3.02.2007
Tay Ninh: The Cao Dai Temple
Traveling through Asia as much as we did, we saw some pretty strange stuff: either things that people were doing, things that people had built, things that people were selling, and so on. However, I think it's pretty safe to say that the most bizarre thing I saw during my entire time in the Far East was the Cao Dai "Holy See" in Tay Ninh, a little town about fifty miles or so outside Saigon. The Caodaiists (not sure if that's spelled right) are a religious sect started up in the 1920s who, as far as I know, believe in pretty much everything, all mashed-up together: Buddhism, Confucianism, and Christianity. Yes, apparently Jesus was a Buddha. But not the Buddha. Or something. Really, I don't quite get it--not surprisingly. And just to make it all that much more mystical, the "official symbol" or whatever of the Caodaiists is the great, all seeing eye. Oh, and did I mention Victor Hugo is a Cao Dai saint? No? Well, I will later on. Again, since I guess I just did. (Check out Wikipedia for more on the Cao Dai religion.)
Don't worry, I'm sure Dan Brown is writing a book about the Cao Dai-Illuminati connections right now, don't you worry. But if you want to read a book that's already out with them, you can check out The Quiet American, which has a big section where the characters visit the Holy See. That's actually the most bizarre part of it, in my opinion: during Vietnam, they had hundreds of thousands of followers and a standing Cao Dai army of about 20,000 men, so all the different sides were continually trying to get the Cao Dais on their side. (As if Vietnam wasn't strange enough already ...) I think they were mostly with the Americans, on account of not loving the whole "no religion!" philosophy the Communists seem to go with. Needless to say, it didn't work out very well for them in the end. Sort of makes them like every other single person in the country in that way, I guess. Our guide told us now there were only a few thousand worshipers (not sure if that's true or not), most of them elderly holdovers from the old days. He seemed to think most of the young people were there either: a) to be nice to their parents or grandparents or whatever; or b) because they needed a place to say and food. Or something. Really, I was too busy staring--and taking pictures--to pay that much attention to what he said. Or at least to remember it.
Anyway, now that the exposition is out of the way, it's time for the pictures. Here's the Holy See itself. In a word? Colorful. In two words, Really Colorful. In three words. WTF?
From the rooftops:
There weren't any glass windows--it's never that cold, I guess, and the floor was tile, so why worry?--so every opening on the main floor had this colorful (there's that word again ...) all-seeing eye design in it instead:
This is in the front of the Holy See, before you get into the main cathedral. These are the three Cao Dai saints: Confucius is on the right; Victor Hugo (yes, the Les Miserable author) is in the middle with the pen and jaunty hat; and Nguyen Binh Khiem, a sort of Vietnamese Nostradamus or something, is on the far left. Uh-huh:
The inside of the Holy See during the noon service. Again: colorful. Also, I love the dragons. I mean, if the church I went to when I was little had dragons on the walls instead of the stations of the cross, I would have thought it was a lot cooler. Also, I like the fake sky on the ceiling. Very Vegas:
Zoom, zoom:
Another angle. The different colored robes meant something--something about their position in the church hierarchy--but I don't remember what anymore:
There was a lot of bowing up and down. A lot:
Is it just me, or does the guy in the middle look really bored?
Evidence supporting the "mostly old-school Caodaiists" theory:
I just like this picture:
This was at the very end of the Holy See. You couldn't get that close to it, so I had to really pump up the zoom (later, I pumped up the jam, but that has nothing to do with this) to get a picture, hence the blurriness. Buddha's on top, Confucius is on the bottom, Jesus--complete with bleeding heart (I just knew he was a liberal!) is on Confucius, and ... someone else is in the middle. Anyway, not the normal sort of thing you see in churches in America, certainly. I'm surprised Pat Roberts hasn't made some sort of crazy call for it's destruction, actually. Well, at least he hasn't yet:
Believe it or not--22 posts later (I can't believe it, either)--I'm done! With the Vietnam section of my vacation, anyway. Next, it's on to Koh Samui, Thailand!
Previously, on my vacation:
- The Cu Chi Tunnels.
- The Mekong Delta.
- Saigon: the Random.
- Saigon: Reunification Hall.
- Saigon: the War Museum.
- Saigon: the Streets.
- Hoi An: The River.
- Hoi An: My Son.
- Hoi An: the People.
- Hoi An: the Streets.
- Hue: Zoom, Zoom.
- Hue: the River.
- Hue: the Imperial Tombs.
- Hue: the Imperial Palace.
- Hue: the Streets.
- Halong Bay: the Videos.
- Halong Bay.
- Hanoi: the Random.
- Hanoi: Water Puppets.
- Hanoi: the "Hilton." '
- Hanoi: the People.
- Hanoi: Zoom, Zoom.
- Hanoi: the Streets.
Don't worry, I'm sure Dan Brown is writing a book about the Cao Dai-Illuminati connections right now, don't you worry. But if you want to read a book that's already out with them, you can check out The Quiet American, which has a big section where the characters visit the Holy See. That's actually the most bizarre part of it, in my opinion: during Vietnam, they had hundreds of thousands of followers and a standing Cao Dai army of about 20,000 men, so all the different sides were continually trying to get the Cao Dais on their side. (As if Vietnam wasn't strange enough already ...) I think they were mostly with the Americans, on account of not loving the whole "no religion!" philosophy the Communists seem to go with. Needless to say, it didn't work out very well for them in the end. Sort of makes them like every other single person in the country in that way, I guess. Our guide told us now there were only a few thousand worshipers (not sure if that's true or not), most of them elderly holdovers from the old days. He seemed to think most of the young people were there either: a) to be nice to their parents or grandparents or whatever; or b) because they needed a place to say and food. Or something. Really, I was too busy staring--and taking pictures--to pay that much attention to what he said. Or at least to remember it.
Anyway, now that the exposition is out of the way, it's time for the pictures. Here's the Holy See itself. In a word? Colorful. In two words, Really Colorful. In three words. WTF?
From the rooftops:
There weren't any glass windows--it's never that cold, I guess, and the floor was tile, so why worry?--so every opening on the main floor had this colorful (there's that word again ...) all-seeing eye design in it instead:
This is in the front of the Holy See, before you get into the main cathedral. These are the three Cao Dai saints: Confucius is on the right; Victor Hugo (yes, the Les Miserable author) is in the middle with the pen and jaunty hat; and Nguyen Binh Khiem, a sort of Vietnamese Nostradamus or something, is on the far left. Uh-huh:
The inside of the Holy See during the noon service. Again: colorful. Also, I love the dragons. I mean, if the church I went to when I was little had dragons on the walls instead of the stations of the cross, I would have thought it was a lot cooler. Also, I like the fake sky on the ceiling. Very Vegas:
Zoom, zoom:
Another angle. The different colored robes meant something--something about their position in the church hierarchy--but I don't remember what anymore:
There was a lot of bowing up and down. A lot:
Is it just me, or does the guy in the middle look really bored?
Evidence supporting the "mostly old-school Caodaiists" theory:
I just like this picture:
This was at the very end of the Holy See. You couldn't get that close to it, so I had to really pump up the zoom (later, I pumped up the jam, but that has nothing to do with this) to get a picture, hence the blurriness. Buddha's on top, Confucius is on the bottom, Jesus--complete with bleeding heart (I just knew he was a liberal!) is on Confucius, and ... someone else is in the middle. Anyway, not the normal sort of thing you see in churches in America, certainly. I'm surprised Pat Roberts hasn't made some sort of crazy call for it's destruction, actually. Well, at least he hasn't yet:
Believe it or not--22 posts later (I can't believe it, either)--I'm done! With the Vietnam section of my vacation, anyway. Next, it's on to Koh Samui, Thailand!
Previously, on my vacation:
- The Cu Chi Tunnels.
- The Mekong Delta.
- Saigon: the Random.
- Saigon: Reunification Hall.
- Saigon: the War Museum.
- Saigon: the Streets.
- Hoi An: The River.
- Hoi An: My Son.
- Hoi An: the People.
- Hoi An: the Streets.
- Hue: Zoom, Zoom.
- Hue: the River.
- Hue: the Imperial Tombs.
- Hue: the Imperial Palace.
- Hue: the Streets.
- Halong Bay: the Videos.
- Halong Bay.
- Hanoi: the Random.
- Hanoi: Water Puppets.
- Hanoi: the "Hilton." '
- Hanoi: the People.
- Hanoi: Zoom, Zoom.
- Hanoi: the Streets.
