Appendix 1
GOD PERSONAL AND GOD IMPERSONAL
This Appendix
is not at all a philosophy essay on God in terms of Caodai teaching. It just
presents an initial concept which might be quite suitable for those who are not
much familiar with these two terms: God personal and God impersonal. Therefore,
the following presentation is certainly insufficient.
1. TWO APPROACHES TO GOD
Traditionally, humans have at least two
approaches to God:
- the religious approach;
- the philosophical one.
Choosing the religious approach, most of
the humans are often free from doubt or scepticism. The philosophical approach
is contrarily open with queries.
Both religion and philosophy generally
talk about God. To some philosophers, nonetheless, what does matter is not God
but the existence of the Absolute. In fact, what makes a difference here is
just denominations or terms.
Philosophers have used lots of different
terms to denominate the Absolute. In the ancient Greek philosophy, to name a
few, for Anaximander (611-547 BCE) it is Apeiron;
for Hecralitus (circa 500 BCE), Logos;
for Plato (427?-347? BCE), the Good;
and for Aristotle (384-322 BCE), the
Primary Cause, etc.
Similarly, religions have numerous titles
to name God. Chinese Daoism alone uses many long titles to honour God; for
example, Haotian Jinque Yuhuang Datianzun
Xuanqiong Gaoshangdi 昊天金闕玉皇大天尊 玄穹高上帝.
By saying God personal and God
impersonal, the title of this Appendix naturally affirms the existence of God.
Here, in other words, it is not requested to answer whether God does or does
not exist. What is left is to discover what Caodaism conceives of God personal
and God impersonal.
Firstly, what do we mean by saying God
personal and God impersonal?
2. WHAT DOES GOD PERSONAL MEAN?
In the Vietnamese literature, God is
conceived of as “the child” who often causes capricious adversity for worldly
humans:
How
ill-willed the Divine Child is,
When letting man be drowned on land.
(Cung Oán Ngâm Khúc
/ Complaint of a Palace Maid, by
Nguyễn Gia Thiều)
He has hatred and jealousy like man:
But
Heaven! Heaven so high in the blue sky!
Isn’t it an eternal law you tend to
apply,
As envying the rosy-cheeked ones
their sweet beauty,
Not leaving them a single time to be
lucky?
(Truyện Kiều / Tale
of Kiều, by Nguyễn Du, translated by Thùy Dương)
He interferes in the worldly affairs:
Oh,
blue heaven so high and so aloft above!
Tell me who caused this trouble plight.
(Chinh Phụ Ngâm Khúc / The
Ballad of a Fighter’s Wife, by Đặng Trần Côn,
translated by Nguyễn Hữu Lý)
Even a love affairs or marriage on earth
is also intervened by Him:
Chrysanthemums
are in bloom
all the year round,
Let me see to whom
God makes my love is bound.
(Vietnamese folk-song)
Simultaneously, He is tolerant and willing
to pay attention to an idle man on earth:
For relieving
my sorrow,
I’ve burned a heap of straw.
Not fragrant at all, smoke so aloft
soars.
It enters the Court of the Jade Emperor,
And He asks, “Who’s burning straw?”
(Vietnamese folk-song)
Furthermore, He is full of pity for
intoxicated mortals:
A
wind’s puffing lightly the mountainside.
He who drinks is the Jade Emperor’s
child.
God looks down from His throne high,
And weeps because His son drinks wine.
(Vietnamese folk-song)
Such “attributes” imposed on God indicate
that humans conceive of God in the image of man. This concept of God is
denominated “anthropomorphism” by philosophers. God conceived of in this way is
God personal.
3. WHAT DOES GOD IMPERSONAL MEAN?
In a nutshell, God impersonal is contrary
to God personal. God impersonal is the Absolute beyond all conceptions of
limited humans. Thus, Swami Vivekananda
(1863-1902) says, “A God known is no
more God; He has become finite like one of us.” (Swami Vivekananda, Jnana
Yoga. Germany: Jazzybee Verlag, 1964. Chapter 6: The Absolute and Manifestation, p. 51.)
4. CAODAI GOD IS PERSONAL OR
IMPERSONAL?
In
Caodai teaching, there are various titles to denominate God. According to these
titles, God is either personal or impersonal or personal and simultaneously impersonal.
4.1. The
following titles refer to God personal:
- Cha (Father), Cha Cả (the
Great Father);
- Chí Tôn (the Most Honoured One);
- Đại Từ Phụ (the Great Father of Mercy);
- Đại Thiên Tôn (the Great Heaven-Honoured One);
- Ngọc Hoàng Thượng Đế or Ngọc
Đế (the Jade Emperor);
- Thầy (Master), etc.
4.2. The
following titles refer to God impersonal:
- Cao Đài (the High Tower);
- Đại Linh Quang (the Macro Sacred Light);
- Thái Cực (Taiji);
- Trời (Heaven), etc.
4.3. The
following titles refer to God personal and simultaneously impersonal:
- Cao
Đài Tiên Ông Đại Bồ Tát Ma Ha Tát: impersonal (Cao Đài: the High
Tower
- Đại
La Thiên Đế: impersonal (Đại La: the Great Net) +
personal (Thiên Đế: the Heaven Lord);
- Huyền
Khung Cao Thượng Đế: impersonal (Huyền Khung: the Mysterious Dome of the
Sky) + impersonal (Cao: Cao Đài, the High Tower
- Thái
Cực Thánh Hoàng: impersonal (Thái Cực:
Taiji) + personal (Thánh Hoàng: the
Holy Emperor), etc.
08
March 1979
Revised 06 November 2017
Huệ Khải
