We followed a full day tour with Tuan Travel to the Cao Dai Temple and Cu Chi Tunnel. The tour guide was a chatty and good looking guy. The bus picked us up from our hotel that morning and we assembled with other tourists, who were also following the same tour.
Our first destination is Cao Dai Temple, which is located in Tay Ninh province.
The journey was quite far; it took about 2 hrs. In between, we made a stop at the ceramic factory for toilet break.
These were some of the art work sold at the Ceramic factory. It's hard to believe that these masterpieces were created by handicapped workers, who were disfigured by Agent Orange, a biological warfare used in Vietnam War. Although it would be of great help to the handicapped workers if we buy their beautiful art work, none of us bought anything.
I was amazed by the woman artist, who used egg shells for her paintings. She is really talented. Sad to say that for some of these artists, their talent will just remain in this factory. Looking at the bright side, at least they were better of than some, who would rather use dishonest means to earn a living. Worse, to become beggars along the streets. To these workers in the factory, I admire them the most.
We set off to Cao Dai Temple...
http://www.tripwow.tripadvisor.com
...and reached the temple around 12 noon, which was just in time for the prayer service. This place is massive, surrounded by many gates and large courtyards that stretched beyond the Temple.
What does Cao Dai means?
Cao Dai literally means high tower. I think it also represents being supreme above the rest. This religious sect is called Caodaism and it is claimed to be founded in the 1920s. The religion is uniquely Vietnam and there are around 2 to 6 million followers today. In fact, it is the third largest religion in Vietnam and at one point, Caodaist religious leaders harbored the idea of instituting Caodaism as the Vietnamese state religion.
Cao Dai worshippers wearing white robes on their way to the temple. I thought they were Muslims at first; they looked like Indian and Pakistani Muslims with their turbans. Unlike Muslims, Caodaists pray 4 times a day - 6 am, noon, 6 pm & midnight.
We had to take off our footwear to enter the temple. The temple structure look like a church from the front view and a temple from side view. I found it strange because it seems that the architect got mixed up with the designs. Confusing too because in my logical mind, this religion seemed to be a fusion of all the major religions.
Walking gingerly into the huge hall, I noticed the dragon carvings encircling each pillar.
According to the Chinese beliefs, dragons protect the house of God. In this case, dragons protected the pillars, that held the Temple in its magnificence. I noted that everything was constructed with grandiose in mind; even the carvings and drawings were intricately elaborate.
Visitors are welcomed in the temple as long as we do not obstruct the ceremony. We viewed the ceremony from the 2nd floor.
Here, the worshippers stood in rows and waited for the bell to ring (like Christians??). Again the way they stood look like how prayers are done in Islam.
When the bell rung, the bishops, who wore colored robes, led the ceremony. The different colored robes symbolize their ranks and their spiritual allegiance. The normal followers were robed in white; the female worshippers on the left, also followed certain ranks. Those with ranks covered their heads with white scarves.
I was right about Caodaism being a fusion. According to the tour guide, yellow symbolizes Buddhism, blue - Taoism, and red - Confucianism. I think the tour guide forgot to mention that it's not just the Chinese, the Western (Christianity) and Indian (Islam) thoughts, and cultures had also been harmonized to form Caodaism.
The ceremony was accompanied by music and a choir.
Seems like there were also ranks based on seniority. Young girls/women participated in the ceremony by chanting and young boys/men played the musical instruments.
Near the hall, there was a plaque, which stated 3 people, who were venerated as saints - Sun Yat Sen (Chinese revolutionary leader), Victor Hugo (French poet) and Nguyen Binh Khiem (Vietnamese poet). I am not sure why these 3 people were the chosen ones, but notice the ceiling of the temple; it was painted blue with fluffy clouds and 'friendly' dragons.
http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/vietnam/longxuyen/caidai/caodai4.html
So the poets were chosen because as the clouds suggested; there was always time to daydream and poets wrote their poetry in such a manner, where emotions were recollected in tranquility. The dragons, on the other hand, signified strength and character, which is why Sun Yat Sen was chosen. Perhaps, the Caodaist see their religion as revolutionary.
LOL.. my logical sense... these rationalization were made up by me..
Or the drawings on the ceiling just symbolized Celestial dragons in heaven. Or dragons protecting the ceiling, which sheltered the Temple.
Moving on...
The tour guide stated that Caodaism was involved in the nationalist movement in the past, against the French who colonized Saigon, and the Viet Minh which was led by Ho Chi Minh from the North. The movement was rather influential and had spread to Cambodia but it was destroyed by the Khmer Rouge in 1975. Due to its political history, the Vietnamese government still see Caodaism as a threat and has suppressed its activities to a certain extent till today.
Revolutionary --> Sun Yat Sen... Hmm.. hmm...
So who or what were the Cao Dai worshippers praying to?
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Cao Dai worshippers pray to the Divine Left Eye, whom/which they consider their God. The Eye symbols were everywhere in the Temple; there was one at the altar, which I did not take with my camera - that Eye was rather scary. According to the Caodaist, that Eye had a vision of the All-Seeing eyes and it was said that all religions will one day eventually return to it.
Further reading:
http://caodai.org.au/pdf/Caodiasm_as_History_Philosophy_and_Religion.pdf
Continue the next post with my visit to Cu Chi Tunnel.
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