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Caodaism (, Chữ nôm: 道高臺) is a monotheistic religion officially established in the city of Tây Ninh in southern Vietnam in 1926. The full name of the religion is 'Đại Đạo Tam Kỳ Phổ Độ'' (The Great Faith (the ) Third Universal Redemption). ''Cao Đài'' (, literally the "Highest Lord" or "Highest Power") is the utmost deity, originating the universe, worshipped by the Caodaists. Caodaists often use the term ''Đức Cao Đài'' (''Venerable High Lord'') as the abbreviated name for the creator of the universe, whose full title is "Cao Đài Tiên Ông Đại Bồ Tát Ma Ha Tát" ("The Highest Power () Ancient Immortal () Great Bodhisattva"). The symbol of the faith is the Left Eye of God, representing the yang (masculine, ordaining, positive and expansive) activity of the male creator, which is balanced by the yin (âm) activity of Mother Goddess, the Queen Mother of the West (Diêu Trì Kim Mẫu, Tây Vương Mẫu), the feminine, nurturing and restorative mother of humanity. Adherents engage in ethical practices such as prayer, veneration of ancestors, nonviolence, and vegetarianism with the goal of union with God and freedom from saṃsāra . Estimates of the number of Caodaists in Vietnam vary; current government figures give 4.4 million for Caodaists affiliated to the Tây Ninh church, with numbers rising up to 6 million if other branches are added. An additional number of adherents in the tens of thousands, primarily ethnic Vietnamese, live in Northern America, Europe, and Australia. The design of Caodaist temples, shape and coloring, is quite standard around the world and includes the incorporation of sacred images, symbols, and colors. ==History== From 1921, Ngô Văn Chiêu, a district head of the French administration in Cochinchina, was the first disciple to worship and receive messages from Cao Đài. He received a vision of the Divine Eye which is now the symbol for Cao Đài as well as the focus for worship on all Cao Đài altars. Adherents maintain that, on Christmas Eve 1925, God identified Himself to the first group of Cao Đài mediums, which included Phạm Công Tắc, Cao Quỳnh Cư, and Cao Hoài Sang. These three figures were to play an essential role in the growing religion as the Hộ Pháp, Thượng Phẩm and Thượng Sanh respectively. On 7 Oct 1926, Lê Văn Trung (a former elected official of the Colonial Council of Cochinchina and a member of the Conseil de Gouvernement de l'Indochine), and a leading group of 27 Caodaists, the first disciples of Cao Đài, signed the "Declaration of the Founding of the Cao Đài Religion" and presented it to the French Governor of Cochinchina. The Cao Đài faith emerged as a public, mass movement that brought together a number of once underground sects into a new and vigorous national religion. It was at the same time filled with nationalist spirit and oriented towards universal salvation. Officially called the "Great Way of the Third Time of Redemption" (''Đại Đạo Tam Kỳ Phổ Độ''), it became enormously popular in its first few decades, gathering over a million members and converting a fifth to a fourth of the population of Cochinchina by 1940. In the 1930s the leader voiced an articulated critique of the hypocrisy of the French colonial regime, though emphasizing dialogue with the French. This stance was controversial, and contrasted with the liturgy of dozens of "dissident" branches of Caodaism that followed a more Taoist model. During the First and Second Indochina Wars, members of Cao Đài (along with several other Vietnamese sects, such as Hòa Hảo) were active in political and military struggles against both French colonial forces and South Vietnamese Prime Minister Ngô Đình Diệm. Their critique of the communist forces until 1975 was a factor in their repression after the fall of Saigon in 1975, when the incoming communist government proscribed the practice of Caodaism. In 1997, Caodaism was granted legal recognition and free practice once again. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Cao Đài」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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