Cao Dai Holy See, Tay Ninh

Most people who think of Tây Ninh think of two places. One is Bà Đen Mountain, a natural landmark. The other is the Holy See of the Cao Đài religion, a religious landmark. It is the most important place of worship of the faith in the province, and it is also called the Holy Temple or the Ancestral Temple.

Cao Đài is a Vietnamese religion that took shape in the south in the early 20th century. According to the church's own records, Ngô Minh Chiêu is named as the one who established it, in 1926. The Holy See moved to Long Thành village, in Tây Ninh Province, in November of that year. The religion's symbol is the Thiên Nhãn, the Divine Eye. It is an eye inside a triangle, and it stands for God.

From the outside, the architecture looks like no other religious building a visitor knows. It is described as a composite work of art that blends national architecture, the religious traditions of the East, Chinese and Indian influences, and the West. At a glance, there are towers, roofs, columns and colors from many traditions.

The Holy See was built with very scarce materials and money. Sources differ on when work began, with one giving 1931 and another 1933. Both agree that the work was interrupted along the way and that the building was completed only in 1955. It runs almost 100 meters long and 22 meters wide. It rises 36 meters at its highest point and covers more than 2,000 square meters. It was made of cement reinforced with bamboo and tầm vông. Pieces of broken ceramic bowls and plates decorate the statues and reliefs. This is the story of the labor of a community of worshippers, not of state money or large private capital.

The whole inner compound, the Nội Ô, measures about one square kilometer. A brick wall runs around all four sides, and 12 Tam Quan gates open through it. So this is not a single building. It is a small holy ground, with its own space and its own boundary.

Inside the Holy Temple, three parts follow one another along a single axis, from the outside in. The first is the Hiệp Thiên Đài, which includes the bell tower and the Thông Thiên Đài. The middle part is the Cửu Trùng Đài, with its rows of columns and the ranks of dignitaries in the Cao Đài system. The deepest part is the Bát Quái Đài, where the divine beings are worshipped. There stands the Quả Càn Khôn.

The Quả Càn Khôn is a sphere 3.33 meters across, and it carries the Divine Eye. The figure 3.33 is linked to how Cao Đài belief reads the symbolism of the number nine. When a visitor steps into the main hall, every eye turns to this sphere.

The main ceremony of the day is held at noon. Hundreds of worshippers in white robes stand in tidy rows, and ceremonial music rises through the bright colors of the main hall. A visitor who sees a real Cao Đài ceremony is watching a community at prayer.

Leaving the Holy Temple, one can walk to the Phật Mẫu Temple, less than 200 meters away. It belongs to the same inner compound. It shows that the worship of the Cao Đài faith does not end at the main hall.

The two biggest occasions of the year are the Lễ Vía Đức Chí Tôn, in the first lunar month, and the Hội Yến Diêu Trì Cung, on the full moon of the eighth lunar month. Hundreds of thousands of worshippers and visitors come from all over. The whole compound fills with white robes and the sound of prayer.

The Cao Đài Holy See is not a place of architecture alone. It is a living space, a place of worship, where the religion has been practiced every day from 1926 to today. Standing before the Quả Càn Khôn, looking up at the Divine Eye on the brightly colored ceiling, a visitor understands why the people of Tây Ninh call this a holy ground.