1. The historical
background of a Caodai organ
Caodai religion was established in 1926 and one of
its early milestones was its impressive Inauguration started in Long Thành village of Tây Ninh
From 1936 to 1962, there were lots of attempts to
unite those fragments into a whole and sole Holy Assembly. To name a few in
chronological order:
1936: Cao
Đài Đại Đạo Liên Đoàn (the
Caodai Great Way League) was established, and was soon renamed Liên Hòa Tổng Hội (the General Association for Joined Harmony). In 1937 Nguyễn
Phan Long (1889-1960) was elected as Head of the General Association, and Huệ
Lương Trần Văn Quế (1902-1980) as its Secretary General [see Plate 1]. After twelve unfruitful Dragon
Cloud Assemblies (Hội Long Vân), it
dissolved itself in mid-1940 so as not to add another fragment to existing
Caodai ones. Despite this fact, nevertheless, some authors still mistakenly
label the
General Association a “branch” [see Appendix
2].
1951: Cơ
Quan Cao Đài Quy Nhứt (the
Organ for Caodai Return to Oneness) was founded. In the following year, its
name was converted to Cơ Quan Cao Đài
Thống Nhứt (the Organ for Caodai Unification).
1956: The Organ for Caodai Unification was renamed
Ban
Vận Động Cao Đài Thống Nhứt (the
Board for Caodai Unification Campaign).
1962: The Board for Caodai
Unification Campaign became Ban Phổ Thông
Giáo Lý Liên Quan Hành Đạo, shortened as Ban Phổ Thông Giáo Lý (the Board for Universalising Caodai
Teaching). Its Head was Spiritual Pope Lý Thái Bạch; its First Deputy was Huệ
Lương Trần Văn Quế; its Second Deputy was Chơn Tâm Nguyễn Triệu Kha (1905-1995)
[see Plate 1]. Although this new
orientation was taught by Heavenly Powers through evocation seances, it could
not achieve a consensus within the Board for Caodai Unification Campaign.
1963: Those who wholeheartedly
obeyed the 1962 new orientation detached themselves from the said Campaign Board and
gathered at Thiên Lý Đàn (the Heaven Principle Seance, in district 3, Saigon),
waiting for heavenly guidance.
1965: Thanks to Caodai God’s
favour, those gathering at the Heaven Principle Seance became key members of Văn Phòng Phổ Thông Giáo Lý (the Office for
Universalising Caodai Teaching), inaugurated in district 1, Saigon, on Tuesday
16 February 1965.
Despite the fact that the newly founded
organisation’s name was Văn Phòng (Office),
just before its inauguration, during an evocation seance on Monday 15 February
1965, as if giving a prophecy, Caodai God said, “The Organ for
Universalising Caodai Teaching is not a sect or branch…”. Indeed, one year
later (1966), the Vietnam
In 1974, referring to the existing Organ, Spiritual
Pope Lý Thái Bạch seemed to give another prophecy by calling it “Cơ Quan Phổ Thông Giáo Lý Đại Đạo - the Organ for Universalising the Great Way’s Teaching”. Indeed, on
Monday 18 May 1981, His Holiness Lý said, “…
now, it’s time for ‘Cơ Quan Phổ Thông
Giáo Lý’ to be renamed ‘Cơ Quan Phổ
Thông Giáo Lý Đại Đạo’.” However, until 1985 the latest
denomination has not been seen in this Organ’s correspondence [see Plate 2].
Unlike holy
houses, the Organ does not
keep a register of new admissions to Caodaism because it is not to hold any
initiation ceremonies, as commanded by Heavenly Powers.
Congregants coming from various Caodai parishes voluntarily apply for its membership
because they agreeably accept its policy of universalising Caodai teaching in
order to contribute to the religion’s unification. Almost all of its members
strictly follow perpetual vegetarianism and practise meditation.
When translating “Cơ Quan” as “the Organ”, I not only cling
to its lexical meaning but also emphasise that it is not a branch as some
authors mistakenly label it [see Appendix
2] - “the final
mechanism” of Caodaism in the words of Caodai God during an evocation
session at the Heaven Principle Seance on Friday 04 February 1966.
By saying “Đại Đạo /
the Great Way”, Caodaists mean Caodaism. In other words, “Đại Đạo” is the
abbreviation of “Đại Đạo Tam Kỳ Phổ Độ” - a Sino-Vietnamese phrase which means
“the Third Universalism of the Great Way”.
During an evocation
seance at the Vietnam Organ for Universalising Caodai Teaching on Wednesday 10
February 1971, Spiritual Pope Lý Thái Bạch explained, “... Caodaism is the shortened form of the Third Universalism of the
Great Way”.
Hence, when putting
the two phrases “Giáo Lý Cao Đài Giáo” and
“Giáo Lý Đại Đạo” into English, I
only choose one equivalent: “Caodai
Teaching”.
In my bilingual Vietnamese-English publications, to
sum up, this is why I translate both “Cơ Quan Phổ Thông Giáo Lý Cao Đài Giáo” and “Cơ Quan Phổ
Thông Giáo Lý Đại Đạo” as “the Organ
for Universalising Caodai Teaching”.
From the 1965 early spring (when
its forerunner named “the Office for Universalising Caodai Teaching” was set
up) till the 1974 early spring, the Vietnam Organ for Universalising Caodai
Teaching had just experienced nine springs. Exactly in its ninth spring, during
an evocation seance at the Organ, Spiritual Pope Lý Thái Bạch preached a sermon
of the Caodai ideology. This is why
at the beginning of my essay on the Caodai ideology I intentionally introduce
the Organ’s historical background.
Ideology, a non-Caodai term, was
first used in a Caodai holy message. Thus, before a survey of the Caodai ideology,
it is inevitable to get familiar with a basic concept of ideology, based on Encyclopædia Britannica (https://www.britannica.com/topic/ideology-society, accessed on 03
October 2017).
2. A basic
concept of ideology
2.1.
What does ideology mean?
The world famous Encyclopædia Britannica defines ideology as “a
form of social or political philosophy in which practical elements are as
prominent as theoretical ones. It is a system of ideas that aspires both to
explain the world and to change it.” In such a concise but comprehensive
definition, the two verbs “explain” and
“change” should be noticed so as to
study Spiritual Pope Lý’s holy sermon as mentioned above.
2.2.
Origins of ideology
Encyclopædia Britannica reads:
“The word first
made its appearance in French as ‘idéologie’
at the time of the French Revolution,
when it was introduced by a philosopher, [Count] Destutt de Tracy [1754-1836], [see Plate 4] as a short name for
what he called his ‘science of ideas’ (…). The science of ideas was a science with a mission: it aimed at serving
people, even saving them, by ridding their minds of prejudice and preparing
them for the sovereignty of reason.”
“Destutt de Tracy
and his fellow ‘idéologues’ devised a system of national education that they
believed would transform France French Republic
(…)
“Some historians
of philosophy have called the 19th century the age of ideology, not because the
word itself was then so widely used, but because so much of the thought of the
time can be distinguished from that prevailing in the previous centuries by
features that would now be called ideological.”
2.3.
Ideology and religion
Encyclopædia Britannica reads:
“Ideologies, in
fact, are sometimes spoken of as if they belonged to the same logical category
as religions. Both are assuredly in a certain sense ‘total’ systems, concerned
at the same time with questions of truth and questions of conduct; but the
differences between ideologies and religions are perhaps more important than
the similarities. A religious theory of reality is constructed in terms of a
divine order and is seldom, like that of the ideologist, centred on this world
alone. A religion may present a vision of a just society, but it cannot easily
have a practical political program. The emphasis of religion is on faith and
worship; its appeal is to inwardness and its aim the redemption or purification
of the human spirit. An ideology speaks to the group, the nation, or the class.
Some religions acknowledge their debt to revelation, whereas ideology always
believes, however mistakenly, that it lives by reason alone. Both, it may be
said, demand commitment (…).”
In the above excerpt, I
sieve out quite a lot of wordy explanations given in the original text, and
they are marked with the sign (...). From the above excerpts, it is essential
to pick out some noteworthy details which will facilitate our survey of the
Caodai ideology.
3. Some noteworthy details
From the explanation
given by Encyclopædia Britannica, the following points should be noticed:
* The object of ideology: “An
ideology speaks to the group, the nation, or the class.”
* The purpose of ideology: “It
is a system of ideas that aspires both to explain the world and to change it.” It aims at
helping humans by “ridding their minds of prejudice”.
* The practice of ideology: In France,
the ideologists “devised a system of
national education”. This means that ideology aims at changing a society and
its people through education.
* The demand of ideology: Ideologies “demand commitment [i.e., dedication]”.
4.
Spiritual Pope Lý’s sermon
During an evocation seance at the
Vietnam Organ for Universalising Caodai Teaching (No 171 Cống Quỳnh street,
district 1, Saigon ) at the hour of Dog (from 7
to 9p.m.) on Wednesday 06 February 1974, Spiritual Pope Lý Thái Bạch preached
the following sermon:
My
siblings, on the occasion of your full presence today, I would like to bring up
some points essential to the current Caodai religion so as to partly help you
self-cultivate, do the Dao, achieve your merits, and strengthen your virtues.
As
dignitaries, non-dignitary officials, believers, and congregants from Caodai
Holy Assemblies, Religious Assemblies, holy houses, holy meditation houses, and
associations, you are more or less related to one another; so, you should
dedicate your lives to serving God’s holy body. What I would like to speak of today
is the Caodai form and the Caodai doctrine or its ideology.
The
Caodai form is God’s holy body on earth. Since its Inauguration, Caodaism has
been embellished for forty-nine springtimes. Its imposing, majestic temples
protrude everywhere. In spite of innumerable changes of life, Caodai images
still appear throughout the time. However, one issue most of you neglect is the
Caodai administration system and its personnel.
Listen,
my siblings. God does not reside on any senseless objects; contrarily, God resides
in the ivory-tower heart and soul of mankind. The Caodai form is only what is
borrowed to embody God’s holy body on earth.
God
is not an image of a deity statue, a human statue or an object statue. The
God’s Eye itself is merely a symbol expediently borrowed to convey the truth
through a concrete form chosen subjectively. Just due to this fact, whether a
Caodai form construction has a value or not must be testified by people’s will.
The value of enlightened people will determine
the position of every congregation’s Caodai form.
Just
think of this: Every peasant sows his rice seeds in a fertile field and never
on a silk velvet carpet. No matter how beautifully and colourfully the carpet
is embroidered, its value is only a carpet for luxurious decoration; how can it
elicit the seed of unceasing multiplication? It is mankind’s heart where the
salvation truth arises to bring about peaceful conditions for mankind. Thus,
Caodai congregants must develop their heart like luxuriant branches. If a paddy
is poorly cultivated, how will rice culms be bent down by a rich profusion of
ears?
If
Caodaism is not enlightened, the Caodai congregants’ heart is too poor. He who
rows a prajna boat needs to fish out all drowning victims rather than waiting
for the victim’s self-climbing into the boat. He who sprinkles the holy sweet
dew with a willow branch needs to save all suffering creatures rather than
waiting for the serious patient’s self-seeking the holy sweet dew. If his
waiting is in vain, will he be so heartless to blame the floating life buffeted
by waves on the sufferer’s karmic retribution?
Every
congregation needs to be organised. The Caodai administration system is not to
serve God. It is not needed by God but it is required just to serve the whole
congregants. Expediently borrowing the Caodai administration system is the way
to embody the interdependence and mutuality so that even a little congregant
will be able to return to the Macro Sacred Light in this last era.
Thus,
for those who have set up a structure of Caodai form but fail to preserve or
enlighten it more, it is indeed a serious defect and also a great sin of
themselves. Do not let any soul feel pity before a God’s holy body. Once it was
constructed, it must be enlightened and developed in an effort to keep in line
with the purpose of its constructor or its antecedents.
Additionally,
you had better pay attention to the outward appearance, because it shows the
unanimity of souls and the power of the worldly way in the course of spiritual
construction and human salvation. Do not consider it false and neglect it.
Whoever only dreams of reaching the shore of enlightenment but forgets to build
a boat for safely and surely crossing the sea of suffering? No prajna boat can
carry a mortal across the river of illusion.
My
siblings, have you ever thought of the Caodai doctrine or its ideology?
(…)
My
siblings, is there any loss of objects or money as dangerous and harmful as
loss of consciousness or soul?
Oh
my siblings, wearing a piece of coarse garment, dwelling in a straw hut, going
sight-seeing at leisure with a soul of purity and peace - this is much better than travelling in busy traffic,
living in luxurious conditions, toing and froing to scramble for worldly gains
whilst ignoring the loss of oneself. The means are borrowed to serve the
ultimate end. Do not let the ultimate end be buried in the vanity means. The
truth is not something sparsely accepted. The truth is the pure and simple
enlightenment.
The
Caodai true ideology is so bright that humans are dazzled and then, what a pity
to say, they do fancy that the Caodai truth is just the light within their
limited range of vision or within their own lingering imagination.
Caodai
that is not Caodai is Caodai itself. Caodaism did not emerge on its own for Vietnam
If
you want to establish achievement to create an adequate process so as to
advance towards the Caodai unification, you should understand that any
divergence cannot surpass the whole universe or God’s mysterious sacredness.
You
should gather yellow ochna blossoms into a luxuriant ochna branch so as to show
beauty before the Lord of Springtime. If integration is just integration, and
divergence is just divergence, it is also a portent of this world’s complete
destruction.
God
is still life-loving, divergent but non-divergent, and integrating but
non-integrating. That is the significance of life-loving circulation.
What
I teach you today is pretty enough for your luggage on the path returning to
God so as to avoid hindrances and faults.
Step
briskly on the true holy path
and
set your mind
on
saving humans through spreading
the
truth Caodai.
Then
watch the Creator’s
mechanism
circulating,
Elimination
and preservation are well defined.
(…)
I
bestow blessing upon all of you here today.
I
will protect you all so that your steps are stable on the path of
self-cultivation and doing the Dao. Now I say goodbye and retreat.
Huệ Khải
