai.org Cao Đài site
• Cao Đài
• Religious Movements Library: Cao Daism
• PBS feature: Cao Đài
• Reporter Ron Gluckman's impression of Caodaiism
• Edward B. Robinson's "The Godhead" based on Cao Dai teachings