A CONCISE CAODAI
HISTORY:
THE 1926
INAUGURATION
II. A CAODAI BOOKLET: GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENT TO THE PUBLIC
In the Foundation Declaration dated 07
October 1926, the earliest Caodai apostles stated:
“Au
nom de très nombreux Annamites qui ont entièrement approuvé ces études et
dont la liste est ci-jointe, les soussignés ont l’honneur de venir respectueuse-ment
vous déclarer qu’ils vont propager à l’humanité entière cette Sainte Doctrine.”
([1])
Translation:
On
behalf of the majority of the Vietnamese who entirely approve these studies and
whose list is enclosed, we, the undersigned, have the honour to declare that we
will diffuse this sacred teaching to the whole humanity.([2])
A few days right after the registration
for the Caodai legal entity mentioned above, the earliest Caodai apostles unceasingly
prepared the Cochinchina-wide diffusion. One of their tasks was the compilation
of a booklet entitled Phổ Cáo Chúng Sanh (General
Announcement to the Public).
Before having their booklet printed, the
earliest Caodai apostles presented the manuscript to Caodai God for revision.
At the séance on Wednesday 13 October 1926, the Supreme Being said to apostle
Lê Thế Vĩnh, “Vĩnh, read out the text,
and wait for my correction! Whenever I lower the beaked basket (corbeille a
bec) please have a pause.” ([3])
Later, Phổ Cáo Chúng Sanh (14 pages, 15x24cm), was printed at l’Imprimerie
de l’Union (Saigon ). The cover was made of
thin red paper (often used for file folders). Printed on the front cover was
the date 15 October 1926. As an early publication of the new faith, it was
officially spread out during the Cochinchina-wide diffusion which commenced on
Saturday 16 October 1926 and lasted a month.
[Plate 1: Phổ Cáo Chúng Sanh (1926) / General
Announcement to the Public (1926), front cover.]
1. Summary of General Announcement to the Public
Phổ
Cáo Chúng Sanh (General Announcement to the Public) contains over
four thousand words. At the beginning, it asserts that all species on earth
have come from the same Creator, who has been named differently by different
races at different times and places. Again, it affirms that all Buddhas,
Immortals, Saints, or Lord Jesus Christ (i.e., all existing religions on earth)
have come from Origin, namely Dao.
In the two previous salvation eras, the
Supreme Being manifested Himself on earth under various names like Dipankara
the Ancient Buddha, Shakyamuni, Laozi, and Jesus Christ, etc. Presently, in the
Third Era, God has come to save this world under the name Cao Đài Tiên Ông Đại Bồ Tát Ma Ha Tát (Caodai the Immortal
Mahabodhisattva Mahasattva). His name implies the Caodai guideline, which says the Three Teachings return to Origin,
because Caodai relates to Confucianism, the Immortal to Daoism, and
Mahabodhisattva Mahasattva to Buddhism.
Also, based on Caodai holy teaching, General Announcement to the Public explains
that in the two previous salvation eras, human beings were subject to
geographical separation and their knowledge was not developed enough; accordingly,
God’s teaching had to be split into Ngũ
Chi (Five Branches), namely the Ways of Man, of Gods, of Saints, of
Immortals, and of Buddhas, so as to accord with local customs and cultures.
In the Third Era, geographical distances
have been shortened and human knowledge has been highly developed; consequently,
God has founded Caodaism to lead the Five Branches back to One (Dao). Unlike in
the two previous eras, the Founder of the new religion is God Himself, not an
incarnate one. In this Era, to bestow holy teaching upon man, the Heavenly
Powers use a traditional way of communion known as cầu cơ, which means evoking spirits with a beaked basket (corbeille a bec).
Besides, General Announcement to the Public states that the Caodai icon for
worshipping God is the Left Eye (Thiên
Nhãn, the God’s Eye). On the altar at a holy house (thánh thất, Caodai temple) are also the icons of the Three-Teaching
Founders (Shakyamuni, Laozi, and Confucius), of the Three-Teaching Founders’
Representatives (Li Taibai, who represents Daoism; Guanyin, Buddhism; and Guan
Sheng, Confucianism), of Jesus Christ (representing the Way of Saints), and of
Jiang Taigong (representing the Way of Gods).
At the end, General Announcement to the Public reports that on 07 October 1926 “Lê Văn Trung, ex-member of the Conseil
Supérieur de l’Indochine - the
Superior Council of Indochina” submitted the Foundation
Declaration to the French Governor of Cochinchina and he “was welcomed and praised” (p. 14).
2. Judging General Announcement to the Public
No matter how thin it is, General Announcement to the Public can
truly introduce some crucial points of the fledgling faith; for instance, its
guideline (the Three Teachings return to
Origin; the Five Branches return to One), its slogan (Underlying all religions is the same principle); its ways of
worshipping and teaching, etc.
Under the French colonial yoke,
Vietnamese people were always oppressed if they gathered in large number, or
followed a certain “secret society”… That is why the last page of General Announcement to the Public tactically
mentions the fact that the new religion’s legal entity was officially
registered by such a Cochinchinese celebrity as “Lê Văn Trung, ex-member of the Superior Council of Indochina ”.
Indeed, this psychological cleverness implies that Caodai religion is not a
“secret society” and simultaneously affirms the legal status of its Cochinchina-wide
diffusion.
Why could the high social status of
apostle Lê Văn Trung (Daoist Cardinal Thượng Trung Nhựt) indirectly allay the
people’s fears? An appropriate explanation may be as follows:
“… the weekly Lục Tỉnh Tân Văn (Six Provinces News), issue No. 46, dated 01
October 1908, wrote, ‘Our Vietnamese
people are apt to be scared…’ Accordingly, when starting something considerable,
he who wants to attract the mass should include some civil officers in his key
staff. Sơn Nam
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.”
([5])
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.
[Plate
2: Map of the Cochinchina-wide diffusion]
[Plate
3: Group one in Vũng Liêm district,
Vĩnh Long province)]
The preachers for the twenty said
provinces were Nguyễn Văn Tương (Thượng Tương Thanh) and Nguyễn Văn Kinh
(Ngọc Kinh Thanh),([6]) who
both had been converted from the Minh Sư faith.([7])
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 prepara-tions
for the event had been postponed for a month because they all had to focus on spreading
the new faith over Cochinchina.
Nhiêu Lộc, 28 July 2015
HUỆ KHẢI
Cơ Quan Phổ Thông Giáo Lý
Đại Đạo, Lịch Sử Đạo Cao Đài. Quyển
I. Hà Nội: Tôn Giáo, 2005.
Cơ Quan Phổ Thông Giáo Lý
Đại Đạo, Lịch Sử Đạo Cao Đài. Quyển
II. Hà Nội: Tôn Giáo, 2008.
[Huệ Khải 2010], Đất Nam Kỳ - Tiền Đề
Pháp Lý Mở Đạo Cao Đài. / Cochinchina as a Legal Precondition for the
Foundation of Caodaism. Hà Nội: Tôn Giáo, 2010.
[Hương Hiếu 2], Đạo Sử. Quyển II. (mimeographed). Tòa Thánh
Tây Ninh, không năm xuất bản.
[Lê Anh Dũng 1996], Lịch Sử Đạo Cao Đài Thời Kỳ Tiềm Ẩn
1920-1926 / History of Cao Dai - the Beginnings of Early Cao Dai
1920-1926. Huế: Thuận Hóa, 1996.
[Nguyễn Văn Hồng 1], Đạo Sử Nhựt Ký. Quyển 1 (1925-1934). Bản
thảo (1.213 trang).
[Thánh Ngôn Hiệp Tuyển 2]. Quyển 2. Sài Gòn: Tòa Thánh Tây Ninh, 1966.
