By Revathi Murugappan
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if all religions could unite and worshippers only had one faith to follow?
The Vietnamese have something close — one that combines secular and religious philosophies to create a syncretic faith known as Cao Daism. Two hours away from Ho Chi Minh City, in the town of Tay Ninh, lies the Cao Dai Great Temple, the headquarters of the religion.
Cao Daism is a relatively new religion which emerged in Vietnam in the early 1920s. History says that it was founded by one Ngo Van Chieu, a civil servant who read widely on eastern and western religions, and became active in séances. Apparently, he was contacted by a spirit called Cao Dai (high tower or position) who handed down a symbol — the all-seeing eye.
The all-seeing eye is the symbol of Caodaism and is placed on all the windows of the temple.
It told Ngo that it had propagated a belief structure appropriate to the varying world cultures, but was disenchanted by the intolerance and hatred between followers of the different creeds. The spirit attempted to fuse all the religions known to Vietnam during that period hence, Cao Daism is an amalgamation of three main religions — Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism — and a dash of Christianity and Vietnamese spiritualism.
It proposed to dispense with living envoys and see itself as the “Third Alliance between God and Man” — through intermediaries such as Chinese revolutionary leader Dr Sun Yat Sen, Vietnamese poet Nguyen Binh Khiem, Joan of Arc, William Shakespeare and French author Victor Hugo.
Caodaism was officially recognised as a religion by the French in 1926 and by 1930, there were over half a million converts. It selected its first “Pope” in 1926 but since his demise in 1933, the position has been left vacant.
“Today, we have more than three million Cao Dai followers and you will notice that they look no different from you and me. If you’re not in the bus by 2pm, I will assume that you have chosen to become a follower. I respect your decision and would be more than happy to leave you here,” joked our amiable guide Sam to our motley group of tourists as we arrived at the temple in time for noon prayers.
The Lonely Planet describes the temple as “a rococo extravaganza combining the conflicting architectural idiosyncracies of a French church, a Chinese pagoda, Hong Kong’s Tiger Balm Gardens and Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum.”
You will also see the all-seeing eye on the hats of the top clergy.
Like Buddhist worshippers, we had to remove our shoes before trooping to the balcony upstairs to watch the service.
The place is painted in a sea of bright colours, and reflects a very happy ambience. The temple is built over nine levels representing nine steps to heaven, and each level is marked by a pair of columns entwined with dragons. At the top is a dome representing heaven and below it is the “all-seeing eye”, which is also depicted on the walls and windows.
“At one point, Caodaism was a powerful religion and devotees owned a lot of land and property. They even had a private army, which combined forces with the Viet Minh and helped fight the French. Eventually, they refused to support the Viet Cong (that fought the United States and South Vietnamese governments) during the American (Vietnam) War.
“After the Communists won, the Cao Dai leaders were captured and the structure collapsed. It was revived about 20 years ago,” explained Sam.
Devotees were dressed in white robes while the coloured robes worn by senior devotees denote ranking and function, and indicate the different branches of Cao Daism. Robes come in a mix of yellow (Buddhism), red (Confucianism) and blue (Taoism) but everyone wears white pants. The top clergy also wear hats with a picture of the all-seeing eye in front while the rest wear various types of head gear.
The Cao Dai Great Temple in Vietnam is the headquarters of the Caodaism religion.
A bell rang and the children’s choir started singing in Vietnamese as the hundreds of devotees walked in with military precision, according to robe colour and gender. Men entered from the right and women, from the left. They took their positions silently, knelt and waited until another bell rang.
“Don’t you feel that someone is watching you all the time?” a tourist whispered to me. “It’s creepy yet reassuring.”
Once the choir stopped singing, the acolytes rang the bells again. No one gave sermons and there was no chanting but amazingly, the devotees were guided by the sounds of the bell although I couldn’t sense a rhythm. Seated, they would bow four times in intervals while touching the floor with their hands.
Sam told us later, “There’s no time limit for their prayers. It can take anywhere from 30 minutes to hours. The ultimate goal of the Cao Dai follower is to escape reincarnation and like all religions, you need to do good things in this life.”
Hundreds attend prayer services every day, sitting in neat rows according to rank.
Prayers are conducted at 6am, noon, 6pm and midnight. At every session, there are a few hundred priests and during festivals, thousands congregate here.
Photography is permitted, but it’s polite not to subject the worshippers to a barrage of flashlights. And if you’re taking a picture of a highly ranked Cao Dai clergy (you can tell from their robe colours), it’s best to show them the picture once you’ve snapped it, for approval. They’ll smile and give you blessings.
Source: http://thestar.com.my
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if all religions could unite and worshippers only had one faith to follow?
The Vietnamese have something close — one that combines secular and religious philosophies to create a syncretic faith known as Cao Daism. Two hours away from Ho Chi Minh City, in the town of Tay Ninh, lies the Cao Dai Great Temple, the headquarters of the religion.
Cao Daism is a relatively new religion which emerged in Vietnam in the early 1920s. History says that it was founded by one Ngo Van Chieu, a civil servant who read widely on eastern and western religions, and became active in séances. Apparently, he was contacted by a spirit called Cao Dai (high tower or position) who handed down a symbol — the all-seeing eye.
The all-seeing eye is the symbol of Caodaism and is placed on all the windows of the temple.
It told Ngo that it had propagated a belief structure appropriate to the varying world cultures, but was disenchanted by the intolerance and hatred between followers of the different creeds. The spirit attempted to fuse all the religions known to Vietnam during that period hence, Cao Daism is an amalgamation of three main religions — Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism — and a dash of Christianity and Vietnamese spiritualism.
It proposed to dispense with living envoys and see itself as the “Third Alliance between God and Man” — through intermediaries such as Chinese revolutionary leader Dr Sun Yat Sen, Vietnamese poet Nguyen Binh Khiem, Joan of Arc, William Shakespeare and French author Victor Hugo.
Caodaism was officially recognised as a religion by the French in 1926 and by 1930, there were over half a million converts. It selected its first “Pope” in 1926 but since his demise in 1933, the position has been left vacant.
“Today, we have more than three million Cao Dai followers and you will notice that they look no different from you and me. If you’re not in the bus by 2pm, I will assume that you have chosen to become a follower. I respect your decision and would be more than happy to leave you here,” joked our amiable guide Sam to our motley group of tourists as we arrived at the temple in time for noon prayers.
The Lonely Planet describes the temple as “a rococo extravaganza combining the conflicting architectural idiosyncracies of a French church, a Chinese pagoda, Hong Kong’s Tiger Balm Gardens and Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum.”
You will also see the all-seeing eye on the hats of the top clergy.
Like Buddhist worshippers, we had to remove our shoes before trooping to the balcony upstairs to watch the service.
The place is painted in a sea of bright colours, and reflects a very happy ambience. The temple is built over nine levels representing nine steps to heaven, and each level is marked by a pair of columns entwined with dragons. At the top is a dome representing heaven and below it is the “all-seeing eye”, which is also depicted on the walls and windows.
“At one point, Caodaism was a powerful religion and devotees owned a lot of land and property. They even had a private army, which combined forces with the Viet Minh and helped fight the French. Eventually, they refused to support the Viet Cong (that fought the United States and South Vietnamese governments) during the American (Vietnam) War.
“After the Communists won, the Cao Dai leaders were captured and the structure collapsed. It was revived about 20 years ago,” explained Sam.
Devotees were dressed in white robes while the coloured robes worn by senior devotees denote ranking and function, and indicate the different branches of Cao Daism. Robes come in a mix of yellow (Buddhism), red (Confucianism) and blue (Taoism) but everyone wears white pants. The top clergy also wear hats with a picture of the all-seeing eye in front while the rest wear various types of head gear.
The Cao Dai Great Temple in Vietnam is the headquarters of the Caodaism religion.
A bell rang and the children’s choir started singing in Vietnamese as the hundreds of devotees walked in with military precision, according to robe colour and gender. Men entered from the right and women, from the left. They took their positions silently, knelt and waited until another bell rang.
“Don’t you feel that someone is watching you all the time?” a tourist whispered to me. “It’s creepy yet reassuring.”
Once the choir stopped singing, the acolytes rang the bells again. No one gave sermons and there was no chanting but amazingly, the devotees were guided by the sounds of the bell although I couldn’t sense a rhythm. Seated, they would bow four times in intervals while touching the floor with their hands.
Sam told us later, “There’s no time limit for their prayers. It can take anywhere from 30 minutes to hours. The ultimate goal of the Cao Dai follower is to escape reincarnation and like all religions, you need to do good things in this life.”
Hundreds attend prayer services every day, sitting in neat rows according to rank.
Prayers are conducted at 6am, noon, 6pm and midnight. At every session, there are a few hundred priests and during festivals, thousands congregate here.
Photography is permitted, but it’s polite not to subject the worshippers to a barrage of flashlights. And if you’re taking a picture of a highly ranked Cao Dai clergy (you can tell from their robe colours), it’s best to show them the picture once you’ve snapped it, for approval. They’ll smile and give you blessings.
Source: http://thestar.com.my
