Given in the Tây Ninh Temple 5 March 1928 ).
Divinely Ordained Dignitaries from
the Cửu Trùng Đài [1] and Hiệp Thiên Đài, [2] ladies and gentlemen, On the occasion of this
convention, I would like to humbly convey to you what I have learned from God
for the sake of increasing your knowledge. [3] In this case, I think it is quite necessary
for me to do this.
There are numerous religious
mysteries hidden in God’s poems, but their meanings are too esoteric for us to
gain immediate insight. I have been taught many things which are relevant to my
responsibilities here. This is because God wants me to fulfill a particular
mission.
Although it is a little late to
declare it, I should have told you earlier that I was instructed (by heaven) to
do missionary work in Kiêm Biên (i.e Cambodia
The Hội Thánh/Sacerdotal Council
In the phú [5] given to The Phối Sư [i.e.
Archbishop] Hương Thanh’s aunt, God said, “I use good people to save humanity.”
The Hội Thánh is this group of “good” people. It is a group that has been
gathered together by God. He has taught them how to have mercy on all living
beings and uses this group as a temporal, earthly tool by which to save all
humanity.
These good people have been gathered to form
God’s earthly body in the present period – that is, the Third Age of Universal
Salvation. Their presence means that God will not have to incarnate in the
world as He was required to do in the former two salvation periods [during the
time of Moses, then that of Jesus-ed]. Through the process of spiritual séance,
God has taught each member of the Hội Thánh to believe in the express reality
of His existence: He is God, He reigns over the universe in justice, He holds
the power to protect His children both when alive on earth and in the realms of
the deceased, and He shows the difference between Heaven and Hell in order that
they make the right spiritual choices.
1 - Cửu Trùng Đài, (九 重 臺 -
Nine-sphered palace): The executive body of Caodaism which takes charge of the
administration of the religion and its missionary activities. It also refers to
the temple of nine degrees of evolution or nine spheres palace. The palace of
nine divine planes, or the palace of nine degrees of evolution.
2 - Hiệp Thiên Đài, (協天 臺 - temple of
divine/heavenly alliance): This is the legislative body of the Caodaist
religion and includes its College of Mediums
3 - Details of the Convention?
4 - Hội Thánh: The Caodaist Sacerdotal Council.
5 - Phú: A dissertation in rhythmic prose.
God has promised to give these good
people a divine rank in the Bạch Ngọc Kinh (The Court of God). He will clear
the path to Nirvana and will close Hell in order to save all living beings -
this is especially the case for the 9.2 million original souls. [6] Such bold promises as these can
only be kept by God, who is mightier than any Buddha.
Considering God’s power and these
promises, those who have been selected for membership of the Hội Thánh must
trust Him completely.
The beliefs of this special group
will spread outwards to others. It is a belief that develops throughout the
world in order to improve that world. In order for this to happen, all people
must practice the religious way until they achieve enlightenment. This is hard
for them because, it seems, there are no proper instructions. Consequently, God
has founded the religion of Caodaism to show people exactly the way to
practice.
The Đạo
The Đạo [7] is a sacred force. It forms
something that resembles a path that people can take. It allows them to escape
the world of suffering and work their way towards heaven.
How to escape the endless cycle of
rebirth?
To escape eternal cycles of rebirth
you must achieve the secret and sacred magic of becoming a Divine Being. Only
by praying to God for the revelation of this secret can such a status be achieved.
No other divine being can provide it. Hence, the Đạo is the secret force that
helps a temporal human achieve a divine position in the ranks of [from lowest
to highest divine rank] Geniis, Saints, Immortals, and Buddhas.
God has manifest in Caodaism to
unite the old religions and to show people the sacred forces that can be used
for their mental cultivation. We might ask, however, why did God not go out and
found for Himself an entirely new religion? Why did he simply use the
principles of previous religions but bring them together? What if non-Caodaists
criticize us and say we just imitate other religions?
It is generally understood that Nhơn
Đạo (Confucianism) teaches us how to train our bodies, Tiên Đạo (Daoism)
enables us to cultivate our minds, and Phật Đạo (Buddhism) shows us how to achieve
sacred nothingness.
Why three religions?
To answer this question, I would
first like to explain why we follow the teachings of the three religions both
in our earthly life and in the heavenly realms.
In our earthly life.
Humans on earth need to follow the
guidelines of Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism in order to fulfill their
human responsibilities.
[6] - Nguyên Nhân, original souls: These come directly from the creation
process of God whereas Hoá Nhân are souls that have spiritually evolved from
plant and animal existences. Quỉ Nhân is the final category of souls which
have committed serious moral errors in previous lives and who have been exiled
to Earth.
[7] - Đạo (道), Dao (pinyin romanization system), Tao
(Wade-Giles romanization system): The Way. Also:
doctrine, teaching, religion. Relates to a religious tradition in East Asia which can both a philosophical tradition
Dao Jia (道家) or a more religious system – Dao Jiao (道教). Both
of these are referred to as Daoism or Taoism in English.
According to Confucianism, a person
must act in light of the Three Bonds [8] and the Five Constant Virtues. [9] He or she should bear the
responsibility for creating a peaceful human society in which harmony reigns. A
person should respect this order and not fight against other people. This is against
God’s will.
For humanity to love and respect one
another, Daoism teaches us that we must cultivate our minds to discover the
best way to protect each other. [Of the 72 planets that bear life in the
cosmos] this 68th planet that we call Earth is a purgatory. Here we are not
only tempted by evil but also, we remain vulnerable to natural disasters. We
have to face both violence and disease. Alas! This is why so many Western
intellectuals spend their whole life doing research to save human life from destruction.
They train their minds so much that some can attain some secret force from God.
Their science has proceeded far beyond average human intelligence, so they
deserve to be called “Địa Tiên.” [10]
Humanity is now intelligent enough
to create great machinery. This is why we need the mercy that comes through
instruction in Buddhism. If not, we will kill and get killed by our own
cleverness. In addition to the law of karma, whose effects we can all see with
our own eyes, mercy is the great quality that everyone should have. Think about
it. How chaotic will any society become if a dishonest person takes the chance
to manipulate all the good people in that society! That is why life on the
planet right now resembles a lawless community. The crafty people beat the
honest ones so easily! Against this, a religious person remains self-respecting
and keeps themselves in high spirits so that he or she can educate others to do
the right thing. This is what the three religions have taught us.
A society will thus be in peace if
everyone follows the doctrines of Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism. I wonder
when all societies of the world will be able, with good fortune, to live in
such a peace. Given the principles of our religion, you and I can believe that
this target will be achieved with certainty in the future.
There had been nothing before The
Creation. Then the two masses of air called Hư Vô Chi Khí came from nowhere and
smashed into each other. God’s soul was formed from this, and His Throne called
Thái Cực [12] then came
to exist. The fiery globe called Thái Cực, which is the mechanism of the
material, divided itself under God’s orders into the Lưỡng Nghi [13] and the Tứ Tượng, [14] and then the Bát Quái was created. [15] This is called the mechanism of
Nhơn Đạo. [16] Next,
millions of earths were produced throughout the universe. Seventy-two of these
are presently inhabited by humankind. This is the mysterious force of Tiên Đạo.
[17] After this
Creation, the fiery Thái Cực returned to nothingness. That is the miraculous
force of the Phật Đạo.
[8] - The san gang/wu chang (三纲五常) form the basics of Chinese traditional
social relations. The san gang (三纲), or
three relationships are ruler to ruled, father to son and husband to wife.
Another Confucian tradition summarises five basic relationships adding in elder
brother to younger brother and friend to friend.
[9] - The Five Constants or Wuchang/五常 of
Confucianism: (humaneness, righteousness, fulfillment of the proper rites,
knowledge and integrity).
[10] - Địa Tiên, Earthly Immortals.
[11] - Hư Vô Chi Khí – relates to the Chinese concept of Wu wei (無爲) which
can mean in action, effortless action and peraps in this instance air or the
void.
[12] - Thái Cực, Taiji, (太極): The “Supreme Ultimate” in East Asian
cosmology.
[13] - Lưỡng Nghi: The two forms, i.e. - Yin and Yang.
[14] - Tứ Tượng: The four phenomena.
[15] - Bát Quái, The Bagua (八卦): The
eight trigrams.
[16] - Nhơn Đạo: The way of humanity; Confucianism; humanism.
[17] - Tiên Đạo: The Way of the Immortals – cf fn 7.
The Bát Quái endlessly transforms to
produce earths and everything that is visible to us in the
universe. This is the material
process, which follows God’s orders. Everything is able to develop without
fighting or harming each other. This is clearly the mechanism of Nhơn Đạo
[Confucianism]. Living across 72
planets, humanity also perfects this process. The various societies become
increasingly civilized over time. This is the mechanism of Tiên Đạo. After all
this, everything will be, at some stage, destroyed - no matter how civilized or
how long these societies have been in existence. This is the mechanism of Phật
Đạo.
A person is nothing before becoming
a fetus. Then the combined yin and yang change the fetus into an infant’s body.
Then the person is born, they grow and mature. This is the mechanism of Nhơn Đạo.
After this, the person learns to be more knowledgeable and wiser. This is the
mechanism of Tiên Đạo. At last, he or she becomes old and dies. His body is
destroyed. This is the mechanism of Phật
Đạo.
Discussing the Ngũ Chi.
The Ngũ Chi 19 are: Humanism,
Shintoism (animism or local genism), Christianity (The Way of the Saints),
Daoism (The Way of the Immortals) and Buddhism (The Way of the Buddhas). On
this earth, a human should fulfill his or her personal responsibilities and
practice Humanism. If he or she tries harder to help others, they practice
Shintoism/animism. If he or she achieves things that are much more beneficial
to humanity, we say that he or she practices Christianity. Daoism is manifest
if the believer can perfect what they have learnt and are then able to teach
these lessons widely. Being knowledgeable about all things, he or she knows
that their mind has conquered life and needs quietness and rest before they
pass away, then he or she practices Buddhism.
For the Nguyên Nhân [or original
souls], [20] these five
systems are considered to be a five-rung ladder that enables the self to climb
to a divine position equal to that of God (i.e. become a Buddha). It is impossible
to reach the top rung in just one attempt. But with determination and care you
can gradually climb that ladder to the peak. Therefore, God uses those five
religions as a school of five classes. This school allows us to practice
religion so that we can one day achieve a divine status.
The divine positions you achieve
will then be surely yours without anyone else’s rejection or
approval. Those who copy the
exemplary behaviors of the Genii will become Geni. Next, we hope that the Genii
will imitate the qualities of the Saints so that they can become Saints.
Similarly, those Saints then become Immortals and finally the immortals become
Buddhas.
Someone may ask “how can immoral humans become perfectly moral divine beings?” You
can answer this by explaining that even the Hoá Nhân 21 have souls that have
been granted by God. For example, coral (material), mimosa (plants), parrots,
dogs, horses, monkeys, whales (animals), humans, Genii, Saints, Immortals, and
Buddhas.
As a result, we humans already have
souls, so we can learn and practice the right doctrine in order to achieve a
divine position one day. This is why God has established religions for you to
practice. Someone may wonder how a human can achieve divine status even though
a religion is only a secular community. The answer is that without secular life
there can be no divine status, and without divine status the secular world
cannot last. A similar thing exists with our body and soul.
Without a soul our body is not alive and
without a body there cannot be a human being. Hence, there surely must be a
material world if there is also to be a spiritual one. This doctrine and the Sacerdotal
Council are worldly bodies but they are in accordance with the Divine Law. This
is an equivalent to the Cửu Thiên Khai Hóa [The Teachings of the Nine Heavens].
The Caodaist Law is also the Divine Law and the Sacerdotal Council is able to
contain all the Geniis, Saints, Immortals, and Buddhas of Earth.
[18] - Phật Đạo: Buddhism.
[19] - Ngũ chi Đại Đạo: The five religious branches.
[20] - Nguyên Nhân: original
souls – cf fn 6.
[21] - Hoá Nhân: souls that have spiritually evolved from plant and
animal existence – cf. fn 6.
Aren’t Caodaists being too confident
when we consider that the law we have established is the
Divine Law?
It has been explained by God that
because of His compassion, from the time of Creation, He never punished
humanity. It is also said that the Law in Heaven was made by the Heavenly
Assembly so that, by agreeing to it, all the signatories would keep to its
clauses (i.e. Geniis, Saints, Immortals, and Buddhas) and that they would work
to keep themselves from violating it. They wrote this law to govern their own
capacities rather than to satisfy God. Also, it is said that God cannot now amend
the Heavenly Law for it has been presented to Him for ratification and is now
unchangeable.
Our own religious code, the Caodaist
Canonical Code [23] was made by our Giáo Tông [Spiritual Pope] Li Bai [24] and other Caodaist dignitaries
without God’s interference. Only after it was presented to God and received His
consent did it become an earthly law equal to the heavenly law. And just like
The Heavenly Law Code, which cannot be influenced or overridden by any being or
force - even God - the Caodaist Canonical Code remains unbiased and
untouchable. Let us examine the process by which it was made.
The Caodaist Sacerdotal Council is
composed of two hierarchies: the Cửu Trùng Đài (Executive Body) and the Hiệp
Thiên Đài (Judicial Body). The Code for the Cửu Trùng Đài was granted by God
first. However, the dignitaries under the Hiệp Thiên Đài were not excluded from
the process. They, together with the dignitaries of the Cửu Trùng Đài, had to
construct the Code for themselves. Therefore, they also have to observe the
Caodaist Canonical Code in the same way that everyone else must. The Thập Nhị
Khai Thiên [The Twelve Heavens of Paradise] made the heavenly law and presented
it to God. Following this method precisely, The Caodaist Sacerdotal Council
made the Canonical Code and presented it to God. As a result, the two laws have
a profound equivalence.
If he should seem to break the law,
even the Hộ Pháp [Guardian of the Dharma/head of the Hiệp Thiên Đài] must be
summoned to appear in the Toà Tam Giáo 25 under the direction of the Cửu Trùng
Đài, be judged, and submit to its jurisdiction like any ordinary believer.
Similarly, if a Giáo Tông [pope] was accused of breaking this law, he would
also be summoned to appear in the religious court under the auspices of the
Hiệp Thiên Đài as though he were just an ordinary believer. The divine beings
(Genii, Saints, Immortals, and Buddhas) make the law in heaven while the
Caodaist Sacerdotal Council has made the Canonical Code for earth.
Consequently, these law codes are considered equal.
As an aside, I would like to
elaborate on how the Caodaist Sacerdotal Council is organized and why it is
considered as having an equivalence to the divine beings.
The Sacerdotal Council is divided into three parts.
1 - The Bát Quái Đài 26 is the
dwelling place for all Geniis, Saints, Immortals, and Buddhas. It is
[22] - Cửu Thiên Khai Hóa: The masters or divine beings of the nine
heavens; a reference to the divine beings of the nine heavens who are
responsible for opening the nine heavens and for teaching and elevating humanity.
[23] - The Tân Luật or Cannonical Code.
[24] - Lý Bạch, 李白Li Po/Li Bai (701-762): The famous
T’ang Dynasty Poet and the Spiritual Pope of the Cao-Đài religion.
[25] - Toà Tam Giáo: The Three-Religion Tribunal – see also Bát Quái
Đài.
[26] - Bát Quái Đài, (八卦臺 The Eight-sided Palace): The council of
the great spirits which govern the eight states of the soul; it is also the
eight-sided palace of God‘s presence, or the eight trigrams palace, that is,
the spiritual hierarchy of Caodaism.
Directed by God.
2 - Cửu Trùng Đài [27] is where Caodaists who have
been divinely ordained work as dignitaries in the religion. They are considered
equivalent to the Geniis, Saints, Immortals, and Buddhas on earth.
They are led by the Giáo Tông
[pope].
3 - Hiệp Thiên Đài [28] is the organization that protects
the secular and religious law – as does the Ngọc Hư Cung [29] in heaven. It is led by the Hộ Pháp
[Guardian of the Dharma]. The Hiệp Thiên Đài (Tower of Heavenly Alliance
Who are the Thập Nhị Thời Quân?
The Caodaist Thập nhị Thời Quân [30] are considered to be the earthly
equivalent to the Thập nhị Thời Thần [Twelve Zodiacal Deities, at the rank of
Geniis in Heaven]. [31] They are the source for various souls. Similarly, everything in
the universe created by God comes from the Thập Nhị Thời Thần.
Traditionally, it is said that
“Heaven starts at the zodiacal point of the Rat, [32] whereas Earth will end at the Ox. [33] And Humans are born in the period
of the Tiger. [34] ”
Whether souls who incarnate on earth
ascend or descend depends on the Thập nhị Thời Quân.
Similarly, the promotion of divine
beings and their punishment depends on the Thập nhị Thời Thần.
The Thập nhị Thời Quân are assigned
to three branches: Pháp, Đạo and Thế (Dharma, The Way, Secularity) [35] - each of which has four
dignitaries per branch.
Who is the Thượng Sanh?
Souls come into existence from two
sources: those made before and those made after the Creation event. The former
are called original souls and the other evolutionary souls. All materials,
plants, animals, birds and humans have evolutionary souls. Of these, humans are
at the highest level. In the Third Salvation, God saves all souls. He
especially helps evolutionary souls climb to the level of humanity. The Thượng
Sanh is the being who is directly responsible for these promotions. Mastering
secular laws, he leads all living beings along the religious path. He can bring
anyone who hinders people from practicing religion to the Caodaist Court College of Mediums
[29] Ngọc Hư Cung, White Jade Palace
[30] Thập Nhị Thời
Quân: The Twelve Zodiacal Superiors – 12 dignitaries under the Hiệp Thiên Đài
who assist in the direction of souls.
[31] Thập nhị Thời
Thần: The Twelve Zodiacal Deities - 12 Genii in heaven who direct souls.
[32] The time around
midnight : 23:00 - 00:59 .
[33] Very early
morning: 01:00 - 02:59 .
[34] Early morning: 03:00 - 04:59 .
[35] Pháp, Đạo and
Thế: The Dharma, The Way, Secularity.
Who is the Thượng Phẩm?
Joining Caodaism, you can earn a
divine status. God will be able to help you reach the highest level. The Thượng
Phẩm is the one who is directly responsible for this process. He protects the
spiritual status of believers and assists them to avoid breaking the law in
their quest to get a divine promotion. He prevents Caodaists from fighting each
other for higher positions. He keeps the Cửu Trùng Đài in order and prevents
them from retreating in their need to missionize. Mastering religious laws, he
defends Caodaist dignitaries and believers by preventing them from violating those
laws. He is the Caodaist defense lawyer. His team in achieving these tasks
includes four Zodiacal Superiors: the Bảo Đạo, the Hiến Đạo, the Khai Đạo and
the Tiếp Đạo.
Who is the Hộ Pháp?
Like the law in a secular society,
the Bí Pháp [36] is the secret or esoteric power in Caodaism. The Hộ Pháp is the one who
masters both secular laws and Caodaist esoteric practice. He can judge Caodaist
dignitaries and believers and request that someone be awarded or punished on
earth.
Since the lawbreakers who have been
punished on earth will not be punished again after death, Hộ Pháp punishes the
sinners in accordance with the Canonical Code in their lifetime so that they
still keep their divine positions after death. He takes all souls to the Bát
Quái Đài to hold audience with the Genii, Saints, Immortals, and Buddhas.
Mastering secular and Caodaist laws, Hộ Pháp is the leading Judge of the
Caodaist court. [37] His staff members include the following four Zodiac Superiors: the Bảo
Pháp, the Hiến Pháp, the Khai Pháp and the Tiếp Pháp.
The Hiệp Thiên Đài, a replica of the
Ngọc Hư Cung [38] on earth, is the door by which souls can travel to the Thirty-six
Heavens, Nirvana, and the Bạch Ngọc Kinh to meet God. [39] It is also the checkpoint to
prevent immoral souls from penetrating into heaven. Due to His great compassion
and expectation, God assigns the Thượng Sanh, the Thượng Phẩm and the Hộ Pháp
to save, gather, and take all of His children back to heaven. Physically, the
Hiệp Thiên Đài is an institution, where good people are selected and assigned
to work with the Cửu Trùng Đài to help Caodaist believers obtain their divine
positions. After the believers die, the Hộ Pháp will take their spirit tablets
to the Bát Quái Đài to be worshipped with other Genii, Saints, Immortals, and
Buddhas.
Cửu Trùng Đài
The Cửu Trùng Đài [40] is a copy of the Cửu Thiên Khai
Hóa. [41] It serves
for the Cửu Phẩm Thần Tiên.
[42] Joining Caodaism, you become a
member of one of these levels.
The Divine Beings in the Nine Heavens govern
the earthly worlds and the Cửu Trùng Đài administers the Caodaist community,
saves people and leads them back to God. The Toà Tam Giáo [43] established by God in the Cửu Trùng
Đài represents the authority that God gives to the Divine Beings to manage the
universe. The Canonical Code has already explained the reasons behind the authority
of the Caodaist dignitaries.
[36] Bí Pháp: The
Secret Dharma, an esoteric (or occult) teaching/the esoteric doctrine.
[37] After being
judged by the Court of the Cửu Trùng Đài, the accused can appeal to the Court
of the Hiệp Thiên Đài if he/she can claim unfairness.
[38] Ngọc Hư Cung: White Jade Palace
[39] Bạch Ngọc Kinh:
The White Jade Palace: the court of God. It can also refer to the Council of
God.
[40] Cửu Trùng Đài (九 重 臺 -
Nine-sphered palace): The executive body of Caodaism which takes charge of the
administration of the religion and its missionary activities. It also refers to
the temple of nine degrees of evolution or nine spheres palace. The palace of
nine divine planes, or the palace of nine degrees of evolution.
[41] Cửu Thiên Khai
Hóa: The Nine Heavens.
[42] Cửu Phẩm Thần
Tiên: The Nine-Level Hierarchy for Divine Beings.
|43] Toà Tam Giáo:
The Three-Religion Tribunal.
I would like to comment briefly on
this Nine- Level Hierarchy.
Level 1- Genii:
Those who are non-Caodaists, but
moral enough, can attain a level equal that of Địa Thần or.
Earthly Genii.
The Caodaist believers, who practice
Caodaism, are recognised as Nhơn Thần or Geniis of.
Humanism.
The Lễ Sanh (student priests), are
at the level of Thiên Thần or Hevenly Genii.
2 - Saints:
Giáo Hữu (priests) are at the level
of Địa Thánh – that is: Earthly Saints.
Giáo Sư (bishops) are at the level
of Nhơn Thánh - or Saints of Humanism.
Phối Sư (archbishops) are at the
level of Thiên Thánh - or Heavenly Saints.
3 - Immortals:
Đầu Sư (cardinals) are Địa Tiên
or Earthly Immortals.
Chưởng Pháp (censor cardinals) are
Nhơn Tiên or Immortals of humanism.
Giáo Tông (or pope), is a Thiên
Tiên – or Heavenly Immortal.
What I have just said is a brief
mention of the equivalences between Caodaist dignitaries and the divine
statuses that are equal to these positions in heaven.
According to the Divine Messages,
God says He chooses one Buddha, three Immortals, thirty-six Saints, seventy-two
Sages and three thousand disciples in this Third Salvation. That is, God explains
that the Caodaist dignitaries serving under the Cửu Trùng Đài and the divine
beings He has assigned to incarnate on earth did so in order to establish
Caodaism.
The one Buddha, two Immortals, and
twelve Saints under the Hiệp Thiên Đài, who have previously served God in
heaven, now continue to do so on earth. There are lots of divine beings who,
having been incarnated on earth, are still serving among Caodaist believers.
God is letting them gain experience for their future spiritual assignments. As
for the Tam Trấn Oai Nghiêm, [44] - they represent God in their administration
of the Cửu Trùng Đài. They are Buddhas. All souls will have to join the Cửu
Trùng Đài and attain earthly positions if they wish to achieve the co-relative
divine positions after death. Without the Cửu Trùng Đài you cannot enter the
Cửu Trùng Thiên.
Bát Quái Đài
The Bát Quái Đài [45] is where Genii, Saints, Immortals,
Buddhas, disincarnated Caodaist dignitaries and believers are worshipped. This
is in accordance with the principle “God
and humanity unite.”
It is a miraculous fact that God
only opens the door of the Bát Quái Đài for those souls who attain the highest
level of the Cửu Trùng Đài. He lets them unite with other divine beings.
There is only one door between the
highest level of the Cửu Trùng Đài and the Bát Quái Đài, so between the earthly
world and Nirvana there is only one thing to remain aware of - the material body.
If the door of the body can be opened - you can get enlightenment right here on
earth.
[44] Tam Trấn Oai Nghiêm: Three Heavenly Governors.
[45] Bát Quái Đài, (八卦臺 The Eight-sided Palace): The council of
the great spirits which govern the eight states of the soul; it is also the
eight-sided palace of God‘s presence, or the eight trigrams palace, that is,
the spiritual hierarchy of Caodaism.
In conclusion, I would like to say:
Firstly, The Hiệp Thiên Đài is the opening door to heaven. Here there are
devoted helpers available for original souls to return to their previous divine
positions.
Here evolutionary souls can compete
for higher divine positions - even a position so advanced that it is equal to
the one that God Himself holds. Secondly, your position in The Cửu Trùng Đài is
the divine position God grants you on earth. It is like a barometer - it shows
you what your divine position will be after death - but in advance. Thirdly,
The Bát Quái Đài is the Bạch Ngọc Kinh on earth.
Unfortunately, most of us do not
respect our ranks. Some even degrade Caodaism. O! What a terrible sin! God has
revealed all the secrets of heaven to you, so be aware if you want to escape
the cycle of rebirth. Caodaism is a religion. Thanks to it we can persuade and
save people. To do so, we have to be perfectly moral. We have to correctly
administer the Caodaist community. Frankly, we are still not moral enough! His
Holiness the Giáo Tông always criticizes us. He complains that we have been
chosen because God loves us too much while we are, actually, terribly unworthy.
That complaint always makes me ashamed of myself for not completing my
responsibilities-due, sadly, to my evident inabilities. Having tried hard, I am
still like a firefly at night-not yet luminous enough to show the way for
believers. Brothers and sisters! I think you and I have to try to be better if
we want to keep ourselves worthy of God’s love. The higher the rank, the more
moral we should be. That is something we should do to repay God for His love.
We should not do it simply to achieve something like a divine status. We should
try to happily accept what God grants us. We have to trust and worship God at
all times.
I can foresee the punishment that is
awaiting us. Therefore, why don’t we wholeheartedly repent together and see
whether we will be forgiven?
A Sermon:
* By His Holiness Hộ
Pháp Phạm Công Tắc
Translator:
* Christopher Hartney
and Từ Chơn
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