CAODAISM : HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY
by Chris Hartney
When Napoleon III and the Empress Eugenie set their hearts on developing a French colony in Vietnam for the greater glory of the second French empire, they were unknowingly establishing the Indochinese peninsular as a major site for the clash between two vastly complicated and sophisticated world views. Vietnam is not a simple or undeveloped country by any means. Together with its own traditions, cultures and religious beliefs, it had integrated Chinese civilization over a millennia of occupation by its great northern neighbor. As the French continued to press themselves upon Vietnam, the Vietnamese took up the same policies their ancestors had adopted when dealing with the Chinese, they began to integrate French ideas, trying to marry Western thinking to the indigenous dream of a free and independent Vietnam. Caodaism, whether we agree that it is a direct revelation from God or not, was also a social institution that tried to assimilate ideas from both the East and West: religious ideas. Caodaism was trying to find a peace and a universalism on earth that would see all faiths and nations united by a religious fraternity. The start to this unification would be a bringing together, of what one Caodaist message referred to as, God’s two chosen nations – France and Vietnam. Today many nations of the Earth have been touched by Caodaism’s quest for universal unity. Not because people around the world have directly embraced the Caodaist message, but because they and their governments have embraced the fleeing refugees of Vietnam. The Caodaist Diaspora has made Caodaism a universal faith, but a faith that, like the original Diaspora, the Jewish peoples, has lost its temple, and most alarmingly for Caodaists, its chance to connect with God.
1. The Great Divine Temple
The Great Divine Temple is the centre of the Caodaist world, and the site where early dignitaries of the religion hoped that an ideal and peaceful society could be founded. Between the 1930’s and the mid 1970’s this dream came true. The Holy See was able to provide sanctuary, sustenance and hope for those trying to avoid a nation at war. The temple, like the religion itself is seen by the Caodaists as a revelation from the spirit world.
From the turn of the Century, Ngo Minh Chieu, a colonial civil servant was already well versed in the traditions of Eastern mediumship and sharmanistic practices. It was this man, who in 1919 received the revelation of the Divine Eye, which is the focus of Caodaist worship and the ultimate symbol of the Divine within the religion.
2. The Divine Eye
The mediumistic approach that first led Ngo Minh Chieu into mysticism was also taken up by people over thousands of years in the Chinese sphere of influence to address concerns for health, longevity, and good fortune. Spirit communication is part of a Chinese tradition that can be traced back at least 5000 years. At the time of Caodaism’s advent, these traditional forms of contact with the ancestor and spirit realms were given a new lease of life by the spiritualist and spiritist traditions that were coming out of Europe. The aftermath of the Great War in particular made spiritism world famous, as the bereaved hoped to contact recently deceased family members in the afterworld.
The “Pho Loan”, a group of Vietnamese employees of the French bureaucracy in Saigon, which included the Catholic Pham Cong Tac, and the Buddhist relatives Cao Quynh Cu and Cao Hoai Sang, came together to experiment with the European practice of table-tipping. Following a similar pattern to Ngo Minh Chieu, they were led by a series of spirit “voices” until they met a voice that spoke with a particularly strong resonance. In this voice they recognized the Divine and even made public demonstrations of their devotion to this voice which “spoke” under the pseudonym AAÊAÂ, the first three sounds of the Vietnamese romanised alphabet.
In the spirit world there were no distinctions between religions or nations, voices were received from the departed both East and West. Voices from recent history, or out of the depth of time. Some messages were delivered by popular Chinese spirits such as Li Po, the Tang Dynasty Poet, or Guan Di Gong, Chinese god of loyalty, other messages were received from Victor Hugo, Louis Pasteur. It was an international cannon of voices. At a time when Woodrow Wilson’s plan for a League of Nations was still struggling for life, the spirit world that Ngo Minh Chieu and the “Pho Loan group” were communicating with, made national divisions petty in comparison to the messages of Universal Love that they transmitted. It was these spirit voices, most notably “Cao Dai” Himself, a name, which means simply “High Tower” the Supreme Being, who started to unveil the codes and practices that would make up a new religion. Well, not simply another religion, say Caodaists, but the heralding of the Third Great period of the world’s religious development.
3. The Third Amnesty
A period that would see direct communication from heaven rejuvenate the world, bring the “Tam Giao” or three religious teachings, Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism into balance and untie humanity in ways not yet understood.
4. The Three Saints
When you enter the Great Divine Temple the mural of the Three Saints of the Religion will come into view. It is the testimony of hope for the Third Amnesty, proclaiming the contract that God has offered humanity “Dieu et humanity (for) Amour et Justice.” It is also a very political depiction. Trang Trinh, a great nationalist poet and mystic, remains a powerful symbol of Vietnamese nationalism and independence. Victor Hugo, himself a mystic and table tipper, was also the great antagonist of the second empire. From his place in exile in the Channel Islands, he continuously taunted Napoleon III. The third figure is Dr Sun Yat Sen, who I was told in High School history was the founder of the Chinese Republic in 1912. This is a wild understatement. Sun Yat Sen is also a symbol of the liberation of the Chinese nation from their foreign Manchu rulers. That is, 300 years of Manchu rule riddled by vast underground networks of quasi-religious, quasi-political secret societies known as Ming Restoration, or Triad groups. Groups that Caodaism borrowed many of their rituals from. The three figures – who in their saintly form speak to the religion through seance – also represent the coming together of Chinese, French and Vietnamese worlds.
5. The Caodai Adepts
In the first four years of the new religion’s life, over 500 000 people rallied to the call of the Third Amnesty. These figures, which most academics agree on, suggest that Caodaism had an immediate, almost instinctual appeal to those in the South of Vietnam. The religion was helped by seances that would be held around the country where voices from the spirit world would call local people by name to step forward and join the faith. The French did not abolish Caodaism, but at the same time it suffered a great deal from colonial persecution. Especially after 1940 when the Vichy Administration in France sent His Holiness Pham Cong Tac, who was the “Ho Phap” or guardian of the religious laws, into exile in Madagascar. Vichy persecution was countered by Japanese protection when they came to occupy the country. The Caodaists were given the opportunity to be trained by the Japanese into fighting units, and they grabbed the opportunity, establishing a Caodaist army that would serve to protect the religion and its members.
A protection sought by many in those war-ravaged times.
By 1954 the Caodaist army contained 40 000 troops. Because of its breadth and power, many Caodaist dignitaries also held post-war cabinet positions in the Southern Government, and Caodaist dignitaries such as the “Ho Phap” played a significant role in International Conferences such as the Geneva peace talks that established the temporary division of the nation. However after President Diem integrated the Caodai army into the national forces the worldly power of Caodaism began to decline. This was particularly true after the “Ho Phap” fled Diem-controlled South Vietnam for Campuchia and died there in exile in 1959.
It can be easily demonstrated that the Caodaist Religion has been a significant institution in Vietnamese Social, Religious and Political life. It has been prevented playing any of these roles under the communist administration. That the communists were able to control Caodaism by the simple act of banning seances. It also shows how significant spirit communication is for the religion.
6. His Holiness Pham Cong Tac, the "Ho Phap"
The leading member of the original “Pho Loan” group, His Holiness Pham Cong Tac, the “Ho Phap” of the religion is depicted here in statue form on his throne at the back of the Great Divine Temple. He remains in this position to look over the adepts as they pray and guide their essential spiritual forces during worship. He was also the chief medium of Caodaism and is revered by all Tay Ninh Caodaists
7. The Three branches of the Religion.
The Ho Phap was head of the self-appointing branch of the college of mediums. In the structure of the religion it is this branch which ostensibly serves as the communicating agents between heaven and the more earthly administration of the religion, headed by the Giao Tong or Pope. Despite earthly power being invested in the democratically elected administrative branch, by sheer charisma, and mystery of mediumship, it was the Ho Phap and his college of Mediums who had the greatest say on the direction of the faith. In fact the place of the medium is essential to the structure and good-governance of the religion, because of the central emphasis placed on the veracity of divine messages when they are received in the Great Divine Temple. These messages, Caodaists believe come from the Bat Quai Dai – or the Spiritual Hierarchy that guides the religion from the spirit realm.
8. Dignitaries of the “Hiep Thien Dai”
These members of the “Hiep Thien Dai” or college of mediums are seen here worshipping at the rear of the temple. Every member of the Administrative Branch (Cuu Trung Dai) has an equivalent in the medium’s branch (Hiep Thien Dai) who is able to assess his or her behavior. It is these mediums who gather before the altar of Cao Dai, usually at midnight, and reveal answers to the questions proposed by the dignitaries of the faith. By way of the “Cau Co”, using the ouija board to communicate with Divine Spirits.
9. The “Cau Co” (Seance session)
Here the “Cau Co” or “Corbeille a bec”, set up in a mock seance situation, demonstrates how always at least two people are involved in the transmission of messages. This, Caodaists say, ensures the veracity of the message. As Dr. Blagov will explain, such activities are currently illegal for the religion. But they are also essential for the governance of the faith.
10. The Ouija Board.
Caodaists claim the seance as a new technology of revelation that makes their religion different to all others. It is a guide for the religion. It is the process that makes decisions both official and certain. It is the process by which the religion sanctifies it changes and its development. Unlike Buddhism in Vietnam, Caodaism has a strong structure, to stop it at the top by banning seance, is to stop the functioning of the religion at all levels. Imagine if you will the Italian Communist Party taking power in Italy, invading the Vatican City and silencing the Pope and the council of Cardinals. Local Catholics would still be able to go into a church, but all official life of the faith would be removed. Not only for Italians, but for Catholics around the world. The banning of seance and the silencing of the Sacerdotal Council in Tay Ninh is for Caodaists analogous to this.
11. The Cao Dai Diaspora
Dr Blagov is going to detail some of the human rights infringements that have taken place in Vietnam since 1975, but I would just like to address some short remarks on the Caodaist Diaspora, which has been the main point of my academic studies.
Around the world Caodaist communities have been settled. Rising up from the shock of defeat, it is only now, almost a generation on, that overseas Caodaists are growing more active and confident in the different societies and languages within which they now live and work. And it is only now that Caodaists are making an effort to gather social acceptance and new members among the Vietnamese community. The Communist take-over of the South not only caused of the Vietnamese Diaspora, but also removed the official head of the Caodaist religion, by banning seance communication. So in one swoop, Caodaists leaving their country not only lost their nation, but also lost the guidance of their religion. The Management Committee imposed on the Religion by the communists did not recognise any input from those who left the country. This Committee and the Vietnamese Government itself try to suggest that there was something unpatriotic in the act of leaving. It regularly tries to devalue the “Vietnamese-ness” of those who have left. This is despite the fact that there is growing evidence to suggest that the Communist Government encouraged, or at the very least, turned a blind eye on those making the exodus. An exodus in which an inestimable number of people lost their lives to the sea. Justifyably those Caodaists who left, refuse to acknowledge the legitimacy of the Management Committee imposed on the religion. If there is a millennial aspect to Caodaism at the moment, it is the constant burning hope that the political situation in Vietnam will change. Even a change that will do nothing but grant religious legitimacy to the Sacerdotal Council would be exuberantly welcomed by Caodaists, because the headlessness of this religion at the moment causes many tensions and difficulties within Diaspora communities.
Watching and participating in the construction of the first purpose-built temple outside of Vietnam, I noticed a number of tensions and anxieties that pervade the community. In building, the only real authorities are plans and photographs smuggled out of Vietnam. After that the only other authority is consensus among the volunteer workers and a hope that they are doing the right thing, trying to guess at what would be required if the Tay Ninh hierarchy had the ability to send advice. A great deal of frustration arises from the fact that any delicate features which overtly identify the religion cannot be shipped out of the country. Even videos of weddings and funerals are censored before being permitted to leave the country. Caodaists often complain about the lack of leadership within their community because no one in the religion has any authority to direct the community. Those who are elected to leadership positions still have no real religious authority. Ultimately what is disturbing about the Caodaist Diaspora is that people who are Australian, American, French or Canadian Citizens have their rights to religious freedom truncated by Vietnamese Communist Policies towards Caodaism.
As Caodaism tries to bring together the world through its syncretic doctrine, so too does the world have to recognize itself as a world each part significantly interdependent on every other part. Thus Vietnam’s blatant violation of the right to freedom of religion found in the universal declaration of Human Rights, not only effects Vietnamese citizens, but because of the nature of the Diaspora, citizens in many countries of the world who choose to be Caodaist and yet are deprived of the right to be actively involved in a religion working in the way that it was designed to work – as a transmitter of heaven’s will through seance and spiritist messages.
