Vietnamese Religion Cao Dai Embraces World's Great Faiths

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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andrew-lam/vietnamese-religion-cao-d_b_3595204.html

Andrew Lam
Author and editor, New America Media

Posted: 07/14/2013 1:46 pm



"We are descendants of Mr. Lam Quang Ty," my sister Nancy tells the group of dark skinned old men in white pajamas. They are sitting on the tile floor at the entrance of the famous and colorful Holy See, better known as Cao Dai Temple in Tay Ninh province, bordering Cambodia. We're here to look for his grave and to pay tribute," Nancy continues.

Behind us a small American film crew working for PBS records our every move. They have followed me back to Vietnam as part of the documentary, "My Journey Home."

It is Saturday and the place is packed with worshipers and, relegated to the upstairs balcony, camera-toting foreign tourists. Men and women in red, white, yellow and blue robes streamed in and out the Holy See's vast hall. At its far end, the round, nine-foot diameter All-Seeing Eye, the temple's sacred symbol, looks impassionedly down from its pedestal at its kneeling faithful. Somewhere on the second floor, a band composed of monochord zithers, bamboo xylophones, lutes and gongs, is playing a doleful tune. There are dozens of disciples sitting around on the cool floor at the side entrance talking and drinking tea.

Saying Great Grandfather's name out loud to them during recess is a shot in the dark. I follow my sister's declaration with a lengthy explanation as to how we are related to him and who he was. A wealthy Vietnamese living under French colonial rule in the 1930s, Great Grandfather Ty contributed money and land to the Cao Dai religion as it was being founded. I remember, when I was a child in Saigon, I used to look at a faded black and white photo of him in a linen suit and hat standing next to his sleek Citroen, smiling brightly.

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