Cao Đài symbol

The Cao Đài temple in Đà Lạt

The altar of the Cao Đài temple in Mỹ Tho.

Cao Đài (Vietnamese: [kāw ɗâj] ( listen), also Caodaiism) is a syncretistic, monotheistic religion, officially established in the city of Tây Ninh, southern Vietnam in 1926. Đạo Cao Đài is the religion's shortened name; its full name is Đại Đạo Tam Kỳ Phổ Độ (Great Religion [of The] Third Period [of] Revelation [and] Salvation).

Cao means "high" and Đài means "dais" (as in a platform or altar raised above the surrounding level to give prominence to the person on it). Figuratively, it means that highest spiritual place where God reigns. Caodaiists often use the term Đức Cao Đài (Venerable Cao Đài) as the abbreviated name for God, the creator of the universe, whose full title is Cao Đài Tiên Ông Đại Bồ Tát Ma-ha-tát (translation: Cao Đài [the] Ancient Sage [and] Great Bodhisattva Mahasattva).^[1] According to Caodaiists, the full title was purposefully chosen by God because within it are representations of the Three Teachings: Snt, Sage and Buddha. Caodaiists credit God as the religion's founder. They believe the teachings, symbolism and organization were communicated directly from God. Even the construction of the Tây Ninh Holy See is claimed to have had divine guidance. Cao Đài's first disciples, Ngô Văn Chiêu, Cao Quỳnh Cư, Phạm Công Tắc and Cao Hoài Sang, claimed to have received direct communications from God, who gave them explicit instructions for establishing a new religion that would commence the Third Era of Religious Amnesty.^[2]

Adherents engage in ethical practices such as prayer, veneration of ancestors, nonviolence, and vegetarianism with the minimum goal of rejoining God the Father in Heaven and the ultimate goal of freedom from the cycle of birth and death. Estimates of Cao Đài adherents in Vietnam vary, but most sources give two to three million,^[3] according to other sources up to six million.^[4] An additional 30,000 (numbers may vary), primarily ethnic Vietnamese, live in the United States, Europe, and Australia.^[5]

History[link]

Cao Đài was officially established in the city of Tây Ninh, southern Vietnam in 1926. It had been conceived of in 1920 by Ngô Văn Chiêu, who was soon joined by Cao Quỳnh Cư, Phạm Công Tắc and Cao Hoài Sang.^[2] In subsequent years the new faith gained adherents rapidly.

Beliefs and teachings[link]

Creation myth[link]

According to the Cao Đài myth of creation, before God existed, there was the Tao, the nameless, formless, unchanging, eternal source referenced in the Tao Te Ching. Then a Big Bang occurred, out of which God was born (emanationism). The universe could not yet be formed and to do so, God created yin and yang. He took control of yang and shed a part of himself, creating the Goddess to preside over yin. In the presence of yin and yang, the universe was materialized. The Goddess is, literally, the mother of the myriad of things in the Universe. Caodaiists worship not only God the father, but also the Holy Mother, literally referred to as the Mother Buddha. Note that God's importance and role is higher than that of the Mother Buddha. Also, the Mother Buddha, like all buddhas, is a part of Yang, and therefore is male. Yin is the female side, and the Mother Buddha oversees Yin, but is not a part of Yin. God is symbolized by the Divine Eye, specifically the left eye because Yang is the left side and God is the master of Yang. There are 36 levels of Heaven and 72 planets harboring intelligent life, with number one being the closest to heaven and 72 nearest to Hell. Earth is number 68. It is said that even the lowest citizen on planet 67 would not trade place with a king on 68 and so forth.^[1]

The Three Teachings[link]

In the order of most to least difficult, the Three Teachings within Caodaiism are:

• Buddha
• Sage
• Saint

The Three Teachings represent hierarchical levels of spiritual attainment, with buddha as the highest. Caodaiism's various stages of spiritual development from human on up are: Thần (angel), Thánh (saint), Tiên (sage), and Phật (buddha). Angels, saints and sages may have, accordingly, extremely long lives in the realms of heaven, but only buddhas are free from the cycle of birth and death.^{[citation needed]}

The three periods of Revelation and Salvation[link]

First period[link]

1. The Teachings of Buddhas – Dipankara buddha
2. The Teachings of Sages
3. The Teachings of Saints – Fu Xi

Second period[link]

1. The Teachings of Buddhas – Shakyamuni buddha
2. The Teachings of Sages – Laozi
3. The Teachings of Saints – Confucius and Jesus

Third period[link]

God is at the helm. He will not take human form as in the past two periods. Instead, he sends his teachings via sacred seance ceremonies.

The Three Anchors, representatives of the Three Teachings are:

1. The Teachings of Buddhas – Quan Yin
2. The Teachings of Sages – Li Po
3. The Teachings of Saints – Guan Yu

Note: Jesus is regarded as a Buddha and true Son of God, shed directly from God.

Saints and holy spirits[link]

Although various sects of Caodaiism claim to have received messages from numerous spiritual entities, the Tây Ninh Holy See acknowledges significantly fewer. Inside the Holy See is a painting depicting the Three Saints signing a covenant between God and humanity. From left to right, they are Sun Yat-sen, Victor Hugo and Nguyễn Bỉnh Khiêm. Other saints are Buddha, Jesus, Mohammed, William Shakespeare, Joan of Arc and Napoleon Bonaparte. Around 70 holy spirits also exist including Thomas Jefferson, Winston Churchill, Lenin, Victor Hugo, Descartes, Louis Pasteur, Leon Tolstoy and Li Bo, among others.^[6]

Holy Scriptures[link]

These are some of the main Tây Ninh Holy See's scriptures:

• Kinh Thiên Đạo Và Thế Đạo (Prayers of the Heavenly and the Earthly Way) - prayers for Worship and for Daily Living
• Pháp Chánh Truyền (The Religious Constitution of Caodaiism) - information on the election of officials, their powers and ritual dress
• Tân Luật (The New Canonical Codes) - laws regulating religious, secular and monastic life
• Thánh Ngôn Hiệp Tuyển (Compilation of Divine Messages)
• The Sermons of His Holiness Hộ Pháp Phạm Công Tắc

Other sects have additional scriptures.

Organizational structure[link]

Inside the Tây Ninh Holy See

Caodaiism's organizational structure closely resembles that of many states. Its legislative, executive and judicial branches are the Cửu Trùng Đài, the Hiệp Thiên Đài, and the Bát Quái Đài. The head of the executive branch is called "Giáo Tông", which means leader or head of a philosophical or religious organization. It is no coincidence there are similarities between the hierarchy of Caodaiism's dignitaries and those of the Catholic Church because Caodaiists claim the same God created both religions. Cao Đài's hierarchy includes a pope, cardinals, bishops, priests, etc. and a few more ranks and titles of which there are no official English translation yet. Caodaiism stresses equality among men and women in society. However, in the spiritual domain, ordained women may not attain the two highest positions: Legislative Cardinal and Pope. The church claims this is ordered by God, who declared that because Yang represents male and Yin corresponds to female, Yin cannot dominate Yang spiritually or else chaos ensues.^[7]

Branches[link]

In total, there are six different officially recognized branches of the Cao Đài church in southern Vietnam, as well as several others that remain unrecognized. These sects generally divide along geographic lines. The largest is based in Tây Ninh Province, where the religion was founded in 1926 and where the seat of Cao Đài authority is located. The Executive Council of Tây Ninh Province Cao Đài received official government recognition in 1997. Independent Cao Đài groups allege that government interference has undermined the independence of the Tây Ninh group, and it no longer faithfully upholds Cao Đài principles and traditions. Religious training takes place at individual temples rather than at centralized schools; Cao Đài officials have indicated they don't wish to open a seminary.^[8] Some Cao Đài sects that have broken away from the Tây Ninh Holy See are Chiếu Minh, Bến Tre, and Đà Nẵng. Ngô Văn Chiêu founded Chiếu Minh when he left the original church structure, refusing his appointment as Caodaiism's first Pope.^{[citation needed]}

History[link]

Cao Đài was established in the Vietnamese city of Tây Ninh in 1926. During the First and Second Indochina Wars, members of Cao Đài (along with several other Vietnamese sects, such as Hòa Hảo) were active in political and military struggles, both against French colonial forces and Prime Minister Ngô Đình Diệm of South Vietnam.^[8][9]

Their opposition to the communist forces until 1975 was a factor in their repression after the fall of Saigon in 1975, when the incoming communist government proscribed the practice of Cao Đài.^[10] In 1997, the Cao Đài was granted legal recognition.^[8]

See also[link]

• General Trình Minh Thế
• I-Kuan Tao, a similar syncretistic, monotheistic religion based in Taiwan
• Hoa Hao

References[link]

Sources[link]

• U.S. Department of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. Vietnam: International Religious Freedom Report 2005. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Cao Đài

• Cao Đài official website
• Cao Đài Temple at Travel Vietnam site
• Centre for Studies in Caodaiism, Sydney
• Cao Đài Overseas Missionary
• Hội Văn Hóa Cao Đài – Caodai Cultural Association, Australia
• Cao Đài profile
• PBS feature: Cao Đài

Look up dai in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Dai can mean:

• Dai people, one of the 56 recognized ethnic minorities of China
• Dai (Yindu), ethnic tribe of Chin, Myanmar
• Dai County, in Shanxi, China
• Dai (Spring and Autumn Period), a state during the Spring and Autumn Period
• Dai (Sixteen Kingdoms), a Xianbei state during the Sixteen Kingdoms era of history of China
• Da'i (Arabic: "missionary") refers to a person who engages in Dawah, the act of inviting people to Islam
• A greeting and farewell used by the wizards in Diane Duane's Young Wizards series

Acronyms[link]

• DAI, an international development firm formerly known as Development Alternatives Inc.
• The DAI Personal Computer, an early home computer from Belgium
• the New York Stock Exchange and Frankfurt Stock Exchange stock symbol for automaker Daimler AG, maker of Mercedes-Benz
• Dangerous Anthropogenic Interference refers to changes in the Earth's climate system, resulting from human activity, which are considered to be dangerous to human communities and to ecosystems
• Darjeeling Airport IATA code of Darjeeling airport in India
• De Administrando Imperio, a Byzantine historical compilation written by Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitos
• Deutsches Archäologisches Institut (German Archaeological Institute), an archaeological institute operated by the German ministry of foreign affairs
• the Deutsch-Amerikanisches Institut (German-American Institute)
• Diffuse axonal injury, a type of traumatic brain injury
• Digital Author Identification, Dutch Author Identification system to assign a unique number to all authors in the Dutch research system
• Direct Audio Input, a port used in hearing aids and hearing instruments
• Distributed artificial intelligence, a subfield of artificial intelligence
• Do As Infinity, a Japanese band
• Doctor's Associates, Inc., a US-based restaurant company which owns the Subway restaurant name
• Dynamic ARP Inspection, an ARP Spoofing or ARP Poison/Routing (APR) protection method developed by Cisco

Names[link]

• Dai, the Welsh diminutive form of David (name) or its Welsh equivalent Dafydd
• Dai, a Chinese surname
• Dai Davies (footballer)
• Dai Davies (politician)
• Dai Matsumoto, a Japanese voice actor
• Dai Nagao, Japanese composer, musician and producer
• Dai Satō, a Japanese screenwriter and musician
• Dai Ward, Wales international footballer
• Dai Young, Wales international rugby union player
• Dai Henwood, a New Zealand comedian

Music[link]

• "Dai the Flu", a song on the Deftones album Around the Fur

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There are many people in history who are commonly appended with the phrase "the Great", or who were called that or an equivalent phrase in their own language. Other languages have their own suffixes such as e Bozorg and e azam in Persian and Urdu respectively.

In Persia, the title "the Great" at first seems to be a colloquial version of the Old Persian title "Great King". This title was first used by the conqueror Cyrus II of Persia.^[1]

The Persian title was inherited by Alexander III of Macedon (336–323 BC) when he conquered the Persian Empire, and the epithet "Great" eventually became personally associated with him. The first reference (in a comedy by Plautus)^[2] assumes that everyone knew who "Alexander the Great" was; however, there is no earlier evidence that Alexander III of Macedon was called "the Great".

The early Seleucid kings, who succeeded Alexander in Persia, used "Great King" in local documents, but the title was most notably used for Antiochus the Great (223–187 BC).

Later rulers and commanders began to use the epithet "the Great" as a personal name, like the Roman general Pompey. Others received the surname retrospectively, like the Carthaginian Hanno and the Indian emperor Ashoka the Great. Once the surname gained currency, it was also used as an honorific surname for people without political careers, like the philosopher Albert the Great.

As there are no objective criteria for "greatness", the persistence of later generations in using the designation greatly varies. For example, Louis XIV of France was often referred to as "The Great" in his lifetime but is rarely called such nowadays, while Frederick II of Prussia is still called "The Great". A later Hohenzollern - Wilhelm I - was often called "The Great" in the time of his grandson Wilhelm II, but rarely later.

Rulers[link]

• Abbas I of Persia (1571–1629), Shah of Iran
• Akbar (1542–1605), ruler of the Mughal Empire of South Asia, mainly India
• Alain I of Albret (1440–1522), French aristocrat
• Alexander the Great (356-323 BC), King of Macedonia, Persia, Greece, Egypt, and all of Mesopotamia
• Alexander I of Georgia (1386–1446), King of Georgia
• Alfonso III of León (c. 848-910), King of León, Galicia and Asturias
• Alfred the Great (848/849-899), King of Wessex
• Antiochus III the Great (c. 241–187 BC), ruler of the Seleucid Empire
• Ashoka the Great (c. 304–232 BC), Indian emperor of the Maurya dynasty
• Ashot I of Iberia “the Great”(died 826/830), presiding prince of Iberia (modern Georgia),
• Askia Mohammad I (c. 1442–1538), ruler of the Songhai Empire
• Bhumibol Adulyadej (born 1927), King of Thailand
• Bolesław I Chrobry (967-1025), sometimes called "the Great", first King of Poland
• Bruno the Great (925–965), Archbishop of Cologne and Duke of Lotharingia (also listed in the following section)
• Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke (1736–1809), founder and ruler of the Rattanakosin Kingdom (in what is now Thailand)
• Cnut the Great (c. 985 or 995-1035), King of Denmark, England, Norway and parts of Sweden
• Casimir III the Great (1310–1370), King of Poland
• Catherine the Great (1729–1796), Empress of Russia
• Chandragupta II (reigned 375-413/415), also known as Vikramaditya, ruler of the Gupta empire in India
• Charlemagne (died 814), King of the Franks and Emperor of the Romans
• Chulalongkorn (1853–1910), King of Siam (now Thailand)
• Chlothar II (584-629), King of Neustria and King of the Franks
• Conrad, Margrave of Meissen (c. 1097-1157), Margrave of Meissen
• Constantine I (c. 272-337), Roman emperor
• Cyaxares the Great (c. 625-585 BC), third king of Media
• Cyrus the Great (c. 600 BC or 576 BC–530 BC), founder and ruler of the Persian or Achaemenid Empire
• Darius the Great (550 – 486 BC), third ruler of the Persian Empire
• Devapala (died 850), ruler of the Pala Empire in the Indian subcontinent
• Dionysius I, Greek tyrant of Syracuse^[3]
• Ferdinand I of León and Castile (c. 1015–1065), King of León and Count of Castile
• Frederick the Great (1712–1786), King of Prussia
• Genghis Khan (1162?-1227), founder and Great Khan of the Mongol Empire
• Gero (c. 900–965), ruler of Marca Geronis, a very large march in Europe
• Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden (1594–1632), King of Sweden, founder of the Swedish Empire, and noted military leader
• Gwanggaeto the Great, King of Goguryeo, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea^[4][5]
• Hanno the Great, the name of three leaders of Carthage, in the 4th, 3rd, and 2nd centuries BC
• Henry I, Duke of Burgundy (946–1002)
• Henry IV of France (1553–1610), King of France and King of Navarre
• Herod the Great (73/74 BC-4 BC), King of Judea
• Hugh the Great (898-956), Duke of the Franks and Count of Paris
• Hugh Magnus of France (1007–1025), co-King of France
• Hugh I, Count of Vermandois (1057–1101)
• Humphrey I de Bohun (died c. 1123), Anglo-Norman aristocrat
• Ivan III of Russia (1440–1505), Tsar of Russia
• John I of Portugal (1358–1433), King of Portugal and the Algarve
• John II of Aragon (1398–1479), King of Aragon and, through his wife, King of Navarre
• Justinian I (483-565), Byzantine Emperor
• Kamehameha I (c. 1758-1819), first King of Hawai'i
• Kanishka (died c. 127), ruler of the Kushan Empire in Central Asia and parts of India
• Kvirike III of Kakheti (1010–1029), King of Kakheti in eastern Georgia
• Kublai Khan (1215–1294), Mongol ruler in the 13th century and Emperor of China; founder of the Yuan Dynasty
• Llywelyn the Great (c. 1172–1240), Prince of Gwynedd and de facto ruler of most of Wales
• Louis I of Hungary (1326–1382), King of Hungary, Croatia and Poland
• Mangrai the Great (1238–1317), Lanna, northern Thailand
• Emperor Meiji (1852–1912), Emperor of Japan
• Mircea I of Wallachia (1355–1418)
• Mithridates II of Parthia (died 88 BC), ruler of the Parthian Empire (in present day Iran)
• Mithridates VI of Pontus (134 BC–63 BC), ruler of Pontus and the Bosporan Kingdom
• Mstislav I of Kiev (1076–1132), Grand Prince of Kievan Rus
• Naresuan (1555–1605), King of Ayutthaya
• Narai (1633–1688), King of Ayutthaya (in what is now modern Thailand)
• Odo the Great (died c. 735), Duke of Aquitaine
• Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor (912-973)
• K'inich Janaab' Pakal (603-683), ruler of the Mayan city-state of Palenque
• Parakramabahu I of Polonnaruwa (1123–1186), King of Sri Lanka
• Peter Krešimir IV of Croatia (died 1075), King of Croatia
• Peter the Great (1672–1725), Tsar of Russia
• Peter III of Aragon (1239–1285), King of Aragon and King of Sicily
• Pompey (106 BC-48 BC), military and political leader of the late Roman Republic, rival of Julius Caesar
• Radama I (1793–1828), first king of greater Madagascar
• Raja Raja Chola I (c. 947-1014), Indian emperor of the Cholas.^[6][7][8]
• Rajendra Chola I (reigned 1014–1044), Tamil King of India
• Ramesses II (reigned 1279 BC – 1213 BC), considered the greatest pharaoh of Ancient Egypt
• Ram Khamhaeng (around 1237 to 1247-1298), King of Sukhothai (in present day Thailand)
• Ramon Berenguer III, Count of Barcelona (1082–1131), also Count of Provence and various other counties
• Rhodri the Great (c. 820–878), King of Gwynedd (in present day Wales)
• Roman the Great (after 1160-1205), Grand Prince of Kiev
• Saladin (c. 1138-1193), Kurdish Sultan of Egypt and Syria, founder of the Ayyubid dynasty, and victor over the Crusaders
• Samudragupta (c. 335–375), ruler of the Gupta empire in the Indian subcontinent
• Sancho III of Navarre (c. 992-1035), King of Kingdom of Navarre
• Sargon of Akkad (died c. 2215 BC), ruler of the Akkadian Empire
• Sejong the Great (1397–1450), Korean king^[9]
• Shapur II (309-379), king of the Sassanid Empire, Persia
• Simeon I of Bulgaria (864/865-927), ruler of the First Bulgarian Empire
• Stephen III of Moldavia (1433–1504), Prince of Moldavia (Romania)
• Stephen Uroš IV Dušan of Serbia (c. 1308-1355), King of Serbia and Emperor of the Serbs and Greeks
• Taksin (1734–1782), King of the Thonburi Kingdom (Thailand)
• Tamar (1160-1123), Queen of the Georgian Empire
• Timur (1336–1405), better known as Tamerlane, founder of the Timurid Dynasty
• Theobald II, Count of Champagne (1090–1151), Count of Blois and of Chartres as Theobald IV, Count of Champagne and of Brie
• Theodoric the Great (454-526), King of the Ostrogoths, regent of the Visigoths and a viceroy of the Byzantine Empire
• Theodosius I (347-395), Roman emperor
• Tigranes the Great (140-55 BC), Emperor of Armenia
• Tiridates III of Armenia (285-339), King of Armenia
• Umar (c. 586 to 590–644), second caliph of the Muslim Empire
• Valdemar I of Denmark (1131–1182), King of Denmark
• Valentinian I (364-375), Roman Emperor
• Vladimir I of Kiev (c. 958-1015), ruler of Kievan Rus
• Vytautas (c. 1350-1430), archduke of the Lithuanian Grand Duchy
• William I, Count of Burgundy (1020–1087), Count of Burgandy and Mâcon
• William V, Duke of Aquitaine (969-1030), also Count of Poitou
• Xerxes I (519-465 BC), King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire (Persia)
• Yu the Great (c. 2200-2100 BC), legendary ruler in ancient China

Religious figures[link]

• Abraham the Great of Kashkar (ca. 492-586), monk and saint of the Assyrian Church of the East
• Abraham Kidunaia (died c. 366, hermit, priest, and Christian saint of Mesopotamia
• Albertus Magnus (1193/1206–1280), medieval German philosopher and theologian
• Anthony the Great (c. 251–356), early Christian saint of Egypt
• Babai the Great (c. 551–628), Assyrian church leader
• Basil of Caesarea (330-379), Greek bishop and theologian
• Bruno the Great (925–965), Archbishop of Cologne and Duke of Lotharingia (also listed in the previous section)
• Euthymius the Great (377-473), abbot and Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox saint
• Gertrude the Great (1256-c. 1302), German Benedictine, mystic, theologian and Roman Catholic saint
• Pope Gregory I (c. 540-604)
• Hiyya the Great, 3rd-century rabbi, Palestine
• Pope John Paul II (1920–2005)
• Pope Leo I (c. 391 or 400-461)
• Macarius of Egypt (c. 300-391), Egyptian hermit
• Pope Nicholas I (c. 800-867)
• Photius I of Constantinople (c. 810–c. 893), Eastern Orthodox saint and Patriarch of Constantinople
• William of Maleval (died 1157), founder of the Catholic congregation of Williamites

Other[link]

• Beli Mawr, a figure in medieval Welsh literature and genealogies
• Emmy the Great, folk singer
• Matteo Rosso the Great, Roman politician and father of Pope Nicholas III
• Prokop the Great, Hussite general in Bohemia

See also[link]

• Epithet
• List of monarchs by nickname
• List of nicknames of European Royalty and Nobility: G-I
• James, son of Zebedee, also known as James the Greater, one of the twelve apostles of Jesus
• Ajax (mythology), called Ajax the Greater
• Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, whose common honorific "Mahatma" means "Great Soul"

Notes[link]