Cao Dai (priests, ritual, Buddhism, followers, church)

[Green Gaia]

Cao Dai (Cao Đài) is a religion founded in 1926 in Tay Ninh, southern Vietnam, by Ngo Van Chieu, an official in the French colonial government, who claimed to have received direct communications from God, ordering him to combine various religions, some from the East and some from the West.

Caodaists believe that there is only one God, the same one who created all the major religions of the world such as Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, and Spiritualism.

Adherents engage in ethical practices such as prayer, veneration of ancestors, nonviolence, and vegetarianism with the goal of, minimally, obtaining a favorable rebirth, or, better yet, entering heaven, or, ultimately, escape from the cycle of birth and death. Three Saints, or guiding spirits revered in Cao Dai are Republic of China founder Sun Yat Sen (1866-1925), French author Victor Hugo (1802-1885), and Nguyen Binh Khiem (1492-1587). They are depicted in a painting, signing a covenant with God.

God is symbolized by the Divine Eye, specifically the left eye.

The faith has a hierarchical organization resembling that of the Roman Catholic Church, with a pope, cardinals, bishops, and priests. Ordained women may attain ranks up to cardinal.

Followers of Cao Dai believe that its teachings, symbolism and organization were communicated directly from God, and even the construction of the Tay Ninh Holy See had divine guidance.

Cao Dai currently has an estimated seven to eight million adherents in Vietnam, and an additional 30,000 (primarily ethnic Vietnamese) in the United States, Europe, and Australia.

http://en.wikipedia.org