Has anyone ever heard of Caodaoism?

[3-24-2022]

I thought this was very interesting how large this religion is.

 Estimates of the number of Caodaists in Vietnam vary; government figures estimate 4.4 million Caodaists affiliated to the Cao Đài Tây Ninh Holy See, with numbers rising up to 6 million if other branches are added.[4][5][6][7][8] However estimates vary. The United Nations found about 2.5 million Cao Dai followers in Vietnam as of January 2015.[9][10] An additional number of adherents in the tens of thousands, primarily ethnic Vietnamese, live in North America, Cambodia, Europe and Australia as part of the Cao Dai diaspora.

It's a religion from southern Vietnam that practices channeling. During the Vietnam war the followers were mostly aligned to the French and American powers, so many immigrated to the US and Europe, where they established temples.

In the nineteenth century, Spiritism became established in Europe. The likes of Madam Blavatsky, Allan Kardec and Victor Hugo championed new religious possibilities. In Vietnam, the age-old traditions of Asian divination and mediumship began to mix with the new traditions of European Spiritism.

To highlight this objective of unity, there is a representation of the Divine Covenant of The Third Amnesty (The Third Alliance) inside every Cao Đài Temple. This Covenant between Heaven and Earth is written and presented to humanity by the Venerable Saints – Victor Hugo, Sun Yat Sen and Trạng Trình Nguyễn Bỉnh Khiêm. Their mission is said to guide humanity into the way of the Third Amnesty. The Covenant is written in French: "Dieu et Humanité Amour et Justice; and in Chinese: 天上天下 博愛公平. This translates into English as: "God and Humanity [for] Love and Justice."[17



Caodaism - Wikipedia

[3-24-2022]

Here is a good Youtube video about it from APnews

RR0217/C Vietnam: Caodaism

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PL_A_iHZ7CI

[3-24-2022]

I have read more about this religion.

In summary, a tradition once existed in Vietnam of Buddhist, Confucian, and Taoist religion called tam giao
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_teachings
The robes of the cao dai religion are red, yellow, and blue each signifying these three schools.

However, Confucians do not practice monasticism. What made Cao dai its own religion is that it developed in South Vietnam, and the Catholicism and Spiritism mediumship that French and other Christian missionaries introduced made the South Vietnamese of Tay Ninh integrate the structure of a Church with temples and cardinals/popes.

[flofrog]

whoa, 3-24-2022, thank you that's wild.. and I thought I knew Victor Hugo., harassed somewhat by my dad to read everything he wrote.

[3-24-2022]

Here's another religious sect which was a part of the competition for South Vietnam which opposed the Cao Dai.

The video I linked says the Cao Dai sided with the French but for a while they were opposed to Catholicism and from what I've researched it seems that a lot of eventually people had to choose between the Viet Minh or French, even if they were not supportive of either but did not like the non-religious attitude of the communists. There was even a Japanese element in the conflict.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%B2a_H%E1%BA%A3o