This religion really exist. Christianity + Buddhism

Trainer EugeneXL

19 Mar 09, 21:17

Text found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cao_Dai

Cao Ä�ài is a relatively new, syncretist, monotheistic religion, officially established in the city of Tây Ninh, southern Vietnam, in 1926. Ä�áº¡o Cao Ä�ài is the religion's shortened name, the full name is Ä�áº¡i Ä�áº¡o Tam Ká»³ Phá»• Ä�á»™ (Great Religion [of The] Third Period [of] Revelation [and] Salvation). The term Cao Ä�ài literally means "high place." Figuratively, it means that highest place where God reigns. Caodaiists often use the term Ä�á»©c Cao Ä�ài (Venerable Cao Dai) as the abbreviated name for God, the creator of the universe, whose full title is Cao Ä�ài Tiên Ông Ä�áº¡i Bá»“ Tát Ma-ha-tát (translation: Cao Dai [the] Ancient Sage [and] Great Bodhisattva Mahasattva). According to Caodaiists, the full title was purposefully chosen by God because within it are representations of the Three Teachings: Saint, Sage and Buddha.

Caodaiists credit God as the religion's founder. They believe the teachings, symbolism and organization were communicated directly from God. Even the construction of the Tây Ninh Holy See is claimed to have had divine guidance. Cao Ä�ài's first disciples, Ngô VÄƒn Chiêu, Cao Quá»³nh CÆ°, Pháº¡m Công Táº¯c and Cao Hoài Sang, claimed to have received direct communications from God, who gave them explicit instructions for establishing a new religion that would commence the Third Era of Religious Amnesty.

Adherents engage in ethical practices such as prayer, veneration of ancestors, nonviolence, and vegetarianism with the minimum goal of rejoining God the Father in Heaven and the ultimate goal of freedom from the cycle of birth and death. Estimates of the number of Cao Ä�ài adherents in Vietnam vary, but most sources give 2 to 3 million. Some estimates are as high as 8 million adherents in Vietnam. An additional 30,000 (numbers may vary) (primarily ethnic Vietnamese) live in the United States, Europe, and Australia.

According to Cao Dai, before God existed, there was the Tao, that nameless, formless, unchanging, eternal source referenced in the Tao Te Ching. Then, a Big Bang occurred, out of which God was born (emanationism). The universe could not yet be formed and to do so, God created yin and yang. He took control of yang and shed a part of himself, creating the Goddess to preside over yin. In the presence of yin and yang, the universe was materialized. The Goddess is, literally, the mother of the myriad of things in the Universe. Thus, Caodaiists worship not only God, the father, but also the Goddess, literally refer to as the Mother Buddha. Note that God's importance and role is higher than that of the Mother Buddha. Also, the Mother Buddha is male, as are all buddhas. The Mother Buddha only oversees yin and is not a part of yin, which is female.

There are 36 levels of heaven and 72 planets harboring intelligent life, with number one being the closest to heaven and 72 nearest to Hell. Earth is number 68. It is said that even the lowest citizen on planet 67 would not trade place with a king on 68 and so forth.

In the order of most to least difficult, the Three Teachings within Caodaiism are:

The Three Teachings represent hierarchical levels of spiritual attainment, with buddha as the highest. Caodaiism's various stages of spiritual development from human on up are: Tháº§n (angel), Thánh (saint), Tiên (sage), and Pháºt (buddha). Angels, saints and sages may have, accordingly, extremely long lives in the realms of heaven, but only buddhas are free from the cycle of birth and death.

The three periods of revelation and salvation