Along with materialism, differences in religions have brought conflicts to people resulting in many wars all over the world. CaoDai, a new faith founded in Vietnam in 1926 by the Supreme Being via spiritism, with the principle that all religions are of one same origin (which is God, although called by various names or no name), having the same teachings based on Love and Justice, and are just diverse manifestations of the same truth.
CaoDai embraces all religions ranging from what is termed the way of humanity (Confucianism), the way of genies (geniism, or shintoism, or the veneration of ancestors), the way of Saints (Judaism, Christianity, Islam), the way of Immortals (Taoism), and the way of Buddhas (Hinduism, Buddhism). Although they have different physical manifestations, all religions have the same ethical teaching based on Love and Justice: Love being unconditional and without desire, and Justice being equated with the Golden Rule: “Do not do to others what you do not want done to you.”
Besides these teachings, there are other similarities among religions; the conception of God is one example.
CaoDai believes that the Supreme Being is from the “Hu Vo” (the nothingness or cosmic ether). In the cosmic ether, appeared a great source of Divine Light called “Thai Cuc” (Monad) or the Supreme Being. The Monad then created Yin and Yang energies, the two opposite logos, the interaction of which led to the formation of the universe. The Supreme Being, in giving the following message, confirmed that God’s energy had manifested through different prophets in the world:
Buddha, God; God, Buddha are Me,
Although different, all branches belong to one same trunk (family).
Buddhism, Taoism, Christianity are in my hands;
Because of love, I come to save humanity for the third time.
With the same conception that the Nothingness is the origin of everything, in the Tao Te Ching, Lao Tse says:
There was something nebulous,
Existing before heaven and earth,
Silent, empty, standing alone, altering not,
Moving cyclically without being exhausted,
Which may be called the mother of all under heaven.
I do not know its name; therefore, call it the Tao.
A similar conception that God is the Nothingness is found in Buddhism: “There is an unborn, not become, not made, unmanifest, which is called Brahmakaya or Sunyata, the Void, or the Nothingness.”
Sadly, it was because of this conception that Buddhism was misunderstood as not believing in the existence of “God.”
In the same light, Confucius says that God has done nothing but created everything:
Does Heaven ever speak?
The four seasons come and go,
And all creatures thrive and grow.
Does Heaven ever speak?
Judaism believes that God or Elohim is a state of consciousness that pertains neither to perception nor to non-perception; or, in other words, the state of consciousness perceiving Nothingness, which comes from the chaos.
Christianity believes that God is the Word: “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things are made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made.”
Not only religions but science theorizes that the universe came from the nothingness. Modern science has conceptualized the void, which, according to field theory, is far from empty, but on the contrary, contains an unlimited number of particles which come into being and vanish without end.
Isn’t it wondrous, how much religions and even science have in common? If an individual takes time to study others’ religions, one would realize that they are but one unified truth which has been expressed in different ways.
At this moment, in this current situation of the world, CaoDai’s purpose is to remind humanity and all religions that all religions are of the same origin and principle, and are just different manifestations of the same truth.
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