11th July 2006 – School – 12:12
Then we arrived at a large area in which there were small houses for monks –most of them were ruined-, monks with their one-piece-robes, and young girls with blue-white ao dais, small houses and a large, colourful temple. We got off the bus and with our cameras in our hands, entered to the large temple. The building looks new and it has been decorated with charming colours and statues, especially dragons, huge eyes and lions. It was raining and we had to leave our shoes outside the building. I put one on the top of other upside-down so both of them will stay dry in the rain. I went in, J was following me.
We directly went to upstairs, to the balcony. In the second floor, there were people playing some instruments (one of them was guitar but the rest was unknown to me but I knew that others were two-string instruments) and chanting some hymns or songs which I can't understand. Those who play the instruments were seated and those who were chanting hymns were standing. I stood behind them to see them better. There were four young girls just in front of music playing guys and there were two middle-aged women. They were all hymning. One old lady surprisingly looked at me and smiled. I thought she was not chanting but just after her smile, she returned to her usual hymn. She was the only one moving around and showing tourists where to stand and where to go after spending a few minutes at one point. It is more or less similar to the faithful faces of devotees of any other religion. They were not looking at us as if we were invisible observers and do not bother them with our existence. They might be in a state of mystic experience, so I moved away soon to look at the other participants of the ceremony.
The columns of the temple were carved into very colourfully decorated dragons. According to the book, 28 columns represent 28 manifestations of Buddha. Did Buddha know 28 is a perfect number? Probably not! But somehow, I could not stop myself asking this question. In the first floor, there were many worshippers, some were sitting, and some were standing. Those who stand put their hands on each other and kept them on their chest. This reminded me the praying (namaz or sala) of muslims. There were four colours: white, red, blue and yellow. Women were all together at the left side and men were at the right side. Those wearing white were lay followers of the religion. That is why all the women were wearing white robes (symbolizing purity, of course!). This also means that women can not be priest to enjoy other three colours. Men with the rank of priest and higher are robed in solid colors depending on their spiritual sect within Cao Daism: yellow (symbolizing Buddhism and virtue), blue (Taoism and pacifism) or red (Confucianism and authority). All these worshippers believe in Cao Daism but they represent different religions. The hierarchy of the priests is similar to the one in Catholic church. All the great saints are respected and they all share the same stage. At the front, there were two priests with red robes. I looked at their head carefully. They had a large eye picture on their head. The same eye can be seen on the windows too with a difference. The eye on the windows was inscribed by a circle, and circle was inscribed by an equilateral triangle and this triangle was at the middle of a rectangle. There were lines from triangle to rectangle as if it enlightens everywhere (I guess, those lines were put there for two reasons: To keep the triangle at the middle and to keep the thieves outside of the temple.) The ground was superfluously decorated with amazing colors and designs. It looks like the walls of Blue Mosque. I later found more information on this temple and religion. Things I have read on a web site were difficult to believe, so I have quoted it in the following paragraph:
A full appreciation of the temple requires some knowledge of the Cao Dai religion. While many other religions are insular, Caodaism trumpets its foundations in other faiths. Caodaists describe their religion as the unification of Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism: These faiths are represented in Cao Dai theology through such concepts as reincarnation, vegetarianism and yin and yang and also on the Cao Dai banner - a tri-colour with one colour for each religion. Cao Daism garners inspiration from farther afield as well: Striding a spire high on the temple's roof is the Hindu trinity of Brahma, Shiva and Krishna. A mural inside the temple commemorates French novelist Victor Hugo, Chinese Nationalist Party leader Sun Yat Sen and Vietnamese poet Trang Trinh as three saints, witnesses to the 3rd alliance between God and humanity.
After finishing our tour in the temple, we went outside and took some pictures of the lions in front of a side-door and huge eyes on the windows. Because we only had 30 minutes to spend we did not walk around the temple. There must be more things to see but there was no time. If we would miss the bus, there would be no way to see the Chu Chi Tunnels by ourselves. Beside this, there were guards around and telling the restricted areas to tourists. I guess we were not free to walk around at all. I just sat under a tree and talked with J about what we had just seen and what we will see next.
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