4/8 BRIEF GLIMPSES INTO CAODAISM

CONSTRUCTING THE TÂY NINH HOLY SEE

On Wednesday morning 23 February 1927, following the directions given by His Holiness Lý Thái Bạch at a previous day’s evocation seance, Cao Quỳnh Cư, Phạm Công Tắc, and three other dignitaries shared two cars and arrived at a forbidden forest. Thanks to a local inhabitant’s help, they found nearby a piece of woods owned by a French ranger named Aspar, and managed to buy it for seventeen or eighteen thousand Indochinese piastres.

Moving the property from Thiền Lâm pagoda to the newly purchased woods, the earliest Caodaists had to erect a temporary holy house. [See Plate 8.]

At first, the reclamation was focused on the woods bought from Aspar. Later, complying with His Holiness Lý Thái Bạch’s instructions, the earliest dignitaries applied to the provincial government and got permission to reclaim the neighbour woods so as to enlarge the Holy See area. During the reclamation, thousands of hefty Khmer labourers left Cambodia for the site to help Caodaists voluntarily.

On Monday 28 February 1927, His Holiness Lý Thái Bạch gave the dignitaries details of the location and dimensions of the Holy See. The architectual drawings were made by His Holiness Lý at an evocation seance on the same day. As requested by Caodai God, however, the dimensions given by His Holiness Lý had to be reduced for the purpose of curtailing the cost.

Affected by war and financial shortage, the construction of the Holy See had to be prolonged, taking two decades (1927-1947) to finish. Some remarkable events as follows:

- Saturday 28 June 1941: French troops occupied the unfinished Holy See, seized and exiled Dharma Protector Phạm Công Tắc to Madagascar (an African island), and expelled all workers from the Holy See.

- Friday 30 August 1946: Dharma Protector Phạm came back to the Holy See. Then, the construction was continued.

- Friday 24 January 1947: The construction was accomplished.

- Wednesday 19 January 1947: The Universe Globe (3.3 metres in diameter) was ritually fixed inside the Eight-Trigram Apse of the Holy See. The God’s Eye and constellations were drawn on the Globe.

- Tuesday 01 February 1955: On occasion of God’s Birthday (the ninth of the first lunar month), Dharma Protector Phạm formally inaugurated the Holy See.

The Holy See of the Cao Đài Tây Ninh Holy Assembly is situated in Long Thành Bắc village, Hòa Thành district, about four or five kilomtres south-east of Tây Ninh city.

HUỆ KHẢI