Produced and written by Janet Hoskins Directed and edited by Susan Hoskins Research assistants Thien-Huong Ninh, Van Dang Summary Caodaists worship the left eye as an Asian synthesis of eastern and western traditions, and tell their stories of exile, anti-colonial struggle and building immigrant congregations in California. Rituals, temples and archival images combine to provide a personal perspective on a largely unknown mystical tradition. Older religious leaders tell how this new faith emerged in colonial Saigon in the 1920s and was soon followed by one of four people in southern Vietnam. Incorporating European figures like Victor Hugo and Jeanne d’Arc, Caodaists tried to heal the wounds of colonialism, but suffered persecution from the French, the Diem government and the communists. After 1975, new spirit mediums in California developed an innovative style of worship for a generation of followers facing the challenges of the American context and newly re-opened contact with religious centers in Vietnam. How independent can California congregations be from sacred authorities in the homeland? Introduction: Caodaism is a new world religion whose icon is the left eye of God, a symbol of dynamism, vitality and progressive movement. Initially known only through reports from European writers, it first became known to American from the 1954 book The Quiet American by Graham Greene who described it as “Walt Disney fantasia of the eastâ€. The Quiet American was filmed twice (in 1958 and 2001), both times with location shots in Vietnam, including documentary footage shot in 1957 at Tay Ninh. <In 2001, the Vietnamese government refused to allow filming there.> Caodaists in California give us a different viewpoint, explaining their belief and how they came to the United States as refugees after 1975. Now that travel and communication has opened up between overseas congregations and their homeland, can the Caodai message of unity and healing help people move beyond the wounds of war? The history of Caodaism is told by six different narrators, three of them male and two female, who fled Vietnam after 1975 and are active in building the new religion in California. Visionary Beginnings The esoteric practice of Caodaism is based on meditation and visions, like the vision of the Left Eye of God that the first disciple. Ngo Minh Chieu, had on the island of Phu Quoc. The exoteric practice uses large, visible rituals to bring together a congregation to serve humanity and practice love and justice. Chieu saw an image of the divine eye similar to the one on the US dollar bill, and so connected to a tradition of representing divine power with an eye also found in Free Masonry, Hinduism, Buddhism, ancient Egypt and among Mormons. Visiting the sites of his visions and first seances, his life is explained by his followers as an example of how to have contact with the mystical world. Spirit Mediums and The Formation of the Pantheon In Saigon, Chieu was contacted by a group of younger civil servants who had contacted the supreme spirit using a French method, which they were told to replace with a phoenix basket. The Temple of the Three Religions, founded by the medium who provided the first basket, is headed today by his grandson, who has returned to Vietnam after 30 years in California. From 1926-1935, after the official declaration was made many intellectuals in Saigon became Caodaists, and woman assumed leadership roles and voted alongside men. The first Pope, Le Van Trung, a prominent businessman who had converted dramatically, had his vision restored when he became a disciple. Chieu himself retreated to contemplative seclusion and died meditating, with his left eye wide open --- a sign of transcendence that his followers aspire to achieve through vegetarianism, mediation and sleeping in a seated position. Women held important offices as female Cardinals in the new faith. Pham Cong Tac and Victor Hugo: The Struggle for Independence From 1934-1959, Pham Cong Tac was the Chief Spirit Medium (Ho Phap) at Tay Ninh when he began to receive spirit messages from Victor Hugo and Joan of Arc. Hugo had practiced spirit seances himself in 1853, and painted his own vision of the divine eye, as well as writing that he would be part of a new religion united East and West in the pursuit of social justice. But French colonial authorities sent secret agents to spy on Caodai seances, since they suspected the new religion was also a secret society resisting colonial power. Tran Quang Vinh, designated in seances as the spiritual son of Victor Hugo, was directed to form his own military force after Pham Cong Tac was arrested by the French and sent to an island prison near Africa. His son Tran Quang Canh tells the story of his father’s life as a divine mission, guided by spirit seances in which he got messages from Victor Hugo, Ly Thai Bach (a famous 6th century Taoist poet who is the “Invisible Pope†of Caodaism) and the spirit of first interim human Pope, Le Van Trung, who died in 1934. Vinh collaborated with the Japanese to fight for Vietnam’s independence, but after the Japanese defeat many Caodaists were killed. When the French returned to try to take back their colony in 1946, Vinh negotiated for the return of Pham Cong Tac in exchange for agreeing to a peaceful process of decolonization. Schools, orphanages, hospitals and workshops were built around Tay Ninh, but when Tac opposed the partition of Vietnam and called for reconciliation, he had to escape arrest by Vietnam’s new President Diem and died in exile in Cambodia. His will stated that he wanted to return to Vietnam once it was peaceful, unified and neutral. The Mekong Delta and the Expansion of Caodaism In 1940, an estimated one in four people in southern Vietnam were Caodai followers, spreading the religion along waterways into the rice growing countryside. Esoteric followers follow scriptures received by Lien Hoa, a spirit medium of the Temple of the Three Religions, who taught a method of transformative meditation. An older woman describes her vision of the Left Eye, and we observe meditation classes and practice in contemporary Ho Chi Minh City. Tourism and Tensions with the Vietnamese Government The Tay Ninh Temple today is the second largest tourism draw in south Vietnam, usually visited with bus tours that also go to the Cu Chi tunnels, celebrating Vietnam’s history of guerilla warfare. But commercial tours organized by government tourist agencies contain misleading information, and Caodaists are not allowed to distribute any of their own materials to explain their beliefs. Locally important spirits include Le Van Duyet, an 18th century general from the Saigon area who ended a civil war by reunifying the country in 1802. During another period of civil war in the 1960s and 70s, his spirit came the guide the formation of an new Teaching Center in Saigon, established in 1965 to bring together all the branches of the religion. Although his tomb is associated with those who hoped for a victory for the south, it has remained important today as a place of pilgrimage and healing, and his spirit is said to inspire many in the diaspora, who draw on heroes from the past to inspire bravery in the future. The Period of the American War in Vietnam Caodaists tried to remain neutral during the war years, traveling to communist areas to carry spirit messages of healing and a common humanity to those on both sides. Do Van Ly tells of his dangerous trips to isolated areas of the Mekong Delta, and Tran Quang Canh points out that the Holy See was considered a sacred territory by all armies. Many Caodaists, including President Phan Khac Suu (1964-65) supported the Republic, and Dinh Van De traveled to Washington DC in March 1975 to meet President Ford as part of a delegation to ask for more soldiers to save Saigon. He was really an undercover agent for the National Liberation Front (Viet Cong), showing how the religion, as well as the rest of the country, was deeply divided during the war years. In 1975, some prominent Caodaists, like Tran Quang Vinh, were arrested and died in communist re-education camps. His son tells how the family still does not know how he died or where his body was buried. Exodus: Training Mediums in New Refugee Communities Millions of Vietnamese fled overseas after 1975, escaping in boats to refugee camps and eventually settling in southern California. Trang Che was just five years old when her family left, and she was selected to be trained as spirit medium. She became a full vegetarian, and tried to receive messages through the phoenix basket, but these early efforts were not successful. Kham Bui, who came from Vietnam as an adult, has practiced as spirit medium for his own personal spiritual development. He describes the sensations he feels during a seance, as he concentrates on the Left Eye, and the basket starts to move on its own, forming words in his mind and tracing letters on a surface so that they can be recorded. The four stanza poems offer teachings to guide spiritual practice, and also a special energy which infuses the body of the medium. In San Jose, female spirit medium Bach Dieu Hoa received a series of messages telling her to establish the first temple outside of Vietnam. She worked with Ngoc Tuyet Tien, a Caodai female archbishop, who describes the hardships of establishing a congregation in California and sponsoring ceremonies to stabilize the earth and prevent earthquakes. The First Congregations in Southern California: Do Van Ly The former South Vietnamese Ambassador to the US in 1963, Do Van Ly, established the first congregation in Los Angeles, and describes his initial wish to retreat into meditation, crushed by the loss of his country, although he later agreed to lead a new congregation. In the 1980s, more congregations were founded and Caodai leaders from California traveled to Rome to meet with the Pope in 1992 to pray for peace and religious freedom in Vietnam. But Do Van Ly remains worried about the next generation, which is increasingly Americanized. Members of a Caodai youth group discuss Caodai scripture, trying to understand how the five spiritual paths (of Buddha, the immortals, saints, venerated spirits and human disciples) can be combined. In 2003, a new religious hierarchy was established in California, to train new student priests and set up an independent organization, without the authorization of Holy Sees in Vietnam. Controversies about the relationship between overseas Caodaists and their homeland became more pronounced. Returning Pham Cong Tac Remains: Forced Normalization? In the same month that Bush visited Hanoi in 2006, the Vietnamese government decided to “normalize†Caodaism in response to critics who said there was no religious freedom. His tomb in Cambodia was opened, revealing a relatively intact body, and it was moved into the Dragon Horse hearse to be transported to Tay Ninh. Some members of the overseas community said this move was premature, since Vietnam was not really at peace, and Tac had been called a criminal by the communists. Others hoped that this would open a new page in history for Caodaism in Vietnam. A New California Temple in “Little Saigon†In July 2007, a new Caodai temple opened in Garden Grove, attracting many families and younger people. Dr. Hum Dac Bui, author of a book in English explaining Caodai beliefs, explains the three challenges facing the new religion: First, many first generation refugees do not speak English. Second, second generation Vietnamese are often too busy to study the language or practice regularly. And third, there are many groups with no single head. The question of whether Vietnam can provide a model for reconciliation and harmony to others is asked at the dawn of a new century. |