1/ 8 BRIEF GLIMPSES INTO CAODAISM

THE THIRD UNIVERSALISM OF THE GREAT WAY

The Programme of Joining Hands

for Free Caodai Publications

________

HUỆ KHẢI

(Dũ Lan LÊ ANH DŨNG)

BRIEF GLIMPSES

INTO CAODAISM

First edition

HỒNG ĐỨC Publishing House

Hà Nội 2017

Issue No 110.1 by the Programme of Joining Hands

for Free Caodai Publications - NOT FOR SALE.

*

CONTENTS

BRIEF GLIMPSES INTO CAODAISM

FROM HEART TO HEART

I. A CONCEPT OF THE THIRD UNIVERSALISM

OF THE GREAT DAO

1. The First Universalism

1. The Second Universalism

1. The Third Universalism

II. THE LATENT YEARS OF CAODAISM (1920-1926)

1. Caodai God’s first disciple: Ngô Văn Chiêu

2. The Cao-Phạm group on D’Arras street (Saigon)

3. Establishing the Caodai legal entity

III. THE CAODAI INAUGURATION (1926)

1. General Announcement to the Public

2. The Cochinchina-wide diffusion

3. The Thiền Lâm holy house

4. The 1926 Inauguration

5. The Orthodox Dharma

6. Extending the great ceremony at Thiền Lâm

7. Monk Như Nhãn’s demand for the return of the pagoda

IV. CONSTRUCTING THE TÂY NINH HOLY SEE

V. ACHIEVEMENTS AND FRAGMENTATION

VI. A GLANCE AT NINE CAODAI HOLY ASSEMBLIES

1. The Caodai Former Heaven Holy Assembly

2. The Caodai Chiếu Minh Long Châu Holy Assembly

3. The Caodai Minh Chơn Đạo Holy Assembly

4. The Caodai Missionary Holy Assembly

5. The Caodai Tây Ninh Holy Assembly

6. The Caodai Ban Chỉnh Đạo Holy Assembly

7. The Caodai Bạch Y Liên Đoàn Chơn Lý Holy Assembly

8. The Caodai Chơn Lý Holy Assembly

9. The Caodai Cầu Kho Tam Quan Holy Assembly

10. Two congregations not organised like a Holy Assembly

- Cao Đài Chiếu Minh Tam Thanh Vô Vi (Cần Thơ)

- The Organ for Universalising Caodai Teaching (Saigon)

VII. A GLANCE AT

THE CAODAI MISSIONARY HOLY ASSEMBLY

VIII. FOR FURTHER READING

PLATES 1-16

*

FROM HEART TO HEART

As frankly expressed by the very title of this booklet, what is provided in the following pages is not designed to help the reader gain a comprehensive understanding of Caodaism - a name which seems to sound a little bit familiar, but which is in fact still so much strange.

Such familiarity but strangeness will not be lessened if the religion is still described or explained unauthoritatively by certain famous personages. Graham Greene (1904-1991) with The Quiet American first published in 1955 might be an example apt enough to illustrate the problem.

Especially these days, when the Internet is booming, easy postings without any professional edits have been inducing irresponsible dissemination of distorted information about the religion.

Besides, when a Caodai Holy See is chosen as a destination for tourists, who dares say Caodaism is always interpreted honestly by those engaging in the smokeless industry?

Despite its nearly a hundred-year-old history, in a nutshell, the religion remains a faith fogged with fake data.

Nevertheless, borrowing the words by Professor Ralph Bernard Smith (1939-2000), it should be asserted, “To some extent Western [and other people’s] ignorance about Caodaism is the responsibility of the Caodaists themselves.” (An Introduction to Caodaism. London: BSOAS, 1970, p. 335.)

Owing the said eminent British professor a thankyou, I presently continue to place another bilingual booklet in Vietnamese and English in your hands to share with you a Caodai follower’s responsibility for providing a little bit of credible data about his faith.

Compiling the English pages of this booklet, I so gratefully received many helpful adjustments from my respectable senior teaching colleague Tú Đoàn.

And here again, I would like to express my deep appreciation and gratitude to all noble and generous donors who have strongly, unceasingly, and enthusiastically sponsored the Programme of Joining Hands for Free Caodai Publications since mid-2008.

Let the favour of our Master be upon our benefactors, their ancestors and relatives as well.

Namo Caodai the Immortal Mahabodhisattva Mahasattva.

HUỆ KHẢI

Early September 2017

A CONCEPT OF

THE THIRD UNIVERSALISM OF THE GREAT DAO

In the 1920s, a new religion came into being in Vietnam under the name Đại Đạo Tam Kỳ Phổ Độ (the Third Universalism of the Great Dao), or Caodaism for short.

The term Tam Kỳ (Three Eras) implies that the history of mankind’s philosophy and religion is divided into three great spans:

1. The First Universalism stretched from ancient times to around the middle of the 7th century BC (circa 650 BC).

In ancient China, the early basis of Yi Jing (the Book of Change) was created. In Palestine, Judaism was founded (roughly in 1300 BC). In India, Brahmanism came into existence. According to Caodai teaching, Brahmanism belongs to the Way of Buddhas in the First Universalism. The Buddhas in this Era include Dipankara the Ancient Buddha, Brahma Buddha, Shiva Buddha, and Krishna Buddha, etc. Parallel to Brahmanism in ancient India was another system of thought which was reformed and turned into Jainism in the Second Universalism.

2. The Second Universalism spread from around the middle of the 7th century BC to around the middle of the 19th century (from circa 650 BC to circa 1850 AD).

In China, Confucianism and Daoism began in the 6th century BC. In Palestine, Judaism still persisted. Jesus Christ was born and later Christianity was formed. In India, Brahmanism still prevailed. Shakyamunism and Jainism arose in India in the 6th century BC; Sikhism was founded there in the 15th century. In Persia (Iran today), Zoroastrianism was established some time before the 6th century BC. Greek philosophy emerged in the 6th century BC and continued to flourish. According to Caodai teaching, Pythagoreanism belongs to the Way of Buddhas in the Second Universalism. In Arab, Islam was established in the 7th century AD.

3. The Third Universalism commenced in around the middle of the 19th century.

In the two previous eras, such above-mentioned philosophies and religions were confined to specific geographical locations. In the Third Universalism, the world becomes closer and closer when humans have succeeded in bridging geographical distances. The more and more development of transport means, multimedia communications, and information technology have contributed to bringing various systems of thoughts closer and helped people discover similarity in diversity. Therefore, a feature unique to the Third Universalism is its tendency to harmonise and syncretistically combine the past and present thoughts of the East and the West.

In addition to the founding of Caodaism in Vietnam in 1926, below are a few remarkable events reflecting the said tendency of the Third Universalism:

In 1863, Bahaism was founded in Iran (formerly Persia). This faith asserts that all world religions originated from the single God, and hence there is an underlying unity among them.

In 1875 the Theosophical Society was founded in New York City (the USA). In 1879 its headquarters moved to Adyar (India). Under the motto There is no religion higher than Truth, Theosophy gives prominence to the truth of great unity, and helps people transcend the shell of religion so that they can attain the Great Dao.

In 1893, the World’s Parliament of Religions was first held in Chicago (Illinois, the USA). Thereafter, it was repeated several times: 1993 in Chicago again; 1999 in Cape Town (South Africa); 2004 in Barcelona (Spain); 2009 in Melbourne (Australia); 2015 in Salt Lake (Utah, the USA)…

In 1955, the Conference of World Religionists was held in Tokyo (Japan). Both the Caodai Holy Assembly in Tây Ninh and the Caodai Missionary Organ in Đà Nẵng (later renamed the Caodai Missionary Holy Assembly) sent their high-ranking dignitaries to the Conference. [See Plate 1.]

The Second Vatican Council, which Pope John XXIII opened (1962) and which Pope Paul VI closed (1965), invited interfaith dialogues between Catholicism and other living religions in the world.

In 1964, Pope Paul VI instituted a department for relations with the people of other religions. In 1988, it was renamed the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue (PCID).

In 1965, Pope Paul VI proclaimed Nostra Aetate (In Our Times), also known as The Second Vatican Council’s Declaration on the Relations of the Church with Non-Christian Religions.

In 2014, the 34th World Religions Conference was held in Canada. Its theme was “the Pathway to Peace”.

Of numerous remarkable publications, one title is The World’s Living Religions (New York: Dell Pub. Co., 1964), by Professor Archie J. Bahm (1907-1996). Bahm argues (p. 14), “… we should expect the modes of expression serving our religious needs in cosmopolitan society to be different from those which inspired the fearful shepherd, Moses, on a fiery mountainside or the wondering camel driver, Mohammed, in a Meccan cave.”

In other words, it is required to modernise religion. Bahm writes (p. 14), “The particular forms, doctrines, and institutions through which the religious needs and experiences of some people have been expressed may become obsolete, and their continuance often becomes detrimental to healthy religion.”

An ideal modernised religion is, according to Bahm, also “a world religion”. The Professor writes (p. 353), “Yet mankind lacks a world religion in the sense that it is in fact the only one or only true one and in the sense that it is superior to others because it embodies within itself the virtues of all other religions.” Again, he asserts (p. 353), “We are not yet ready to develop a ‘world religion’ incorporating the virtues of all of man’s religions.”

What is said about a modern and global religion reflects mankind’s thirst for a faith of great unity which transcends any boundary and race.

In the 20th century, there were lots of activities supporting that ideal in several countries. Each of such activities might be regarded as a link in the chain of the movement for seeking a Great Dao for mankind. The above-listed worldwide events (from 1893 till now) are obvious proofs.

Particularly in Vietnam during the years 1920-1926, God under the borrowed name Cao Đài Tiên Ông (Caodai the Immortal) gradually gathered chosen missioners to build up the primary foundation of the Third Universalism of the Great Dao, i.e., Caodai religion or Caodaism for short.

The Great Dao implies something transcending any available form of religion which mankind has got accustomed to. In other words, the Great Dao is above and beyond religion.

Universalism (or universal salvation: phổ độ) means all living beings will finally be saved.

Though the Great Dao is sur-religion, the initial steps of building up its infrastructure cannot help borrowing a religion form. Similarly, though Universalism is not confined to any boundary or race, its primary foundation cannot help borrowing a country or a nation as its cradle for every future growth.

Starting the beginning of the Third Universalism of the Great Dao, God established Caodaism in the chosen land of Vietnam, not elsewhere. Archimedes (Greek, circa 287-212 BC) said, “Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the earth.” Hence, Vietnam may be regarded as the fulcrum for the Third Universalism of the Great Dao.

The Third Universalism of the Great Dao started with a religion form named Caodaism in Vietnam, a country lying at the intersection of Eastern and Western thoughts, past and present. For about nineteen centuries before the advent of Caodaism, Vietnam had been imbued with the spirit of Tam Giáo đồng nguyên (the Three Teachings having the same origin).

Vietnam is also a country where cultural features of India, China, and the Occident can be found. Archie J. Bahm judges (p. 32), “The three greatest civilizations of mankind are the Hindu, the Chinese, and the European or Western.”

Consequently, Vietnam has favourable pre-conditions for being bestowed the truth of great unity by God under the name Caodai. It is reasonable to say that Caodaism and Vietnam as its cradle are the means to achieve the ultimate goal of the Third Universalism of the Great Dao.

HUỆ KHẢI