Cao Dai Temple in Tay Ninh, Vietnam

One of the amazing places Jem and I visited when we went to Vietnam was Cao Đài temple in Tay Ninh. We entered through gate # 4 after about almost 2 hours of travel from the center of Ho Chi Minh City.



Here are some videos we took both outside and inside the Cao Dai Temple:

What's interesting about this temple is that there is a mixture of different religions here like Daosim, Catholicism, Buddhism, Confucianism and Hinduism. In terms of architecture, the temple is designed with a mixture of various architectural styles and colors.

Cao Đài, also called Caodaism or Caodaiism, like what I mentioned earlier is a relatively monotheistic and modern syncretistic religion which was established in Tây Ninh city located in southern Vietnam sometime in 1926.

It believes in the existence of one God or oneness of God and that the practitioners, called Caodaiists, credit God as its founder. Those who adhere to Caodaism engage in various ethical practices like prayer, nonviolence, veneration of ancestors, and vegetarianism.

Here are a few more tidbits about the Cao Dai Temple:

• Inside the temple, people are not allowed to talk.
• The Cao Dai debutees only wear white.
• The debutees and practitioners are mostly vegetarians.
• At the facade of the temple, you will see the Divine Eye, a symbolism of the Cao Dai religion

During our tour, we witnessed how Caodaiists perform their meditation and prayer. There were also those who played various interesting musical instruments. All in all, it was an amazing experience as it opened my mind to a whole new world of spirituality.

Read here the rest of our Saigon / Vietnam / Ho Chi Minh adventures.