The World according to Cao Dai
A couple of days ago we took a day trip to a fascinating Vietnamese specific religious temple for a group known as Cao Đài which means Great Religion of The Third Period of Revelation and Salvation.
What is amazing about this religion in which all it’s followers wear robes, the majority being white but others (with higher rank) wearing different colours including Blue & Yellow representing different elements of Cao Dai.
Put simply, Cao Dai is a combination of a number of other religions including Christianity, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism and even a bit of scientifiic theory…..
The core beliefs of Cao Dai are that 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. 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 (Mother Buddha) to preside over yin. In the presence of yin and yang, the universe was materialized. Caodaiists worship not only God, the father, but also the Goddess.
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.
If you can work all of that out then you deserve to be Number 1 in my book (of life).
Anyway, we visited the noon prayer session in their amazing temple a couple of hours outside of Ho Chi Minh city. It has eyes everywhere and pillars with dragons and a globe of the world and all the followers file in and sing the prayers in ranks to the accompaniment of a traditional Vietnamese ensemble.
Here is a photo of the prayer session underway – Cao Dai prayer session
Apart from the amazing temple and whole scene the other thing I found interesting was that there were as many tourists in the upstairs viewing area watching and taking photo’s (like me). How weird it must be for Cao Dai followers to be practicing what they believe is right yet to have so many onlookers watching them…
Footnote: We’ve found the food in Ho Chi Minh City to be a little more expensive than we expected and each night have looked around for better and cheaper options. On our last night in Vietnam (we leave tomorrow evening for Bangkok then onto Calcutta) we found the best and cheapest place of our visit and it’s vegetarian and run by the Cao Dai group….Unfortunately we had a bit of miscommunication and ended up with 8 dishes for the 4 of us but it was yummy and cheap and we ate it all (and it still came out cheaper than a number of other place we have eaten at). You go Cao Dai chefs!
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David, Stephanie, Jordan & Luke Mitchell