Cao Dai

by Nadia Kim

photos by Audrey Samuel

We, the travellers in search of Saigon visited the Cao Dai Temple on Day Two. Cao Dai temple is in the city of Tay Ninh, southern Vietnam, about 2 hours drive away from the centre of Saigon.

Cao Dai is a syncretic religion that combines faith elements of Taoism, Christianity and Buddhism. This religion believes in the principle that all religions have one same divine origin. In addition, the religion emphasizes the practice of loving other living beings and the avoidance of harming others so that one may enter heaven.

The interiors of the temple.

On every window around the temple is painted the motif of an eye, which depicts the left eye of God, the master of heart, the two sources of pure light which are Yin and Yang. There are three animals carved as a motif displayed in the temple- dragon, unicorn and turtle. The dragon represents power, the unicorn prosperity, and the turtle wisdom.

A painting inside the temple.

In addition, the followers worship the three significant saints, the signatories of the third alliance between God and Mankind - Sun Yat-Sen, Victor Hugo and Nguyen Binh-Khiem. Sun Yat-Sen was a leader of the Chinese Revolution in 1911; Victor Hugo a French famed poet who was passionate about social justice, revealing himself under the name of Chuong Dao Nguyen Tam Chan Nhan, the last Nguyen Binh-Khiem a Vietnamese administrator, educator and poet who was famous for his reported ability of foretelling the future

There are two entrances- one for men and the other for women. Although there is no physical boundary that separates men from women, the men tend to stay at the right side of the temple to sit and pray, while the women worship at the left side of the temple. All of the worshippers don white-coloured traditional Vietnamese robes similar to that of the ao dai. The women tie their hair into tight buns while the men are spotted with black hats. There are three priests dressed in red, blue and yellow robes. The red Vietnamese dress symbolizes the Christian roots of the Cao Dai belief system; yellow refers to Buddhist origins of the Cao Dai faith while blue emblematizes that of Taoism.

Priests during the ceremony.

Devotees of the Cao Dai pray four times a day as they face the altar of an eye displayed in the centre of the temple. While we were at the temple, the bell rang at noon notifying the time for prayer; as the devotees started gathering in the temple, we gathered round to observe the ceremony, moving onto our next destination having enlightened ourselves after yet another informative visit to a religion not known to many.

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Nadia Namwoo Kim, the crazy Korean, studies International Studies. She will eat you if she is hungry. Beware!