Western
Calendar: 16 th August 1932.
My Dear Caodaist Brothers and Sisters,
For a year, Caodaism has been in trouble. This in-fighting degrades the
noble purpose that has been assigned to our religion by God. So far, I have not
made any apologies. Some of you may therefore think I have taken the side of
some of the current Caodaist senior dignitaries rather than support some other
camp.
Additionally, slanderous rumors have recently been spread about by a number
of rebellious Caodaist schismatics. I do not need to elaborate upon these
rumors or even spend time refuting them. Let these issues be judged by people
who can see them with a clear conscience. There is one thing, however, that I
am sure about: I am certain that I have never been partisan. Generally, people
who take one side or another do so because they want to attain something from
somebody, they want a share of power, a particular benefit, to win friends, or
plot against us. Obviously,
Caodaism has no fame, there is no privilege or power for you to pursue
here. Some might say yes there is, but these are fake holy men who live only by
stealing from others.
In real life, no-one dares declare that they are out to pursue power and
benefit. This is insane. If they did, we would keep away from them. Instead,
they pretend to be of high morals. They do this to seduce those of us who are
honest. It is then that they can achieve authority over us and steal the
hard-won possessions of the honest.
These are the ones who deploy virtues like slogans. Predictably, they begin
their campaign by criticizing others. This is how they show off their
righteousness. Righteousness! Righteousness! It is righteousness, you know,
that helps lots of heroes rise to become kings of the nation. For example:
King Jie became immoral, so Tang of Shang was able to overthrow him and
found the Shang Dynasty. King Zhou of Shang was also immoral, so Wu of Zhou
overthrew him and became King Wu of the Zhou Dynasty. King You of Zhou was far
too immoral, so other nobles were able to defeat him. We can see that the
rulers of The Six Kingdoms grew too immoral, so Ying Zheng united China
Righteousness is so powerful that the evil-minded take advantage of it for
their own benefit. Nevertheless, a wise person never falls for the tricks of
these evil people. Therefore, when Zhuge Liang gave a flattering eulogy at Zhou
You’s funeral, Shiyuan, who knew Zhuge Liang’s true intentions, did not show
any grief.
Like Shiyuan, I have turned a deaf ear to the rumors spread by these
rebellious Caodaist schismatics. I simply chuckled to myself as they did what
they could do to speak ill of me behind my back.
The only thing that concerns me is that they use this slogan of righteousness,
which is both a Confucian and Caodaist principle, to trick others into
believing that they are genuine and holy people. Fortunately, everyone knows
that they are imposters.
Now, I am going to discuss with you what is the Dao.
What is the Dao?
The “Đạo” 1 is a term temporarily used to identify or refer to the spiritual
realm. Our Confucian forefathers said: “It is the mystery of the relationship
between God and His creatures.” 2 Confucian scholars promote and contemplate
the principle that says: “God and Man rule the world together.” This is the
secular law for human societies. In light of this, there should be a mutually supportive
relationship between the religious life and the secular life. Man must
cultivate himself to be as righteous as God. The way to do this is also called
“Đạo.”
Shintoists worship nature spirits and promote the principle that “Sincere
prayers will be granted.” This practice is also called the “Đạo.” Christians
aim at saving people, saying that God is within Mankind. Therefore, a love for
the people is equal to the love for God. The practice of this is also called
the “Đạo.” Taoists try to achieve calmness by seeking out a quiet refuge, they
explain that our minds are blunted because of the disturbances we suffer in life.
The way to achieve this calmness is also named the “Đạo.” Buddhists hold that
consciousness, which allows you to reason, keeps you too attached to the
physical world. This should be eliminated so that you can gain enlightenment.
How to achieve this detachment is also called the “Đạo.”
According to one of the Confucian four noble books, the Zhongyong 3 (The
Doctrine of the Mean) we read: “What God confers is called Nature; How to live
in accordance with this Nature is called the Path; the regulation of this path is
called Instruction.” Let us break this down:
What God confers is called Nature: God grants to humanity both our nature
(or our “souls”) and our destiny. It is not only
1- The utmost principle of the universe, a religion, the way to practice a
religion.
2- Do we know from which Confucian text this is found?
3- A Confucian Classic, by Zisi, a grandson of Confucius.
humanity but also other living beings who have souls granted to them by
God. How much spiritual advancement a soul is able to achieve decides how good
or bad that person’s destiny shall be.
How to live in accordance with this Nature is called the Path: most humans
have to struggle for food and clothes in their community. As such they
sometimes become too materialistic to know the true Path. Nevertheless, a few
of them, who are full of wisdom, know that they must live in accordance with the
Path in order to unite with God.
The regulation of this path is called Instruction (education or religious
cultivation): those who follow the Path either teach themselves or learn from
wiser persons. The techniques of these wiser persons gradually form into
communities called religions. Thiệu Khương Tiết 4 added, “Superior people are instinctively
good, so they do not need any education. They are Saints; Average people will
become good if properly educated. They are virtuous people. Lower than this,
people will never become good though properly educated. They are of small
mind.” Therefore, only Saints can teach themselves to become virtuous people.
All the other ranks of people need some kind of education or religious
guidance.
Who is God?
God is the most high and lofty one. He is powerful enough to create the
universe, humankind, and all the other living beings. He is the father of all
life, the lord of all souls. He is the king of all divine beings. He is the
supreme being that all peoples on earth turn to in their worship. He is as
mysterious and as infinite as the pace he creates. His nature is as
incomprehensible and unknowable as the universe. You can partly understand this
when.
4- Or Thiệu Khang Tiết, a Chinese poet and researcher (1011-1071)
you consider what humanity has created so far. The more you ponder upon the
nature of God, the more fearsomely miraculous it all seems.
In both Europe and Asia there
are a large number of highly educated people who do not believe in any
religion. They want to seek the answer to the question of life on their own.
They have thoroughly examined the material world in order to find out who
God is. The more they study, the more confused they become. At last, they
have to exclaim: “God is absolutely high! God is infinitely great!” They are so
disappointed that they often want to give up. However, they are compelled to
carry out further research for two reasons: first, they want to know the system
to which they belong; second, the evolution of the universe inspires their
desire for more knowledge. Due to the difficulty of their task and while researching
on their own, they resign themselves to joining a religion like ordinary people
in spite of each religion’s particular regulations. They accept whatever the
new religion says about God though it may sound scientifically unacceptable.
They do this because they know that their so-called superior education has been
ineffective in studying the nature of God up until this moment.
Sometimes these highly educated, but indecisive, people have to give in to
more powerful political forces.
One example of this is Galileo Galilei. He was an Italian mathematician,
physicist, and astronomer from Pisa Pisa
Since creation, nobody has ever seen God. He is the mighty and invisible
creator. It is a most precious reward for someone, even for very advanced
divine beings, to be with God. This is well understood! Everyone wants to
achieve a close companionship with such a significant intellectual, not to
mention the fact that they can achieve this with the Supreme Being. However,
there has been no concrete evidence that such a meeting has ever taken place!
Some fear him because they understand the injunction: “for whatever a man sows,
so shall he also reap.” Therefore, they guess that there must be someone who
rules the world. Some love him because they see that everything in nature has
been forged for the benefit of the people. Some admire his talents because he reigns
over the universe without bias and without leaving anyone behind.
However, there are people who hate and blaspheme God. They are too unworthy
to be mentioned here. There are some religious founders, who are instinctively
religious, these are people who used to be close to God in heaven or who have
attained enlightenment. On earth they naturally believe in God even though they
have only briefly heard of Him. They even cry tears of love when someone
mentions His name. It is almost impossible to describe this kind of affection.
Except for the founders of great religions, most people are just curious.
Some of these think God is only an imaginary being (I do not dare judge these
people. Think twice and judge them for yourselves, please!). These people may
follow some doctrine which takes advantage of God’s name for their private
benefit.
They do not believe in God at all, but they may form a weird kind of
religion out of his name! This is acceptable if they carry out deeds based on
their conscience and it is fine if they ignore the Master of this conscience
(i.e. God), but it is never fair if they are called on to judge themselves.
Therefore, a few people contend that God does not exist. They say that their
bodies are controlled by their brains and there is nothing left of any of us
after we die.
Therefore, they do not believe in any religious doctrine. They respect the
progress of the material world and their target to aim for is nothing but
earthly happiness.
To this point, you might be really upset and question this attitude saying:
“Where do those people come from and why do they reject their origins?”
Following from this, there might ensue an endless argument in which we humans
will exchange what we think is the most logical answer. We can argue this point
forever, the argument itself will get us nowhere. Why? Because what we think and
what knowledge we are able to attain appears only in light of God and His plan.
How much knowledge about God we gain – this was already determined by Him. Our
finite mind will never comprehend the Infinite or God in any complete way. We
are like a frog at the bottom of a well who thinks the sky is a small circle shaped
like the mouth of a well. Consequently, my dear brothers and sisters, you
should know that this matter is beyond belief. It follows then that we should
tolerate what others say about God.
You Caodaists are so lucky to be taught by God by means of the mystery of
séance. This process also is far too miraculous for the public to understand.
Oh dear! It is hard to tell whether ghosts, Buddhas, Satan, or God comes through
in the voices of these séances, isn’t it? Some say it is ghosts, but we say it
is Buddhas; some say Satan, we say God, yet no one can offer up truly
unquestionable evidence!
On many occasions, God has instructed us that we should be very cautious about
distinguishing between genuine and fake seances. In addition, He has said you
can only have a successful séance with the contribution of a medium.
Hence, were the divine messages from God or from the medium?
From the Buddha or from the medium? From Satan or from the medium? From
ghosts or from the medium? Actually, there is no certified way to tell which is
which. That is why some believers - those who have not learned about Caodaist
esoteric practices because of its difficult-to-master techniques – have
received fake messages from the séances that they have held. Especially those séances
conducted without the permission of the Caodaist Sacerdotal Council. Look! Even
at the Caodaist Inaugural Celebration, some evil force could enter our séance.
If that can happen, then unauthorized seances were surely controlled by Satan!
That is why the Caodaist dignitaries under the Hiệp Thiên Đài organization -
those who had been chosen to be the Caodaist mediums by God - had sometimes to
be ashamed and bear the humiliation of supposedly producing false messages.
These accusations mean that they have not been trusted enough by other Caodaist
believers! Please, be generous enough to tolerate them in the way that God
does. Brothers and sisters, please!
Unlike Caodaism, some religions maintain that God has no image, has
infinite power, and can do what He wants. Those contradictory opinions should
confuse you all. Therefore, I would like to literally quote the poem from a
divine being, who in one lifetime was incarnated as the great poet Victor Hugo
in France
Poem Given through Séance 20 th
of April 1930, 1 AM
Hugo:
My
respects to you Hộ Pháp,
They are
coming to slander you
To push,
once more, our brothers into chaos.
They are
out to make you miserable but
By doing
this they will only increase your renown.
Oh, what
it is to be so close to traitors!
But it is
just for this that we were born to lead.
Hộ Pháp –
let us move on from this
Give to
me your questions.
Hộ Pháp:
I wish to
be instructed on the origins of our Master
And of
his powers.
Hugo:
It is not
easy to understand this mystery,
The
eternal quest to find an answer is no longer clear.
He may
have, I tend to think,
Many more
universes than ours – worlds to infinity.
5 - Nguyệt Tâm - lunar spirit, Chơn
Nhơn - enlightened person.
6 - The moon.
These
would be more or less vast than ours
But the
life forms and beings would be the same.
One of
these would be more advanced -
From the
point of view of spirits and humanity.
At one
stage, it would look much like ours
But with
progress would become a great example.
In all
its heavens, beauty would reign,
Its
beings would be by greater part divine,
Peace and
harmony would rule its lands
Its
inhabitants would live ignorant of the word “war.”
Nothing
is relative here, all is clear:
Great
souls would compete in the tasks of escalating virtue.
All
production would be centered on science and wisdom,
And the
strength of each soul would master human fraility.
These
higher worlds would not need law
United,
as they would be, under divine faith.
Death
would be vanquished by a higher conscience.
Nothing
would distinguish the living and the dead.
The love
of each being would be widely proclaimed,
Souls and
men would be united now in holiness.
There is
amongst us, in a certain fashion,
A place
where this kind of life is germinating.
Where you
will be able, one day, to perceive its great importance.
And our
own earth will be raised to a higher level.
Hộ Pháp:
When will
the earth achieve this benefit?
Hugo:
So that
you have an awareness of your possibilities
I will
give a sacred and metaphorical explanation.
From
purgatories, it begins in the ranks of the blessed,
But will
take a long time to become the land of gods.
If we
want to know the origins of our master
You have
to be with him, to penetrate his nature.
No spirit
has a perfect inside into this.
Even
Buddha worked from assumptions.
Now, don’t
take my instructions seriously,
I only
pass on what various spirits have been thinking but
Suppose
our creator, at his very start,
Was just
a soul living in one of these other universes.
His mind
must have made so long a journey.
From
matter, he rose to human form, and then to sage.
Through
the ranks of spirits, he passed each stage
Then
finally enters into the full mystery of Creation.
Through
his successive lives, He develops a power
That
makes him master of Wisdom and Science.
He knows
also to surround Himself with the best minds.
They form
His court of assistants and friends.
Once His
heaven developed its full power
He
traversed infinity with his escort.
Hộ Pháp:
So, he
had a heaven of his own?
Hugo:
Yes, each
of us has our demarcated domain.
We make
it with the strength of our own mind.
Souls and
beings that emerge from our karmic state
Form in
this way our own sky, our own republics…
But the
people in these worlds are rarely faithful to us
For all
this is conditioned by our original error.
As long
as we neglect the secrets of its own purification process
We leave
open our skies to such terrible demons.
So, we
must ask – where does Satan, the great devil come from?
If we
look for the truth of this and disregard the folk tales on this
It comes
surely from the process of the divine –
That our
creator could not make it purely sacred.
In this
way it is the rule that those close to us are our betrayers And through jealousy, or envy, or simply by wicked capriciousness.
Ah, you
have, Hộ Pháp, a cramp in your hand –
Let us
talk again tomorrow.
Continued 21 April, 1930
This kind
of ill-speaking never ceases
But now
that we are considering our divine master
Give no
thought to these pathetic men
They will
come around when they grow some common sense.
I will
continue to develop my point of view on Genesis.
With
great respect to those who look kindly upon you.
We begin
in a place of darkness
It is
stagnant, noiseless, with an absence of movement.
Inside a
gas which is neither steam nor liquid
Sleep
these molecules at the height of their lethargy –
They are
enveloped in an overwhelming cold…
No
creature can live in this, no matter can grow.
Hộ Pháp:
Can we
say that this is the form of water
Spoken
about in the Christian version of Genesis?
Hugo:
Yes, it
is the kind of gas that we call hydrogen
More or
less dense – which make this the part that is most clean.
To say
that the spirit of God floats above the waters –
It is in
this sense that the word can be understood.
With his
astral body which is made of light
He
illuminates these inert chemicals with his warmth.
A layer
of oxygen then forms and moves into action
As the
contact of the two gasses sparks a detonation:
The
divine fire is born as the sacred waters are formed.
And under
the effect of these two elements, everything is transformed.
These
burning materials form a gas, the gas burns.
This
produces fluids, and the pure form of these give us vitality.
It is
this vitality that holds a power
To give
to spirits in both birth and death.
What
marvels all this certifies for us!
What
mysteries will it go on to keep for us?
Everything
comes from the hand of our master
- Though
it be very difficult for us to comprehend.
As the
divine fire is fed, and as it grows
It throws
its cloudy nature out towards infinity.
So,
throughout the universe this fire is seeded
These
compound within itself to break down in such a way.
That its
clouds now flourish into suns.
This
creates worlds and then more worlds with all their aspects.
And where
the consciousness of God and his light animate all things
Beings
are completely penetrated with it - even the smallest of lifeforms.
The
spirit of the divine has expanded throughout all.
Those who
are alive carry with them part of this whole.
Of these
fluids radiated with divine light
The most
impure metamorphosize into stones.
In earth,
plants, animals, or in flesh –
The most
dense in air and thee more pure in ether.
Intellect
is in this way given to all creatures,
As is due
to their states, one dose - more or less pure.
The soul
is in this way created as is the body.
And it is
this vitality that determines each soul’s fate.
From here
you can understand the rest
So, it is
here that I will stop.
Hộ Pháp:
May I
ask, however, if everything comes from our master,
Shouldn’t
everything be perfect? Why is it that we can.
Still see
the imperfections of nature?
Hugo:
What are
these imperfections?
How can I
explain this to you…
Hộ Pháp:
The
wickedness and uselessness of beings
Just as
much of humans as of animals
Or even
plants…. their morality cannot be
Easily
appreciated.
Hugo:
Nothing
is bad or useless in nature.
To
maintain life, we need to eat.
And our
good God loves us, his children, ardently.
With this
great love, he provides us with the means to live.
For their
progress he creates great challenges.
They then
need, equally, the means of defending themselves.
Have you
seen on this earth a man who is truly pious?
What is
wicked for us, is useful to them!
How can
we forge great sages into being?
What else
is there in the pages of human history?
A fierce
and relentless struggle between the weak and powerful.
And so
often the strongest become the greatest.
The
opposition of these two gives us an ascending progress
Of the
ideas and revelations of the learned.
Our dear
world is purely relative.
‘Wicked’
and ‘Useless’ in this way are merely qualifiers.
Upon this
globe each of us has a place;
The
worlds of other heavens are like classes –
The
universe is thus a school for souls and spirits –
The more
they frequent it, the more erudite each soul becomes.
But those
who too often skip school
Must
double the years they spend here and repeat their studies.
And all
the souls hope to read this eternal book –
For it contains
the secret to becoming immortal.
The goal
is to complete the challenges of our spirit’s career:
But it
takes time, many conditions, and careful conduct.
To move
from the fallen world to pure divinity
We must
make our way by holding fast to eternity.
The
result comes from understanding what we must know,
And then
understanding, by our conscience, the men and women we
must become.
The
difference in personalities exist for a reason –
These
help us to make particular comparisons.
In your
assessment of these, make room for tolerance,
Class
each soul according to their aptitude.
Separate
out those who are clearly human.
Then set
aside those who seem already a little divine.
Elevate
to the priesthood your best examples.
Teach by
all your talents the unbelievers,
Do not
hate them if they fall into error.
Look only
to the salvation of their souls!
Always be
devoted to giving humanity
These two
truths: first Love and then Eternity.
Reading
these verses in depth, we can see that none of the divine beings
have fully comprehended the origin of God. Even the Buddha
could only take a guess at this! Therefore, you might very well
commit the sin of pride if you think yourselves more knowledgeable than the Buddha,
ponder this if you keep discussing this issue.
However,
we further understand the secret message from God “Children,
I am you; you are Myself” and “You can evolve up to My
level” or “I would step down Myself so that you could climb even higher”. Oh! How great is the grace of God! The
more I ponder, this the more I love God.
He is always eager to share his divine
power with his children, even those who are traitors to him.
It is no
wonder then that a human father would also do the same for
his children. Despite the difficulties and the suffering, he simply wants his children to grow up to become the
best adults they can be. Who can develop
their family career sees this. One day, I
asked His Holiness Nguyệt Tâm Chơn Nhơn 7 why God who is
the Father also calls himself Master. That’s confusing, I thought,
because father and master are different.
Hugo
answered:
He is at
the same time father and master,
This is
because it is from him that we receive our whole being
He
nourishes our body with all that is healthy.
And
produces our spirit from that which is divine.
In him is
all source of science and wisdom.
The
progress of each soul is his work without end,
The
basest materials are jewels to his eyes:
Vile
spirits he is able to forge into gods.
His law
is love, his power is justice.
He knows
only of virtue and nothing of vice.
7 - Nguyệt Tâm-lunar spirit, Chơn Nhơn - enlightened
person.
As a
father: he gives to his children his vitality
As a
master: he gives to them his own divinity.
Generally,
it is common for parents on earth to consider their children’s
education the highest priority. Parents always think it fortunate
if their children become more educated than they are. To this
end, they select the best schools and seek out the most qualified
teachers for their children. Similarly, the whole universe is
the school of God. It is where souls can attain more knowledge.
They need
to learn the following: first, that they know themselves, second,
that they know the nature of others and finally: that they evolve
by means of rebirth through the world of suffering. When they
do this and achieve the highest level of divinity, they will finally achieve, thorough profound insight, the divine
secret of the universe and will achieve eternal
life.
It is not
unrealistic for you, one day, to achieve what God has achieved
today by the ongoing process of self-perfection. Cosmic space
is vast enough for all souls to establish what is called a “personal
realm.” Both the divine and earthly laws are alike. They are
connected to the cycles of birth and death and of establishment and destruction. In order to rise to become a Creator,
souls have to incarnate on earth many times. In
doing this, they build their material world. This allows them
to develop their spiritual world.
This rule
is very much in force among souls, who incarnate on earth,
without any exceptions. Souls have to keep learning the lesson
of God eternally – even though they know that the material world
will be destroyed sooner or later. As long as they still breathe,
they keep trying harder and harder.
If asked
whether someone has mastered that secret power of creation
or whether everyone has to be subjected to it, God will answer,
“Everyone should share the suffering of life so that their next
incarnation will be better. That is why everyone is forced to learn to become a Creator although they might not
achieve it.” If God, the Being of Infinite Love,
decides that we are responsible for other
people’s souls, that is too difficult for us. But being an everyday
father, you will make any sacrifice, even the sacrifice of your
life, so that your children might have a better future. Being a Creator or a God (that is, the father of all souls)
can be intensely more miserable because you want
your children to become Buddhas or Gods, although – alas
– they may only want to be ghosts or
evil forces. How disappointing this must be!
Think
about it! You and your spouse day and night worry about your
children’s future. You hope that one day they will find work as a governmental officials or become a well-to-do or
notable person. Unfortunately, they grow
up and go off the rails. It is terribly disappointing, isn’t it?
Similarly, our master expects that humanity
will have a very bright future. Although agonizing, he sends
his children into the world of suffering so they may learn their
lessons. He particularly wants humanity to pass the examination
of good morals and ethics and from there be elevated to
the position of a divine being. It would be so painful for him to know that his children are trapped without hope in the
great sea of suffering.
Establishing
Caodaism here on earth, God the Father resembles a human
father. He sends his child abroad for a higher education. He
hopes they will graduate, then return home and continue the ancestral line. Against this hope we find that child
does nothing but attend parties. They spend
all their money and then write and ask for
more. If a family member visits them, they might pretend to
study hard. They stay abroad for a long time, but they end up with no useful qualifications. They do not reply to
mail, they never come home. Full of anger,
the father wants to disown his child.
However, seeing the child’s old belongings around him in the
house, the father misses them so much that he, at last, has to go overseas to visit him. It is all these in this
poem:
Being a
stranger in a distant country,
The
father is respected by no-one
Though in
his native home
He might
be a great man of power.
Traveling
alone,
He is
sometimes scorned by people.
Then, he
is so surprised
To
discover his son living in poverty,
Each day
struggling with his own family.
The son
is too often broke,
Having
nothing more than a part-time job here or there.
Sometimes
he has to fight
For
filthy manual work.
He didn’t
study hard at college,
Dropping
out after a few months.
Yet
persuaded by some cunning fellows,
He blames
his father for the bad situation he is in.
He vows
to reject his father despite his poverty.
And
decides to remain far from home
To die
abroad.
He blames
his brothers and his relatives,
His
country and his hometown.
He never
dreamed of the far away land of his birth.
Because
there are too many debts to return.
He
resigns himself to being exiled in this foreign land,
He tries
to ignore all insults laid at him.
Now he
knows he has to offer
Due
compensation to his parents, but he cannot.
Day and
night he suffers.
Because
he turns his back on his wealthy clan.
In only a
little while
He will
surely die miserable and so far from home.
Wearing
ragged clothes,
Walking
in bad weather
And
asking everyone for directions.
The
father
Comes to
the boy’s house with a walking stick.
He then
finds out that the son is too scrawny
And that
there is not enough food for his family,
Not
enough rice
Nor
enough water.
Being
homeless,
The son
has to live among bandits.
The
grandchildren are dirty and wild…
And
terribly foul-mouthed.
The son
has frequent disagreements with his wife.
He has
been spurned by his friends.
And only
the companionship he has now is that of scoundrels,
He tries
to solve all his problems with his fists.
Ignores
both his conscience and his God,
He
worships Satan instead.
Seeing
that, the father cannot help but cry
And
thinks the son has abandoned his dad.
The
father secretly returns to his hotel,
Without
letting the son know he has come.
If the
son could do business,
He’d help
him build a large firm.
If the
son was a builder,
He’d help
him found a construction company.
If the
son was even a bellboy,
He’d help
him build a hotel.
If the
son was a part-time worker,
He’d give
him a happier life instead.
He wants
to give his son a good career -
So that
his grandchildren can live a better life.
He even
files enough of the required documents
So the
son can be a company manager.
Finally,
the father writes a letter
Telling
the son to work hard, to develop a career,
And not
to reject his origins.
Back in
their original hometown, the father hopes
The son,
now being well-to-do enough,
Will try
to live so as to be worthy enough to equal
The names
of his ancestors.
Those
past family members who were all wealthy and reputable.
He will
try to further his education
Even if
he is a boss now
Because
the family only wants sages,
Not
money.
But being
afraid that the son will feel embarrassed,
The
father decides to avoid all public appearances.
He only
tells the son to remember that
The
father will see the child again in their hometown.
(by
which, I mean, God wants us to reattain, at the very least, our previous divine positions)
Caodaist
believers, please try to think twice when you seek to comprehend
the meaning of this poem. I have just told the story of a
human father, who is so wise and who ardently loves his children.
He makes plans to help his son succeed in life. That is a perfect
metaphor for how our God the Father, (he who established Caodaism
in the Third Age of Salvation) can help original souls reattain
their former divine positions. If you looked at such a father
on earth, you must really be so affected by his desires and, conversely, seriously criticize the son. That father
is our God the Father and the son represents all
living beings, or more exactly humanity
itself. Understanding this you now know how much more
serious are the sins you commit. I myself cried while writing this sermon.
Oh! My
colleagues and I (i.e. the current Caodaist dignitaries) have
been frequently and diligently taught by God from the very the
beginnings of our religion - Caodaism. We have not seen his face, but we have had abundant evidence for his
existence. These are the lessons we have received
on the noble ideas of justice and love he
had given us. While teaching us, he only ever made appeasements
for us or lamented our slow progress. He has never gotten
angry. Since we used to focus mainly on our struggle for life
in society and we did not practice a religion, we did not understand
his lessons at all. What bad students we were! The incident
in the Gò Kén Pagoda 8 took place because of our stupidity.
Fortunately, God only lamented what had happened, he did not punish us. He
knows for sure we are all still foolish and mostly unfamiliar with practicing
his religion. Since then, he has tried harder to teach us. He did this until we
are assigned to the guidance of His Holiness Li Bai. 9 Thanks to these lessons,
we now fairly understand what the Đạo is and we are able to spread Caodaism to
the public.
To do this we only took our orders from God. We do not spread Caodaism for
our own power or to achieve higher ranks. We all still try to fulfill our
responsibilities, and as we go, we ignore criticism and slander.
I myself was the one who least believed in spiritualism. So, it was with
great curiosity that I tried to test the mediums several times.
Being afraid that I could fall into sin for this, I prayed that I would be
punished by God. God, however, would never punish me. He just smiled. Doubting
the honesty of the mediums, furthermore, I decided to perform automatic writing
by myself at home. Sitting alone at night, raising a pen, I waited for God. At
last, I was moved to tears when God came and taught me so many lessons. When
Caodaism commenced, I usually judged someone because
8 - Also Từ Lâm Tự, Tây Ninh, VN, where Caodaism’s Inaugural Celebration
was held.
9 - The spiritual Pope of Caodaism.
God had given me responsibility for the scales of justice on earth. 10 I
still do not know how to use these scales! Especially when there was a disagreement
between the Hiệp Thiên Đài and Cửu Trùng Đài or when the Thập Nhị Thời Quân 11
did not complete their assignments. I presented a petition with the names of
the failing dignitaries to God, requesting that they be punished.
Here is his answer: “Being a human, you have a divine responsibility. I
assign each of you a different task according to your ability. I do not force
the talented to carry out the easy tasks nor the less talented to do the
hardest things. Even the less-talented are necessary. I have innumerable ways
to assign tasks.
This is because I know you all. But you do not have these options.
If you assign the weak a heavy workload, you’ll be responsible for their
failure, perhaps even their deaths.”
Now, brothers and sisters, what would you do with my “scale of justice”?
How would you use it? Once, our doctrine was criticized by non-Caodaists. They
even wanted to destroy Caodaism. Again, I presented another petition to God. I
asked him to punish them.
God replied by asking me,“ Supposing you had some children, the older of
whom are wise and pious and the younger of whom are cheeky and immoral because
they lack intelligence. What would you do?”
I answered, “I’d resort to give them advice and then punish them.
If I completely failed, I’d resign myself to having to disown them.”
He said, “Disown them?” He smiled, “While they are so young?
You can’t do that! You are too good a father!”
10 - According to Caodaist Canonical Code, Hộ Pháp is the Judge of the
Caodaist Tribunal.
11 - The Twelve Zodiacal Superiors – 12 dignitaries under the Hiệp Thiên
Đài who assist in the direction of souls.
After some seconds of silence, He asked, “Why don’t you say ‘Kill them!’?”
I immediately recalled what I had written in my petition, and I felt really
frightened. Seeing this, he further explained, “Whenever I come to earth to
establish a religion, people always satirically criticize myself. They have
even killed me in human form.
However afterwards they recognized their errors and joined that religion.
They always do! So, don’t be angry! They blaspheme against me simply because
they don’t know what they’re doing.”
Brothers and sisters, you can see how much mercy God has for mankind. And
can you see how hard it is for me to work as the Judge of the Caodaist Tribunal!
Oddly enough, a religion established by such a Being (i.e.Caodaism) can
result in the development of schisms. 12 In these break-away movements, their “God” rebukes other people. I’ll let you
judge whether the words of their “God” are spoken by a genuine or by a fake
God!
Therefore, we understand God the supreme being based on the beliefs we have
of him. You Caodaists may give many more explanations, for example, you might
say many other people also worship God. They call him by various names, and
everyone acknowledges that the supreme being, the lord of all souls, must surely
exist. All souls evolve up and down the divine hierarchy until they get to the
highest rank. This rank is as high as that of God. To do this each soul has to
pass through innumerable hells, pass through uncountable levels of life, and
through so many incarnations within so many different earths before they can
enter the spiritual realm and attain the position of a genie, a saint, an immortal,
or a buddha.
12 - He implies a Caodaist schism, but not say which one.
Each soul evolves independently towards their own higher divine status.
Only after death will you be able to discover if your divine rank is high or
low. Thus, it is too late for those who did not lead a moral life or who did
not believe in God while here on earth. Not having attained any divine
positions, these souls will have to reincarnate. They may tell themselves to
fix things this time around. However, they will forget everything upon coming
down to earth. Like ordinary earthly people, they will keep pursuing fame and
benefits – and be so obsessed with this that they sometimes ruin the religions
that have been established by God!
It is part of the miraculous mechanism of the cosmos that everyone forgets
their previous lives when they reincarnate. This is the keystone of rebirth. If
this didn’t happen there would be no people on earth and no Đạo (no religions)
setting us up for salvation. The divine mechanism of the Đạo is powerful enough
to give birth to Siddhartha Gautama. 13 It was he who taught people how to free
themselves from the cycle of rebirth. This might help those advanced souls, who
are about to become Buddhas, but it will not help all other living beings. As a
result, there are still people on earth struggling to attain a heavenly
position.
According to what we think of God’s divine mechanism, or the Đạo, it can be
described in this way:
Thanks to the sun’s heat, water transforms into clouds. Clouds freeze and
transform back into water (rain), which fills the earth, seeps into the ground
and dissolves the salt. The salty solution then moves to springs, rivers, and
oceans to nourish all beings.
In this cycle, we can see that the sun’s heat is God. Water is humanity.
The clouds are divine beings (Geniis, Saints, Immortals
13 - The Buddha.
and Buddhas). The springs and rivers are religions, the oceans are the
universe and salt, in this analogy, is life.
According to their responsibilities, all living beings create and perfect
the world so that it can be the classrooms for souls to evolve and evil spirits
to do penance.
Karmic debts run this divine mechanism. This is similar to what was done by
the ancient Vietnamese kings. They allowed prisoners to explore unknown areas,
develop the wasteland, and become residents in these places afterwards. The
souls incarnating in this world are of many kinds, most of them have significant
amounts of karmic debt to pay back. Only a minority of these souls that come
down are volunteers, that is, elevated souls who come down onto earth willingly
to achieve an even higher divine status by working here. Thanks to these high
souls, the earth can develop into a more advanced planet. All such souls have contributed
much to develop the earth. They do this with the altruistic aim of reducing
human suffering - no matter what may be the particular reason for why they
incarnate here. According to their own status, each soul incarnating on earth
has a different level of intellect. This is predetermined by God. Therefore,
since time immemorial the only thing divine beings have tried to do is to help
living beings become more advanced or more moral – even though the souls they
seek to help may have committed many sins. Consequently, we Caodaist
dignitaries must always tell ourselves that we have an important responsibility
that has been assigned to us by God. God usually instructs us by saying:
“People suffer because I use unhappiness to make their minds evolve. You
should praise successful people and pity the unsuccessful because even the
worst ones are still able to help me perfect life. It’s good to fulfill your
responsibilities without committing a crime and it is good to do the right thing
with a clean conscience. You should act based on your good mind. I hope you
will return to me one day. As long as people love each other, I am most
satisfied.”
God wants us to have mercy on all living beings just as he does.
Through observing Caodaist law, we should pity the people who have a lower
social status than us by treating them fairly. Being reincarnated on earth,
people have a body, which is materially equal to all other bodies. If we want
to be Caodaist dignitaries, we have to try to become sages in this life and for
all our life. That is so difficult while we struggle to survive in these
earthly societies.
We should always examine our lives and demand of ourselves that we do not
lie to others. To perfect ourselves, we must not lie to, criticize, or mock
anyone.
We Caodaists practice Caodaism based on our faith in God - while other
groups worship the intellect and conscience. That is just another version of
the Đạo. God knows this. So, he provides his eye (the Divine Eye) as the spirit
of conscience for our movement.
Our Divine Eye and the symbols of other groups are not alike.
Some say that creating the statues of Divine Beings - including Buddha and
God – that these can control people’s minds. Other groups make lots of similar
statues to cheat people while they themselves never really believe in the
divine beings that these statues refer to. It is their earthly thoughts that
they mold into the shape of God. As a result, their “God” resembles a human in both
form and characteristics. That is why their “God” can get mad, hate, grumble,
scold, imitate, etc. We Caodaists cannot believe in such a God, can we?
Some rebellious Caodaists, who left us and formed Caodaist schisms, used to
be our incompetent senior dignitaries. They are gone, but they left a debt of
several thousand đồng. 14 This must be paid by the Caodaist Sacerdotal Council.
The evidence of all this
14 - A rather large sum of money at that time.
is still kept here. They surely know that the donations of the average Caodaist
believers is not very large because the Vietnamese are generally quite poor.
Yet the Sacerdotal Council has to feed believers and other people, especially
our Cambodian adherents. A rough calculation shows we have spent approximately
200,000 đong so far.
In addition, the expense of our missionary work, especially in France Tây Ninh Temple
In fact, the Caodaist Temple Paris , France
Hence, the slander of the rebellious schisms will be fairly judged by
people’s conscience. The budget of our Caodaist organization is still very
tight. It mostly comes from the donations of our elder brothers. Some of these
have had to sell their houses or their rice fields to help. Fellow believers!
Be cautious about the rebellious schisms and the craftiness of those who have
broken away.
Please! They viciously intended to cut away the financial support of our
religion, but as the saying goes “Man proposes, God disposes.” They have failed
in their aims to stop us. I can conclusively say that Satan’s incitement to
chaos in this instance has failed.
15-A Caodaist schism that severely attacked the Caodaist Sacerdotal Council
in Tây Ninh.
Personally, I would like to say something to those rebellious Caodaists:
Back when I led a secular life before my religious vocation, I never
exploited anyone. I never took a bribe (while working in the Public Service)
nor did I sabotage any other religion. In my free time I always tried to
support as many of my fellow countrymen as I could. I would like to give some
explanations here because all their accusations against myself seemed, somehow,
reasonable.
They accused me of establishing the Phạm Môn, the Phạm Từ, and the Phạm
Nghiệp for my own purposes. Thankfully, everyone knows that I am a very honest
soul. What I have done is for the underprivileged, not to enrich the Sacerdotal
Council. I have put all this in my will and sent it to the Sacerdotal Council.
At the start of Caodaism, His Holiness Cao Thượng Phẩm and I tried very
hard for our community to have a large budget and buy the properties that are
now obviously a part of the religion. I can now swear to the Caodaist
Sacerdotal Council that I have never wrongly taken any money. I have never
interfered in the Caodaist administration or its finances. These are all the
responsibility of the Cửu Trùng Đài. 16
Since I resigned my government post and came to Tây Ninh to join the
Caodaist religion full time, my family expenses have been covered by my
personal savings alone. However, there were anonymous letters insinuating
financial malfeasance. They suggested that my family became well-off because of
Caodaism.
They wanted to drive me out of the Holy See - just as they had done to His
Holiness Cao Thượng Phẩm. Worse than that, more recently I have received 14 anonymous letters. Had I
not been a
16 - Cửu Trùng Đài, (九 重 臺 - Nine-sphered palace): The executive body of Caodaism which takes charge of the administration
of the religion and its missionary activities. It also refers to the temple of
nine degrees of evolution or nine spheres palace. The palace of nine divine planes, or
the palace of nine degrees of evolution.
Caodaist priest, I would have looked for another
means of livelihood and moved out. These dishonest people even took me to court
over my properties – all of which I bought with my own money. For example, I
established the Phạm Nghiệp 17 with my own money and with some loans from my
relatives. It is used as a vocational school for everyone. The Phạm Từ 18 was
an ancestral temple of my family located in Cẩm Giang. 19 This was built with my
brothers’ money. The money left over from this construction was used for a
small Caodaist Temple
Caodaist schismatic critics, but it is not. Phạm Môn (梵門 in Chinese)
refers to an entrance to Buddhism. Below is some more work
I have done for our community. I have established an orphanage
called the Cấp Cô Độc Viên 21 but this
has not been finished due to a lack of money. I also built a vocational school called
the Quảng Nghệ. 22 This is for poor children and located on an 80-acre plot of
land called the Thái Bình Thánh Địa. 23 I purchased another piece of land from
Lễ Sanh Cẩn. He is a dignitary under the Sacerdotal Council of Kiêm Biên 24 and
built what was called there the Nữ Công Nghệ 25 which is for female believers
to be cared for and to earn a living.
17 - Phạm - his family name, Nghiệp - career.
18 - Phạm - his family name, Từ - an ancestral
temple.
19 - A village 10km from Tây Ninh.
20 - A senior dignitary under the Cửu Trùng Đài.
21 - The garden of Anathapindika
22 - Quảng - publicizing, Nghệ - job.
23 - Thái Bình - peace, Thánh Địa - Holy land.
24 - Kiêm Biên - Phnom Penh
25 - An handicraft shop for women.
Having begged in vain to the Cửu Trùng Đài
Sacerdotal Council to build a Khách Đình (bungalow) for those wealthy
intellectuals to stay in Tây Ninh while studying Caodaism, I had two built myself
– one for Vietnamese scholarly visitors and one for Cambodian intellectuals. I
do not think we should let these intellectuals live among the uneducated
dignitaries - lest they think poorly of our community. I had to resort to
various loans for these constructions and I had no support from the Caodaist
Sacerdotal Council. All of these constructions
are for people’s benefit, but those rebellious Caodaists deceitfully accused me
of “stealing from the people.” Let this matter be fairly judged by everyone who
looks into this! In whatever way they could do so, they have tried to discredit
me. They even falsely accused me of committing adultery! Nevertheless, do not
be annoyed, my brothers and sisters! Everyone practices a religion in their own
way. In the end, we have to admit that our God is different from theirs and, in
the end, beg them to stop making more false accusations.
In this great age of salvation, people have to
struggle for life, so there is hatred of all varieties afoot in the world.
People are very good at fighting with each other inhumanely. Whenever they take
a break or encounter a sad situation, they ponder their fate and know this
struggling age is coming to an end. This is why when God came, he taught us to
have mercy on others and love people.
Mercy and love have been what all people
worship, it is no wonder that Caodaism attracted a large number of followers at
that time. Unfortunately, the appearance of the Minh Chơn Lý, 26 who promote rebellious techniques to develop their power, have caused
such disagreements among Caodaist believers. As a result, anger and hatred have
recently dominated our religious community. They have sought to ruin the
organization that God.
26 - A Caodaist schism founded by Phối Sư Thái Ca Thanh (Nguyễn Văn Ca) in 1931 in Mỹ Tho.
established. What sabotage! You will see an
appropriate punishment will be meted out to them in the near
future.
For some years, we Caodaist dignitaries have endured
this sabotage, thinking that whatever they did there was
still a chance to spread Caodaism and glorify God’s name. We were
ready to suffer unjustly and all we did was begged them to
reduce their hatred. Contrary to our wish, they increased the
hatred that they held against us. They continued using every cunning
process they could find to attack us. They even tried to sue us.
Fortunately, God has granted Caodaist believers enough intelligence
to judge all this. Only a few believers have broken away and followed them.
In addition, the French government, which respects order, has
judged everything based on law. Therefore, they have realized that
we are religiously honest. If we had been under the Nguyễn Dynasty,
we would have all been beheaded.
Brothers and sisters,
Why did the rebellious schismatics want to ruin
Caodaism?
Why did they form schismatic groups?
Why did they falsely accuse Caodaist dignitaries?
Why did they denounce the doctrine of Caodaism?
For whom are they working?
It is impossible to bring them to a Caodaist trial
because they themselves made the Caodaist laws and inserted a
special exception for themselves at the same time. They
already had a plan to avoid being convicted. Hence, we Caodaist
dignitaries are unable to bring them to Caodaist judgement. The case
will be left to the following generations to settle. Take care of
yourselves and keep practicing Caodaism. Do this, my dear brothers
and sisters, to keep the oath you swore to God our Father.
Tây Ninh, July 27th 1932.
PHẠM CÔNG TẮC
SignatureTranslator: * Từ Chơn
Editor: * Dr Christopher Humphrey Hartney.
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