O COME ALL YE FAITHFUL

45 minutes - that was all we had at Tay Ninh after a 3-hour bus ride from HCMC, with a break at the handicraft factory. Sigh, so coach tour-like! In any case, HB and I overstayed - I kept thinking our guide Tam said return to the bus at 12.45pm. Tay Ninh, a town near the Cambodian border, is the site of Cao Dai's Holy See. What's that? Read on...Like a diner at a buffet table who gets to pick the best of the spread, Cao Dai is an amalgam of what is believed are the best of the world's religions, many of which constitute the Second Wave of Revelation. Cao Dai, disciples say, is the Third Wave. It borrows from Buddhism, Taoism, Catholicism, Hinduism, Islam and even the teachings of Chinese philosophers like Lao Tze and Confucius. Believe it or not, the religion is already more than 80 years old (it started in 1926) and is the third largest in Vietnam today!

But from our short visit, we concluded that it has a more Chinese slant. The photo at the top shows images of the various "prophets" - you can recognise who they are. Their likenesses sit above the altar of the Holy See. In the front, is a painting of its Three Saints - Sun Yat-Sen, Victor Hugo (!!!) and Nguyen Binh Khiem - signing a covenant between God and man. Oh, and Cao Dai followers communicate with the spirits using a Ouija Board, apparently. Didn't see those around, though.
God is represented as the Divine Eye. In the main hall of the cathedral is a huge globe with an image of this all-seeing eye. The eye is also the central motif in the ornate latticed windows. An old woman on the viewing balcony tried to explain to a German tourist what the eye was about by pointing to a currency note she pulled out but the German couldn't understand her. So, I (having read ahead in the guidebooks) pulled out a US dollar note and showed her. Yes, the Divine Eye looks just like the one on the reverse side of the almighty dollar! (I can't help but think that the cathedral is called the Holy See not because it borrows the term from the Catholics (meaning its governing body) but because of the Divine Eye!

Disciples wear robes of red, blue or yellow, depending on which branch of Cao Dai they most closely follow - Confucianism, Taoism or Buddhism - and they take a vow of celibacy. The white headgear, which looks like those that Taoist priests, wear is made of cardboard. I spotted one that was rather ratty. Then there are the lay followers in white.
Like its rojak religious tenets, the cathedral in the Holy See is a gaudy mish-mash of colours and architectural styles, with dragons wrapped around pillars and lotus flowers scattered on windows. The ceiling of the main hall is painted sky blue and has clouds.
We were there in time to catch noon prayers. We weren't allowed in the hall but could watch the proceedings from the balcony above. An orchestra and some singers on the upper level perform during the prayers. A gong rings and the followers march in, elders first (there are more old folks than young ones). I felt a bit intrusive, though, watching them go through the motions - like we were distracting them from their commune with God. But, well, they did open their doors to visitors... No entrance fees required, but I dropped a couple of dollars in the donation box - more to thank them for allowing us to watch the visual feast.

Returned to the bus 15 minutes late - wondered if there were daggers trained on our backs as we sat down.