endroog

This is a temple me and my Szer visited on a day trip in Vietnam. This is a must for every tourist to Ho Chi Minh City.

Well, Cao Dai (a.k.a. Dao Cao Dai or Caodaism) is a syncretist Vietnamese religious movement with a strongly nationalist political character. Cao Dai draws upon ethical precepts from Confucianism, occult practices from Taoism, theories of karma and rebirth from Buddhism, and a hierarchical organization (including a pope) from Roman Catholicism. Its pantheon of saints includes such diverse figures as the Buddha, Confucius, Jesus Christ, Muhammad, Pericles, Julius Caesar, Joan of Arc, Victor Hugo, and Sun Yat-sen. It was founded in Vietnam by Ngo Van Chieu in 1926.

It was a Saturday afternoon. Worshippers going to the templefor prayers.

In 1919 Ngo Van Chieu, an administrator for the French in Indochina, received a communication from the supreme deity during a table-moving séance. Chieu became the prophet of the new religion, which was formally established in 1926. Caodaists believe this ushered in Tam Ky Pho Do or the Third Period of Salvation, a period marked by direct revelation between heaven and earth. Caodaism is the Dai Dao or great religion of this period.

A Cao Dai army was established in 1943 during the Japanese occupation of Indochina. After the war the Cao Dai was an effective force in national politics; it first supported, then opposed, Premier Ngo Dinh Diem. In 1955–56 Diem disbanded the Cao Dai army and forced the sect’s pope, Pham Cong Tac, into exile.

After the communist takeover in 1975, Cao Dai was reportedly repressed by the government. Centers of worship were established in Vietnamese refugee communities abroad, however, and by the early 1990s Cao Dai was reported to have some two million adherents in Vietnam, Cambodia, France, and the United States.

Today, Cao Dai adherents may number as high as 6 million, at least according to Cao Dai sources. 2 The headquarters of Cao Dai are at Tay Ninh, near Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon).

In its beliefs, Cao Dai draws upon ethical precepts from Confucianism and theories of karma and rebirth from Buddhism, with some influence from Catholicism. It is a very syncretistic faith, and proudly so. According to one Cao Dai follower and author:

“That’s the reason God has founded Cao Dai, in order to bring harmony to different religions. And the principle of Cao Dai is that religions are not different and if we take enough time to study deep –deeply enough in each religion, we would see that they have one same principal, if not identical principal.”

The noble effort of CaoDai is to unite all of humanity through a common vision of the Supreme Being, whatever our minor differences, in order to promote peace and understanding throughout the world. CaoDai does not seek to create a gray world, where all religions are exactly the same, only to create a more tolerant world, where all can see each other as sisters and brothers from a common divine source reaching out to a common divine destiny realizing peace within and without.

The supreme being is Cao Dai (”High Tower”), a Taoist epithet for the supreme god. Cao Dai is regarded as the same supreme being honored in all major world religions, but the term Cao Dai avoids gender, personality or other earthly attributes. God is represented as the Divine Eye, an eye in a triangle, which appears on the facades of the sect’s temples and in followers’ homes. It is a left eye, because God is Yang, and Yang is the left side.

Cao Dai’s saints include such diverse figures as the Buddha, Confucius, Jesus Christ, Muhammad, Pericles, Julius Caesar, Joan of Arc, Victor Hugo, and Sun Yat-sen. These are honored at Cao Dai temples, along with ancestors.

In Cao Dai, the purpose of life is peace within each individual and harmony in the world. Cao Dai followers also seek to gain religious merit and avoid bad karma.

Cao Dai beliefs about the afterlife are derived from Buddhism. Those who have gathered too much bad karma during their lifetime will be reincarnated in negative circumstances, which may include rebirth on a darker, colder planet than this one. Good karma leads to rebirth to a better life on earth.

Salvation is freedom from rebirth and the attainment of nirvana or heaven. “The ultimate goal of CaoDaists is to be reunified with The All That Is, to return home.”

Cao Dai draws upon occult practices from Taoism and includes communication with the dead in séances. This has been outlawed by the Vietnamese government, but Cao Dai leaders also say that it is no longer necessary.

“We don’t see the necessity to have séance any more because we have direct communication from the Supreme Being to people by returning inside to our heart to see the Supreme Being in there.”

Cao Dai encourages obedience to the three duties (between king and citizen, father and child, husband and wife), and five virtues (humanity, obligation, civility, knowledge, reliability) of Confucianism.

Cao Dai’s organization is patterned after that of Roman Catholicism, with nine levels of hierarchy including a pope, cardinals, and archbishops.

Worship involves group prayer in the temple, elaborate rituals and festivals.

Similar to the division in Theravada Buddhism between lay Buddhists and monks, Cao Dai offers two ways of practice its adherents. 6 Esoterism focuses on meditation, with the goal “to progressively eradicate the inferior self and develop the divine element within the self, reaching toward oneness with the Supreme Being.” These are priests of Cao Dai, which can be men and women. Exoterism is the form available to laypersons living a normal family life. These are expected to:

1. cultivate the Confucian duties and virtues (see above)
2. practice good and avoid evil
3. observe five Precepts: do not kill, do not steal, do not commit adultery, do not get drunk, do not sin by word.
   practice vegetarianism at least ten days per month, to purify one’s body and spirit and to avoiding killing living beings
4. participate in worship to the Supreme Being through four daily ceremonies, at 6:00 a.m., noon, 6:00 p.m., and midnight, with at least one ceremony per day at home

Asked a Vietnamese to take a picture for us and this is what he took. Despite the bright LCD screen where you can see what you’ll get, he opted for the viewfinder and clicked the shutter button. The funny part is that before the shutter and flash open, he already started to pass the camera back to me and at the same time the flash just “chik chak” and this is the result. Arrrgghhh.

My lovely gf, Szer.
Coming next on my installment of my Ho Chi Minh trip is Cu Chi Tunnel. Stay tuned.

Bibliography: http://www.religionfacts.com/a-z-religion-index/cao_dai.htm

me and my Szer

The first picture I took at the War Remnants Museum.

Szer insisted that we must take a picture with this odd-looking plane. Actually, it is the camo paint that make it looks odd.

My favourite picture at the War Museum. Here, it is actually the prison side of the museum. The building is a former prison.

At time of war, everyone objected it. Like what we saw about Bush’s Iraq terror war.

The main entrance of the museum. I dont know how to pronouns, haha.

Look at the chaos on the roads. I know this picture dont show clearly how chaotic it was on the road. That two caucasians waited for quite sometime before crossing and they gotta run.

This is a fast food outlet. They sell burgers. This is not a number shop or jackpot lottery shop.

The Reunification Palace. This is where the tank broke into and stopped the war. We went there quite late and it was closed. So we went on another day.

The main post office of HCMC.

People’s Committee Building.

Opera House.

A statue we saw outside the post office.

Cathedral of Notre Dame. That statue of Lady Fatima was said to have wept before a disastrous event happened in Vietnam some years ago.

Picture taken at the War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City

It was a nice short trip to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). I must say it is a very nice place and its a must in your South East Asia tour. They have their very unique culture with a little bit of French and American influence. There’s a lot nice tasty food to eat. Beef with vermicelli is a must. Pork chop rice. Monitor lizard and rat/mice. Argh…. so many nice food. Their coffee is so yummy and cheap. Almost every stall you have your coffee will be the same good taste. No worries of which shop serves better coffee. They are all the same.

Cheap good stuffs. At first, my objective of going to Vietnam is to see the dugout tunnels the Viet Congs used during the American War (or Vietnam War that we already know). Cu Chi (pronouns : khou chee). Well, not only that I saw but also a weird religion they called Caodaism. We went to Cao Dai Temple and Cu Chi Tunnel for a day trip. It is about 2.5 hours drive out of HCMC.

Ok. I’ll elaborate more with along my pictures soon. Stay tuned folks. Kham mer.

Ha… I’m the last blogging about this. Nevermind. So, I went to Bukti Tinggi with Szer of course and also a couple of blogger friends and their friends. Daniel, Chelva, Yee Lee, Hong Kiat, Cely, Earl Ku & Bratt. The weather there was rather warm should I say. Oh yeah,

Had steamboat.. all thanks to Cely. She prepared all the foodstuff. Earl Ku fixed the booze. And the rest of us just brought our asses. I was sick that day. I got a cold. Too bad.

Bukit Tinggi is a boring place. Things were so expensive at Colmar Tropicale aka the French village. Food, drinks, souvenirs etc. All so expensive. Even the bakery practices double standards. I flicted a teaspoon from the bakery as consolation. Bukit Tinggi is no big deal. Boring place. But it is the company that matters and booze…

So, i got nothing much to say about Bukit Tinggi apart from it being inflated. I can be a millionaire if I open a 24/7 mamak stall there.

I have some pictures in my photo album.

Related posts with more pictures:

tihtahpah : Weekend at Bukit Tinggi

Daniel Franklin : Bukit Tinggi Steamboat

Kukujiao : Bukit Tinggi Trip

Cely: People at Bukit Tinggi and photo album

It was my second visit to Ipoh in my life. The first time was when I was a kid. So, I dont really know anything about Ipoh except it started off as a tin mining town…. and the derogatory “Ipoh mali” chant. Luckily Szer told me about it so that I dont go offending other Ipohians. Ipoh mali actually refers to social escorts/GROs that accompanied the wealthy businessmen back then.

Once I’m at her house the first thing I was asked by her mom was “Do you play mahjongg?” and I was like “uhh.. err.. but i can learn.”. Wooh. Thats bizarre. Then had some home made lam mee (very different from the one (starchy) we have here in KL). That one in Ipoh is like mee soup and of course you’ll see bean sprout in practically every noodle dishes in Ipoh. Gotta mix it with some sambal. That was lunch. Then we went out for a drive downtown and before we can get out of the housing area, I almost meet with 2 motor accidents. Gee. Too used to KL driving, when you go to some slow-driving town, you’ll get mad. Narrow escape.

Ok.. Szer took me to this Nam Heong Old Town kopitiam. The Old Town brand 3-in-1 white coffee we all see in supermarkets, produced by this coffeeshop. But according to Szer, the better white coffee is brewed opposite. Kedai Kopi Sun Yun Loong (correct spelling?) but it was closed that day. Tiu. Settled with Nam Heong and the eggtarts there were delicious. Comparable to Tong Kee in Pudu.

Then we headed to a soya bean milk/tofu fah shop where its technically a drive-in join… you park your car at the roadside, someone will come and take your order and send you the beverages to drink in the car. They’ll come and collect the bowls/cups after that. All this white coffees and tofufahs are in the Old Town.

Ipoh is divided into 2 sections by the Kinta River. Old Town and New Town. But then, how about Greentown? Haiya. I’m confused.

Still hungry. The car was hungry too and took it to a Shell petrol station to get a fix and we hit the road again. Now we went to Ipoh Garden/Canning Garden to buy ma keok (horse leg) and yau char kuai (deep fried ghost). After tapau, we went to this sports complex. I think thats the Ipoh Stadium. There we had rojak and some stale cuttlefish kangkung. Nothing special in these.

Ok. Enough of eating. We touring again. She showed me her primary and secondary schools, some prominent landmarks such as St. Michael’s Institution/Church, Fu Shan dim sum shop, Syuen Hotel, stretches pomelo stalls with hot sexy chicks trying to lure passersby to buy pomelo. Fuck. Can you imagine, pomelo (po lok) ?!

Finally, we headed to the famous Sam Poh Tong. A Buddhist temple constructed in a cave. Cis. It was closed by the time we reached there. Temples open in office hours. 9.00am-5.30pm. Remember that.

As we drove home, I realized that there’s a lot of schools in Ipoh. Every road I drove by must have at least a school. Damn fucking lots of schools for primary to tertiary education. Schools schools schools.

Then at nite, the celebration at home was nice. A lot of her parent’s friends came over for mahjongg and roast pig feast. 2 big fat roast pigs. There were beers, packet drinks, smokes, groundnuts, fried meehoons, yam pie, chicken porridge and etc. I can’t possibly remember all the food. Chatted with Szer’s uncle and his friend. Well, drinking kaki sure can get cliqued easily. Haha. ~Joking~

The clock have not even struck 12.00am , they have already couldn’t wait any longer. They started to pray at 11.38pm and by 12.00am… half of the second roast pig was gone. I gobbled some of my favourite ang ku. That nite was tired. Retreated to bed early.

Next morning, went breakfast along with her dad. Three of us had Hakka mee. But the hakka mee in Ipoh is like beef noodle. The shop is in Old Town. Not bad but still lack something as compared with Ngau Kee in Tengkat Tung Shin/Jalan Alor.

After breakfast, went home. Packed our luggage and departed Ipoh. Went to Bidor Pun Chun for lunch. Thats all. Hope you all are not bored by this crap travel story of mine.

Ok, this is not crap. Went to Pulau Ketam with some bloggers and one or two non-bloggers yesterday. We went there just for lunch and a little bit of sight-seeing.

Well, it was the first time meeting with philters, syen, yatz and earl-ku(kujiao). The non-bloggers are belle, Shen and Pusan (korean?).

The famous hotel in Pulau Ketam - renovated extensively. Me and my homies stayed here when we came here 4-5 years ago.

Sorry for revealing names - (from left) philters, Belle and Shen. Philters supplied a bottle of tuak.

Need intro again? (from left) HongKiat, Daniel and the new face is earl-ku[kujiao] here seen fondling Daniel’s chest. Not another baldie?! But at least kukujiao sponsored a bottle of tequila.

(from left) Chelva, Syen and Cely.

(from left) Shen, Yatz gf and Yatz, and tihtahpah the red one.

For more pictures of the trip, please see Philters’ blog.

PS: Homies, have any of you seen Cely at the market before? She’s also from the same hometown.

Thats malay for Crab Island. This place is a fishing village where majorities are Chinese. The first time I went there was in 1996 with my family. Then , there were subsequent trips with my homies.

Basically, this place is just like another fishing village but a bit more commercialized. About 45 minutes of ferry from Port Klang.. but now they have speedboat which take only about 30 minutes to reach PK. The seafood there is slightly more expensive than the last time I went there. So, if its just for the sake of eating seafood, i dont really recommend this. But if you never been there…. its nice to see the place and at the same time have some seafood.
First thing you’ll notice upon reaching the jetty is the stench. Don’t be surprised that the shit you produce will drop straight from the toilet bowl into the sea below (yet the local children swim near the UFO landing spot). Someone can just peep your asshole from the water below. Beware.

Ok. For more info, go here : http://www.pulauketam.com