Cao Dai Overview

March 17, 2015 · updated December 14, 2023

Fast Facts on Cao Dai
Adherents 4-6 million
Date Founded 1926
Place Founded Vietnam
Founder(s) Ngo Van Chieu
Beliefs God represented by Divine Eye. Salvation by "cultivating self and finding God in self." Reincarnation.
Practices Hierarchy similar to Roman Catholicism. Daily prayer. Meditation. Communication with spirit world (now outlawed in Vietnam).
Texts Caodai canon

Cao Dai (a.k.a. Dao Cao Dai or Caodaism) is a syncretist Vietnamese religious movement with a nationalist political character. Cao Dai draws upon ethical duties and virtues from Confucianism, occult rituals from Taoism, theories of karma and rebirth from Buddhism, and a hierarchical organization from Roman Catholicism. Its saints includes the Buddha, Confucius, Jesus Christ, Muhammad, Pericles, Julius Caesar, Joan of Arc, Victor Hugo, and Sun Yat-sen.

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