II. FAMILY IN THE CAODAI
NEW LAW (continued)
2. Protecting
disciples’ families in unexpected cases
It takes two
to make a marriage a success and only one to make it a failure.
HERBERT SAMUEL
(British politician, 1870-1963)
Constructing is difficult; destroying is easy. To lead a happy marriage
life requires both spouses to stand together constructing and preserving their
family. Nevertheless, only either spouse can ruin their home easily and
quickly.
Due to accidental situations which possibly ruin the stability of a
family, the Caodai New Law anticipates some measures to protect disciples’
families in unexpected cases such as sonless parents, either spouse's adultery,
a wife’s failure of filial duties to her parents-in-law, parentless young
children.
2.1. Sonless parents
Vietnamese society has been deeply influenced by Chinese
traditional concept of giving birth to sons in order to maintain the male line
of family. For ages, both Vietnamese and Chinese people have kept in mind that
unfilial children are those committing the three following sins: (i)
disobedience to parents; (ii) laziness in learning; (iii) discontinuation of
family line due to being sonless. The third one is the greatest sin.
Dating from the second half of the Fourth century BC, Mengzi (Li Lou I) says, “Of
the three unfilial sins, having no son is the worst.” [1]
When Buddhism was brought into Vietnam
and China
The Book of Rites
(Significance of Marriage) writes, “The ceremony
of marriage was intended to be a bond of love between two (families of
different) surnames, with a view, in its retrospective character, to secure the
services in the ancestral temple, and in its prospective character, to secure
the continuance of the family line. Therefore the superior men, (the ancient
rulers), set a great value upon it.” [3]
As a deplorable result, when his wife failed to give him a son, a husband
was permitted by former laws to abandon her and take another wife for the
purpose of maintaining his family line. For instance, Hoàng Việt Luật Lệ (Laws and Decrees of Imperial Việt, often known
as the Gia Long Code, promulgated in
1813), vol. 7, item 15, stipulates seven reasons for abandoning a wife:
(i) Giving birth to no son.
(ii) Committing adultery (unfaithful to her spouse).
(iii) Neglecting filial duties to her parents-in-law.
(iv) Being garrulous.
(v) Committing theft (if she is not abandoned, her husband may be legally
involved).
(vi) Being jealous.
(vii) Getting incurable diseases.[4]
In order to protect women, Article Ten in Secular Law
stipulates only two reasons for a divorce, “Except
for committing adultery or being unfilial to parents-in-law, Caodai spouses are
prohibited to get a divorce.”
By this stipulation, the Caodai New Law annihilates the case of a sonless
wife as grounds for divorce.
However, being made in a society still influenced by the fixed idea that having no son is
the worst of the three unfilial sins, the
New Law finds a way to reconcile benefits between a woman and her spouse’s
family. This measure of reconciliation asserts that a man is prohibited to
abandon his wife due to her giving no son to him; however, he is permitted to
take a concubine on condition that his wife agrees. Article Nine in Secular Law
stipulates, “Should a disciple’s
wife have no son for maintaining his family line, the Master [God] indulgently allows him to take a concubine
on condition that the principal wife herself agrees to arrange the wedding.”
Thus, Article Nine in Secular Law does not contradict itself at all when
leniently allowing a husband to take a concubine although polygamy has been
abolished right at the beginning of this article. Here, it is necessary to
remind that the New Law was promulgated in 1927 when Vietnamese society still
attached much importance to having a son for maintaining family line and
worshipping ancestors; furthermore, polygamy was still accepted by the then
state laws. It was not until 1959 that polygamy was annulled in both South and North Vietnam
2.2. Limiting
divorce
My parents’
divorce made an important change in my life. It affected me.
RAFAEL NADAL
(Spanish professional tennis player, born in 1986)
Divorce is a legal termination of a marriage. Divorce was recorded
in the ancient time of Roman lawmakers. In Israel, according to the first sentence
of Chapter 24 in Deuteronomy, the
fifth book of the Old Testament, a simple divorce procedure is known as
follows, “If a man marries a woman who becomes displeasing to him
because he finds something indecent about her, and he writes her a certificate of
divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house.”
Generally, a marriage might result in the risk of a divorce. Human
society will not completely terminate all divorce cases until there is no
marriage. Will Rogers
Divorce is a highly controversial issue. There are the pros and cons of a
divorce and each side has its own reasons. For the New Law, it is not essential
to argue for or against divorce. Instead, what does matter is to improve the
grounds for divorce. If they are improved, families and women can be better
protected. Article Ten in Secular Law stipulates, “Caodai spouses are prohibited to divorce, except for the case of
adultery or being unfilial to women’s parents-in-law.”
Thus, instead of the seven reasons accepted by ancient lawmakers, the New
Law rejects five of them, and approves only the second (i.e., committing
adultery) and the third one (i.e., being unfilial to women’s parents-in-law).
The approved ones are legitimate because adultery and unfilial conduct are
against the law of Caodaism and ruin social ethics. The rejected ones are absolutely
absurd, inhuman, and unfair to women.
In short, the New Law puts maximum limits on possibilities which may ruin
disciples’ families, and simultaneously forbids injustice to women.
HUỆ KHẢI
