Map of the Cochinchina-wide diffusion
III. THE THREE DIFFUSION
GROUPS
At the same séance on Wednesday 13 October 1926, after
revising the manuscript of General
Announcement to the Public, Caodai God said, “You all must immediately prepare everything for the diffusion. As of
the tenth of this [lunar] month, all mediums must request for a twenty-nine-day
leave from work. I recommend you all to share your field of activity so that
your diffusion can stretch to every corner.” [1]
Obeying God’s instruction,
the earliest apostles formed three groups:
Group one: Lê Văn Trung (Thượng Trung Nhựt),
Nguyễn Ngọc Thơ (Thái Thơ Thanh), and Trần Đạo Quang, etc. Mediums: Cao Quỳnh Cư and Phạm Công Tắc. Group one was in charge of nine provinces: Bạc Liêu, Cần Thơ, Châu
Đốc, Hà Tiên, Long Xuyên, Rạch Giá, Sóc Trăng, Trà Vinh, and Vĩnh Long.
Group two: Lê Văn Lịch (Ngọc Lịch Nguyệt),
Nguyễn Ngọc Tương (Thượng Tương Thanh), and Nguyễn Văn Luật (Thái Luật Thanh,
former Buddhist Karma), etc. Mediums:
Nguyễn Trung Hậu and Trương Hữu Đức. Group two was in charge of five
provinces: Bến Tre, Chợ Lớn, Gò Công, Mỹ Tho, and Tân An.
Group three: Lê Bá Trang (Ngọc Trang
Thanh), Vương Quan Kỳ (Thượng Kỳ Thanh), and Lê Văn Nhung (Thái Nhung Thanh,
former Buddhist Karma), etc. Mediums:
Cao Hoài Sang and Cao Quỳnh Diêu. Group three was in charge of six
provinces: Bà Rịa, Biên Hòa, Gia Định, Sa Đéc, Tây Ninh, and Thủ Dầu Một.
The preachers for the
twenty said provinces were Nguyễn Văn Tương (Thượng Tương Thanh) and Nguyễn
Văn Kinh (Ngọc Kinh Thanh),[2] who both had been converted from the Minh Sư faith.[3]
After a month of enthusiatically spreading the fledgling religion,
each group was able to help tens of thousands of people become Caodai adepts.
Among these newcomers were lots of personages, who soon played their key roles
of Caodai leaders during the construction of the first Church as well as the Caodai
development in the following decades.
The earliest apostles finished the Cochinchina-wide diffusion
on Sunday 14 November 1926 and gathered at the Thiền Lâm pagoda (Long Thành
village, Tây Ninh province) so as to enthusiastically continue preparations for
the soon-coming Inauguration. Previously, their preparations for the event had
been postponed for a month because they all had to focus on spreading the new
faith over Cochinchina.
HUỆ KHẢI
