By HUỆ KHẢI (Dũ Lan LÊ ANH DŨNG)
RELIGION Publishing House (Hanoi
2015)
*
Few phenomena in the modern history of
Asia can have been so completely misunderstood by Westerners as the Vietnamese
religious (and political) movement known in European languages as “Caodaism”.
(…) To some extent Western ignorance about Caodaism is the responsibility of
the Caodaists themselves.
Prof. RALPH B. SMITH (1939-2000)
“An
Introduction to Caodaism” BSOAS. Vol. XXXIII, London 1970
*
CONTENTS
I. THE COCHINCHINA-WIDE
DIFFUSION
II. A CAODAI BOOKLET: GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENT TO THE PUBLIC
III. THE THREE DIFFUSION
GROUPS
IV. PREPARING THE 1926
INAUGURATION CEREMONY
V. THE INAUGURATION
VI. EXTENDING THE THIỀN
LÂM GREAT CEREMONY
VII. LEAVING GÒ KÉN FOR
THE NEW LAND
VIII. CONCLUSION
*
FROM HEART TO HEART
From the earliest
beginnings of Caodaism till now, the history current has been flowing through
innumerable ups and downs, heroic curves and melancholy bends. To keep the best
record of such events, generations of talented and enthusiastic historians are being
expected to contribute their efforts.
I myself am not at all a
historian. Due to my own needs of understanding my faith’s history, I have been interested in reading Caodai history books. Then,
thinking that most of my co-religionists must have the same needs, I started
compiling a few booklets to offer a concise and general history of Caodaism. Each
booklet only focuses on a specific period or event of Caodai history. For
instance, the present booklet concentrates on the Inauguration held in November
1926 at the Thiền Lâm holy house (in Gò Kén, Long Thành village, Tây Ninh
province).
Collected from various
sources, the portraits of twenty-eight earliest venerable Caodai apostles are
printed in this booklet. Due to the paper limit, below each photo is only the
apostle’s name and dates. I do expect that the reader would understand and
forgive such unwilling-ness.
While preparing the English
text included in this booklet, I have got lots of helpful suggestions and
corrections provided by my respectable teaching colleague Tú Đoàn, whom I would
like to express my sincere appreciation to.
At present, thousands of
these booklets are placed in our friendly readers’ hands thanks to our
innumerable noble and generous donors, who have strongly, unceasingly, and
enthu-siastically supported the Programme of Joining Hands for Free Caodai
Publications.
With heart and soul, we
should spare a thought of them, and pray to God for His blessings upon our
benefactors, their ancestors and relatives as well.
Namo Caodai the Immortal Mahabodhisattva Mahasattva.
July 2015
HUỆ KHẢI
