Tay Ninh Travel Guide

 mtncorg Says:  The area to the west of the Temple is a large parade ground with small viewing stands on either side. Parades and dances take place out here during some of the most important religious days like the Feast Day for the Supreme Being - 9th Day of the First Lunar Month, just... 

 mtncorg Says:  Cao Dai is like a lot of other organizations, one can work his/her way up a ladder of different positions, each with different responsibilities and different uniforms. Basic acolytes wear flowing white - white being pure and combining all colors within - robes. Priests... 

 mtncorg Says:  Up above - where the organ in a Christian church sits - and behind the faithful in the Prayer Hall at the opposite end from the Altar of the Eye sit a small orchestra. The music provided adds greatly to the mysticism of the Cao Dai service. The musicians are good too. So... 

 mtncorg Says:  Every six hours there is a service in the Temple’s Prayer Hall: Midnight, 6 AM, Noon and 6 PM. Tour companies and tourists show up to the noon service - remember the admonition of Graham Greene: “It always seems hotter in Tanyin than anywhere else in the Southern Delta;... 

 mtncorg Says:  At the entrance to the Prayer Hall is a mural showing three Cao Dai saints - Chinese nationalist Sun Yat Sen, French author Victor Hugo, and Vietnamese poet Nguyen Binh Khiem - a Vietnamese Nostradamus able to predict the future. The three are depicted as the human... 

 mtncorg Says:  The all-seeing Divine Eye is the symbol of the Cao Dai, The eye is prominently displayed above the Temple entrance. Each window features an eye centrally. At the east end of the Temple, the Altar of the Eye dominates. Sitting atop a octagonal dais is a huge star-studded dark... 

 mtncorg Says:  Near the huge altar at the front of the Temple are a series of seven chairs. The chair at the head with dragon encrusted arms is for the pope. The six below in two rows of three - with eagles and lions - are for the cardinals. Women are equal to men in Cao Dai except they... 

 mtncorg Says:  The theme of universality of religion is continued inside the Temple. From the entrance - males enter from the right and females from the left - looking forward down the long Prayer Hall, note the nine different levels - taken from the Tao - representing the Nine Steps to be... 

 mtncorg Says:  Built between 1933 and 1955 at the direction of Ho Phap Pham Cong Tac, the Great Divine Temple is the exotic centerpiece for the Cao Dai religion. The building represents the mixture of religion that makes up Cao Dai. Pagoda roofs reflect Tao and Confucian influence; twin... 

 Willettsworld Says:  God is symbolised by the Divine Eye, specifically the left eye because Yang is the left side and God is the master of Yang. You'll see this right at the far end of the temple but it's a little obscured as you can see in the photos. 

 Willettsworld Says:  The capital of the same-named province, Tay Ninh is situated 95km northwest of Ho Chi Minh City and is the original home of the Cao Dai religion which has around 3 million adherents in Southern Vietnam. Tay Ninh is home to the Cao Dai Great Temple, built between 1933 and... 

 Willettsworld Says:  It's the Cao Dai prayers that form the key attraction at the Holy See from a tourist's perspective. Ritual prayers are held four times daily with the midday session the most likely one you'll see if you visit as a part of a tour from Saigon. Be aware that while you're... 

 Willettsworld Says:  Although various sects of Caodaiism claim to have received messages from numerous spiritual entities, the Tay Ninh Holy See acknowledges significantly fewer. Inside the Holy See is this painting depicting the Three Saints signing a covenant between God and humanity. From... 

 Willettsworld Says:  Caodaiism's organisational structure closely resembles that of many governments of democracies. Caodaiism's governing body consists of three branches that are functionally equivalent to the U.S.'s legislative, executive and judicial branches.The head of the Executive Branch... 

 Willettsworld Says:  The Cao Dai beliefs are a curious mix of Mahayana Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism with a decent dash of home-grown remedies thrown into the mix. The religion came out of activities of the Vietnamese public officer and mystic, Ngo Minh Chieu, who was on the receiving end of... 

 Willettsworld Says:  On the way to see the Cao Dai Great Temple, we stopped for a break at a town called Trang Bang which was heavily bombed during the Vietnam War. One of the most iconic photographs of the war and, in my opinion, one of the most famous ever taken, was the image of a naked...