Sermons of His Holiness Ho Phap - Vol I

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TABLE OF CONTENT

Holy Letter of His Holiness Thượng Sanh (Link)
Foreword (Link)
Confidence of Shorthand Board (Link)

1. Prophecy of His Holiness Li (The Divine Pope) (Link)
2. Confucian Teaching (Link)
3. Compassion (Link)
4. Faith in Oneself, in Others and in God (Link)
5. Feast for Merit Workers and Explanation of the Path of the Great Faith

(Link)
6. Sermon at the Award Ceremony for Students of the Lê Văn Trung School

(Link)
7. Opening Speech at the Popular Council Convention (Link)
8. The Charity Body Convention (Link)
9. Prayer (Link)
10. Flag Raising Ceremony at the Stadium and the Meaning of the Cao Đài

Army Flag (Link)
11. Ceremony to Sanctify the Universal Globe (Link)
12. The Grand Ceremony to the Supreme Being (Link)
13. The Three Treasures (Link)
14. Diêu Trì Festival (Link)
15. Worship of the Mother Buddha at the Temple of Gratitude (Link)
16. National Affairs (Link)
17. Three Treasures: Matter, Essence/ Energy and Spirit (Link)
18. Three Treasures: Pre-Creation Energy, Post-Creation Energy and Matter

(Link)
19. Three Treasures: Confucianism, Buddism, and Taoism (Link)
20. The Power of Faith (Link)
21. Three Treasures: The Origin that Created the Universe (Link)

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22. The Origin of Human Beings (Link)
23. The Divine Law of Justice (Link)
24. The Origin of Man and the Matter of Universal Fraternity (Link)
25. The Mechanism of Universal Fraternity (Link)
26. The Mechanism of Universal Fraternity (Cont.) (Link)
27. The Supreme Being Descends to Earth (Link)
28. The Meanings of Music and Rite (Liturgical Meaning) (Link)
29. Mid-Autumn Festival (Link)
30. The Nine Divine Planes (Link)
31. Explanation of the Mother Buddha Prayer (Link)
32. The Virtue of the Vietnamese Race (Link)
33. The End-of-Term Ceremony at the School of Virtue (Link)
34. Economics and Finance (Link)
35. The Reasons for the Establishment of Caodaism (Link)
36. The Mechanism of World Transition (Link)
37. The Supreme Being’s Promise to Mankind (Link)
38. Religious Martyrs Ceremony (Link)
39. National Faith (Link)
40. Our Duty to the Mother Buddha (Link)
41. Preaching Methods (Link)
42. His Holiness Quyền Giáo Tông’s Day (The Interim Pope’s Day) (Link)
43. Physical Suffering Relief (Link)
44. Mental Suffering Relief (Link)
45. Universal Fraternity (Link)
46. The Story of Jesus Christ (Link)
47. Divine and Secular Talents (Link)
48. Offering of the Three Treasures (Link)

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49. The Inaugurating Ceremony of the Divine Alliance Office (The Legislative
Body Office) (Link)

50. Graduation Ceremony at the Dignitary School (Link)
51. The Closing Ceremony of the Sacerdotal Council Convention (Link)
52. Explanation of Two Sentences in the Major Requiem Prayer (Link)
53. The Graduation Ceremony of the School of Virtue (Link)
54. The Love of the Mother Buddha (Link)
55. The Departure Ceremony for Angels, Saints, Immortals and Buddhas (Link)

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Holy Letter of His Holiness Thượng Sanh

HIỆP THIÊN ĐÀI GREAT WAY -THIRD PERIOD -
OFFICE UNIVERSAL SALVATION
( 45TH YEAR )
THƯỢNG SANH TÂY NINH HOLY SEE
-----------

No.: 121/TS

THƯỢNG SANH
CHIEF OF DIVINE ALLIANCE BODY

Respectfully addressed to: Hiến Pháp [Juridical Renovator]
Chief of Justice Department

Ref.: Holy letter No.: 15/ĐS dated 12th June 1970
Dear Gentle Brothers,
In accordance with your request, I agree to allow the Department of Religious
History to publish and popularize His Holiness Hộ Pháp’s sermons at Tây Ninh
Holy See from 1946 to 1955.
Selected sermons for publication must be approved by the Censoring
Committee.
Regards,
Holy See, the 14th day of the 5th month Bính Tuất year
(17th Jun. 1970)
THƯỢNG SANH
(Signed)

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FOREWORD
The sermons in this collection are the precious speeches of His Holiness Hộ
Pháp, a founder of the Great Faith of the Third Universal Salvation, and a great
man of our time. An Edition and Collection Board was founded with the
approval of His Holiness Thượng Sanh to curate and publish the sermons.
Now, as this work has been fully accomplished, the Board publishes them for
all followers to be blessed by His precious speeches.
In the Religious History Department of the Great Faith, there is a library to
store books from the East to the West, and from ancient to modern time,
which is open to researchers and followers. Sermons of His Holiness Hộ Pháp
will also be stored in this library for public reference.
His Holiness Hộ Pháp is one of the founders of Great Faith, who was first to
implement the Triple Causes: “Virtue, Service, and Speech.”
Regarding Virtue, He was the first to follow the sacred call and found the Great
Faith for all mankind to receive the blessings by God, the Supreme Being.
Regarding Service, He served both the Virtue and Service Causes during the
establishment of the religion. He created everything from nothing. If it had not
been for His extraordinary virtues, how could such results is achieved?
Regarding Speech, He left to us precious speeches in this collection of
sermons, which we are reading. We all should note that there are still many
other sublime teachings.
As the Hiến Pháp (Juridical Renovator) of Hiệp Thiên Đài (Divine Alliance
Body) and Chief of the Religious History Department, I respectfully introduce
this precious book to the readers everywhere. This book should be kept in our
mind forever.
Yours sincerely,
Juridical Renovator Trương Hữu Đức.

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CONFIDENCE OF SHORTHAND BOARD
During each chaos, scriptures become victim of war and fire. Scripture
burning and confiscation used to happen as a corollary of historical events.
Such issue has repeated over many regimes; it is a method of the powerful to
implement obscurantism and complete acculturation policies. Those
agonizing experiences have motivated us to put together collections of these
materials.
We think that if scriptures are stored in a central location, it is impossible to
avoid destruction by the powerful. Therefore, we decided to copy them into
many versions and entrust to the loyal souls of the Faith who dare to sacrifice
their life for the protection of the words of the Supreme Being’s prophets.
If one day the situation changes and the burning activities happen again, these
materials will be kept intact by those fervent souls. It is not the task of any
individual or group, but the combined contribution of the anonymous who
vowed to use all their abilities to serve the ideal of conserving the Religious
Customs.
When these materials reach you, there were people who exhausted
themselves or lost their life due to their fervour. Our work is not a fleeting
impulse, but an ambition throughout wartime. We have always prayed to the
Supreme Being and the Mother Buddha for Their blessing that we will soon
have the chance to realize such ambition.
Today, the horizon has cleared up; our prayer has been granted. We would
like to submit to the Sacerdotal Council all the materials we have written and
collected after many years pursuing the preservation of His Holiness Hộ
Pháp’s precious speeches.
From now on, copyright will belong entirely to the Sacerdotal Council. We
respectfully request the Sacerdotal Council to check and publish them so
everyone will receive the loving words of guidance by His Holiness Hộ Pháp.
He left us these words during His time on earth.
Holy See, 15th June Bính Ngọ/ Horse Year (1966)
Shorthand Department

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1. PROPHECY OF HIS HOLINESS LI (THE DIVINE POPE)

The 15th day of the 9th month Bính Tuất year (1946), at the Temple of Gratitude
[Báo Ân Từ]

In Bính Dần year (1926), the Supreme Being descended to earth to found the
religion as an Instrument of Salvation which teaches living beings to do good
and avoid doing bad. After the Faith had spread to all provinces, on the
fifteenth of June Đinh Mã year (1927), His Holiness Lý (Divine Pope)
prohibited unauthorized séances. The Divine Dignitaries did not know why,
especially the Interim Pope who had become fond of séances after receiving
Divine teachings for a long time. Therefore, He was going to invoke Diêu Trì
Kim Mẫu (the Mother Buddha) and the Nine Female Immortals for virtue
guidance.

On 14th November Đinh Mão year, His Holiness Lý descended via a séance,
and seemed very angry. Nobody knew what He was angry about. Then, He
gave a Divine teaching as follows:

“Greeting to Good Friends, Sisters and all human beings! What a tragedy for
mankind! How miserable for mankind!

Human beings are very cruel; their crimes should be justly punished. Because
of My love for the human beings, I attended the ten-day meeting at the Ngọc
Hư Cung (Court of God) to defend them against such condemnation. But
Heaven Laws are not easy to revise. The destruction is coming; humans will
face mutual killings and epidemics. I pained to see such punishments, but
could only accept and plead for mitigation. You friends still have not really
understood it. Your ignorant look saddens me deeply.

Even this small Southern country, which has been chosen as the holy land,
cannot be pleaded for forgiveness. Disasters will befall Sài Gòn, Chợ Lớn, Gia
Định, Huế, Hải Phòng, Hà Nội, etc. What a tragedy!... What a tragedy!... What a
tragedy!...

The prophecy has been fulfilled by what we have seen in the past 20 years.

His Holiness Lý imposed a punishment of 10 incense sticks on the Interim Pope ,
5 on Hộ Pháp and 5 on the Archbishop Bính. Actually, He was angry with
someone else, not us. What a pity for human beings! The Great Faith has been
spreading all over the world. They could have avoided the current wars by
following the same religion, abiding by religious laws, cultivating their virtues,

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doing good and living in harmony. On the contrary, the Dignitaries who aim to
guide living beings out of sufferings are usually disparaged, degraded,
criticized, and neglected. While Dignitaries of the Sacerdotal Council spread
the Supreme Being’s blessings everywhere, they consider that meaningless
and worthless. They are being enchanted by science and materialism to the
point of forgetting virtues and spiritual cultivation. They are actually chasing
after self-destruction. Until now, there is no sign of their awakening.
As for the Supreme Being’s Disciples, during the initiation ceremony, they
kneel before the Five Thunder Altar and take the oath, “from this day forward,
I will follow the Cao Đài Faith only and unswervingly. I will unite with all
disciples and follow Cao Đài laws. If I break with the Cao Đài community, I will
be destroyed by heaven and earth." Alas, many of those who have taken the
oath did not keep their faith in the Supreme Being, and even changed their
heart. They renounced their faith, returning to the secular path. Those
disciples are partly to blame for the current wars.
Consequently, whoever has broken the oath with the Supreme Being must
wake up, repent and plead with the Great Merciful Father and Divine Beings
for forgiveness. If they are fortunate enough, they will receive blessings by the
Supreme Being later on.
Only when humans return to the right path, look to the Supreme Being for
salvation, and implement the law of love, will they achieve universal peace
and equality.

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2. CONFUCIAN TEACHING
The 30th day of the 9th month Bính Tuất year (1946) at the Báo Ân Từ (Temple of
Gratitude)
When Master Mencius met the King of Lương, King Huệ asked Him: “What
riches do you bring when you old man does not mind crossing the great distance
to my country?” Master Mencius replied: “I only talk about altruism, and not
material gain. If a country desires riches, its officials who already have hundred
cases of gold will desire to have a thousand; the low and high ranking
mandarins who have a thousand cases will desire ten thousand; and the
Emperor who has ten thousand will desire a million.”
If a country has such desire, its people will be subject to hard labour and
misery. How can we maintain peace? However, if the country focuses on
altruism, all its people will enjoy happiness and peace.
After Master Mencius explained all the advantages and disadvantages, King
Huệ adopted His doctrine. At present, the privileged are dominating over the
rest, the strong over the weak, the smart over the silly; people on earth all
bustle for their own interests without respect for altruism, virtue or religion.
This has led to all the wars, mutual killings and tragedies that we are very
familiar with. These tragedies bring endless tears to those who want to help.
The Religious Dignitaries sow the seed of altruism everywhere, but human
beings do not accept because they do not know how strong their altruism is.
They just do not pay attention. If only they upheld such a way of life for a
while, they would see the results. Divine messages of the Supreme Being have
taught us about altruism as follows:
“Altruism is the first rule of all,
With it, the people become the governor.
With such people, the country is governed,
Such a country is a unified one.”
Whenever an entire nation truly embraces altruism, it will become completely
happy and peaceful.

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3. COMPASSION
The 15th day of the 10th month Bính Tuất year (1946) at the Báo Ân Từ (Temple
of Gratitude)
Since the ancient time, religion founders have been teaching mankind to be
merciful and compassionate with the key purpose of preserving human life
and happiness. The words ‘mercy’ and ‘compassion’ are not strange.
When I mention them, all the male and female Dignitaries, Sub-dignitaries and
Disciples can understand clearly. The meaning of mercy and compassion are
not complicated; both the old and the young can bring them into action. What
a pity! Humans keep ignoring them.
What is mercy? What is compassion? Everybody has mercy in their heart. Kids
are already aware of the love of their parents and siblings. When they grow up
and have a family, their love extends to more people. In sight of suffering or
tragedy, they are deeply touched, sometimes immensely. Such feeling comes
from mercy.
Compassion is to follow God’s nature, i.e. to love living beings endlessly. When
living beings do good and virtuous deeds, God and Divine Beings rejoice and
love them infinitely.
Nowadays, as human beings have forgotten mercy and compassion, they wage
wars against each other, even with their compatriots. The Supreme Being
founded the Great Faith of the Third Universal Salvation mainly to establish
mercy and compassion as the guideline for human beings to preserve their life
and peace.
When people of any nation realize the importance of mercy and compassion,
and unanimously uphold them as the compass for their actions, they will all
live in happiness. The same applies to all the peoples of this entire earth.

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4. FAITH IN ONESELF, IN OTHERS AND IN GOD

The 10th day of the 11th month Bính Tuất year (1946) at the Báo Ân Từ (Temple
of Gratitude)

Faith can be divided into three types:

 Faith in oneself
 Faith in others
 Faith in God

1. What is faith in oneself?

It means we believe in our ability to preserve our own life. At a young age, we
love our parents and siblings. When we grow up, our parents teach us means
of living, social etiquettes, life matters and the pros and cons. These form the
basis of our adult life. In addition, we observe life events every day to learn
what is right or wrong. These experiences form another basis. In combination,
the two bases become guidelines for our behaviours. Therefore, faith in
oneself is the result of self-cultivation.

2. What is faith in others?

We believe that our teachers give us lessons to become noble persons.
Meanwhile, we can also learn by observing other people’s actions and their
consequences. These lessons will help us tell good from bad, or virtue from
sin. We collect and choose from all we learn to form methods to preserve our
life. Such is the meaning of faith in others.

3. Faith in oneself and in others is not enough. There must be faith in
God.

We must place all our faith in believing that He has the power to protect our
life as well as all living beings on earth. We must also have faith in His
teachings about mercy, compassion, altruism and harmony. The three faiths
combined shall be named ‘Cao Đài’, which will help preserve the life of
mankind for eternity.

Without faith in God, i.e. the power of the invisible, we will fall into self-
destruction. Therefore, if we have faith in Him, we must respect human life
which is His treasure. Any murder act is against Divine Law and considered
severe sin. Only when all mankind has faith in the Supreme Being and truly

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follows His virtues (mercy, compassion and altruism), will we be able to
achieve happiness. It will be the day when a new human race (new race with
bright virtue) builds a new world.

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5. FEAST FOR MERIT WORKERS AND EXPLANATION OF THE PATH OF
THE GREAT FAITH
At Khách Thiện Từ (Guest House) before feast for workers on the 15th day of the
11th month Bính Tuất year (1946)
In order to walk the path of the Great Faith, we must practise not to desire
anything for ourselves anymore. The Supreme Being’s orders shall be our
duties. We must love and be pious to Him and the Mother Buddha. Such love
and piety must be extraordinary and highly spiritual. We must love living
beings more than ourselves and consider them of the same creation. We must
also guard and cultivate our holy spirit to the point of perfection. Lastly, if we
can also accomplish three thousand acts of merit, we will overcome all
hardship.

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6. SERMON AT THE AWARD CEREMONY FOR STUDENTS OF THE LÊ VĂN
TRUNG SCHOOL
At the Student Award Ceremony
Regarding a citizen’s duty, when the country faces threats, all students must
know an important matter which is national identity. It is the combined
identity of all its people. Each citizen must have their own identity, i.e.
character and dignity. In order to be a worthy individual, our ancestors have
handed down a very precious word – ‘self-cultivation’.

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7. OPENING SPEECH AT THE POPULAR COUNCIL CONVENTION

The 15th day of the 12th month Bính Tuất year [Year of the dog-lunar calendar]

Dear Members of the Convention and Members of the Male and Female
Colleges,

During the five years of exile, I felt a lot of pains in my soul - concerns about
the future of the Faith, concerns about our country wars as well as
divisiveness, and my deep love for the children of the Supreme Being, the
million souls He has entrusted to me.

Needless to say, you have seen many examples of love. Even the love for only
one person may lead us to sacrifice our life. It is invisible but powerful.
Without strong faith and will, it must have taken away my life a million times.
The more poverty and suffering we share, the more powerful it gets. I have
resolved myself to win and to stay alive for the Master, the Faith, as well as His
children. I have been revived by His Holy power.

Returning after tasting all the miseries, I thought it was enough to prove to
human beings the true nature of our Faith which is a symbol of altruism. On
the contrary, the tragedy has befallen us once more – independence lost, and
countless lives destroyed. War and death have ravaged the entire country,
rendering deep losses and miseries for all.

I am like a lost crane which has just found its way back but which cannot
recognize its nest. This heart-rending tragedy moved me to tears. I just
wanted to weep my pain and looked for the reply of my true friends. Alas, in
this mournful situation, who else can be my true friends except my Gentle
Friends and Sisters. I hope you will feel my sorrows in these words. Alas! Is He
still with our people? How come His two beloved peoples suffer this tragedy?

I am standing in front of you but still think it is a dream. I would like to bow to
you and ask for your favour. Please pray with this lost crane with all your
heart for the salvation of all human beings. I was deeply concerned about His
children during the exile, due to the lack of strong will among some of you.
Therefore, upon my return, my immediate priority was to perfect religious
doctrine. I was also looking into our weak points for improvement. For these
reasons, I am urgently convening this Popular Council for the common
interests of all living beings.

I place all my trust in you. Let us now start.

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8. THE CHARITY BODY CONVENTION

The 15th day of the 12th month Bính Tuất year [Year of the dog-lunar calendar
(1947)]

Today, the Charity Body Convention is also related to the rights of all living
beings. I need to explain the crucial responsibilities of the Charity Body to
members of the Sacerdotal Council, the Colleges and Representatives.

For a long time, Divine Dignitaries of the Charity Body have only known their
most essential duty, but not all of their responsibilities. Therefore, many do
not follow the true doctrine, or even go against the values of the Charity Body,
rendering their own work useless. It is also the reason why we have not seen
clear results from their efforts, and why they are in conflicts with other
groups.

The Sacerdotal Council has two Bodies - the Administration and Charity who
are often in conflicts, but have not found any resolution yet. As long as there is
no harmony between them, their crucial responsibilities cannot be fulfilled.

We already know that the Cao Đài religion is created on the basis of the most
supreme and important truth which has been longed for by humanity of this
age like people in thirst longing for rain. Those in the sea of suffering are
desperately looking for the Holy Water of salvation from the Supreme Being.
He founded the religion to relieve suffering in the souls of His children. He also
created His Holy Body with its members as His physical embodiment to
relieve physical suffering by human beings.

The Charity Body has been assigned an extremely important duty by the
Supreme Being to relieve suffering in both the bodies and souls of human
beings. He relies on you to look after His children regarding basic human
needs and support to the poor and lonely. Only until all suffering of humanity
has been resolved, will you fulfill your duties. You should ask yourselves what
good you have done. So far, you have only cared for your co-believers, but not
others. All living beings are His children. You have barely been able to feed
yourselves. From the beginning, I have stood by you, living in poverty and
hardship to establish Phạm Môn (Buddha Gate). I guided each of your steps till
the Charity Body was fully formed, and there were enough man force to carry
out your duties.

You had a lot of advantages at that time; your biggest disadvantage is your
selfishness. When I returned after five years, I saw the hungry and poor

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scattered everywhere. The junior adepts whom I entrusted to you have fallen
apart. They could barely feed themselves, and had to find a partner to
continue their secular life. Because if they stayed with the Faith, nobody
would support them.
Also, I have heard that those in power kept all to themselves for personal
gains. Do you have a heart? If I commanded the Religious Court to conduct
investigation, none of you could claim to have accomplished great merit. The
dire situation of the junior adepts is clear evidence against you.
Since the foundation of the Faith has not been completed, we can hardly hope
to see its true physiognomy. If only you had followed my instructions, I would
have opened the Eight-trigram Palace for you to be friends with the Divine
Beings; we could have prevented all this trouble.
The Faith has spread widely today thanks to the holy martyrs. If you are
worthy, I will allow you to receive guidance by the Divine Beings.
You should know that I am responsible for selecting among you those who
deserve to be friends with the Divine Beings. Unless you fulfill your duties and
cleanse yourselves of all secularities, there will be no great merit associated
with your name. Neither will you be able to go to the Divine Realm.
Unless you can grasp the pearl (translator note: the core truth), you will not be
able to protect all the children of the Supreme Being. I have said that I will
guide you to the Divine Realm, but it is up to you to reach that destination.
Therefore, you have to make efforts and control yourselves to set examples
for young generations. Those secular thoughts will prevent you from reaching
the ultimate goal. Only sacred minds can be part of His Holy Body in front of
all His children, i.e. all living beings.
Now I would like to start the convention. May the Charity Body have enough
wisdom to accomplish their work. I place all my trust in you to appeal for
ordination in a righteous and impartial manner.

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9. PRAYER
Night of the 24th day of the 12th month Bính Tuất year [Year of the dog-lunar
calendar (1946)]
Praying can often be heard by the Divine, i.e. Divine Beings know clearly what
is going on in the earthly worlds. Regarding the physical, since we are born
from the body of our parents, there is a divine and intimate connection
between us. If a child works far from home and there is something wrong with
his parents, he will see strange presage in his body like a twitch, wink, weird
dreams of falling tooth and so on. These phenomena are related to the visible
part of humans. Regarding the invisible or spiritual, we are connected to the
Supreme Being via the Holy Spirit. Therefore, we should pray from our heart
when encountering serious troubles.
Religions have miraculous connection with the divine, as the saying goes,
“When man prays from his heart, Heaven and Earth surely know.” From now
on, Dignitaries, Sub-dignitaries and male and female disciples, let us all pray
for the peace and order of the Faith and society. We shall see miraculous
results by spring of Đinh Hợi year. If the entire nation faithfully pray to the
Divine, chaos will turn into peace and order. Our people will be blessed with
harmony and happiness.

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10. FLAG RAISING CEREMONY AT THE STADIUM AND THE MEANING OF
THE CAO ĐÀI ARMY FLAG

The 8th day of the 1st month Bính Hợi year (1946)

Today, the flag of the Chi Thế (Secular Branch) appears with Thư Hùng Kiếm
as per the Supreme Being’s promise to found this National Religion for
Vietnam and use it as an instrument to rescue the life of all living beings. (Thư
Hùng Kiếm: “Male and Female Swords” – a pair of swords which represents
the Yin and Yang in the universe. When His Holiness Thượng Sanh - Director
of Secular Branch - wears the ceremonial vestment to attend the Grand
Ceremony to the Supreme Being, He carries the Thư Hùng Kiếm on the back).

It is not easy for secular man to understand His Holy will. The Cao Đài army is
a divine force of the Supreme Being to protect His religion.

Although it is just a normal army in secular eyes, they are actually heavenly
souls reincarnating to preserve human life. It hope that this army will be an
example for the world in preserving peace for humanity. It shall not take away
human life for private interests.

Here is my sincere advice to you: however strong we are, we cannot withstand
the power of atomic bombs. Our strength comes especially from altruism and
courage.

Consequently, in order to overcome the power of atomic bombs, we can only
resort to altruism and courage. It is His Holy will to set this as an example for
the world’s armies. Its success or failure depends on His power.

Thu, the Cao Đài army must keep its sword of courage and its flag of altruism.
In this way, it will always be blessed by the Supreme Being’s power.

The meaning of the army flag

The yellow background essentially stands for the Nation with yellow
complexion; the blue color represents generosity. The fire wheel with nine
rays refers to the Wheel of Dharma or the Nine Heavens. The flag has three
colors: yellow, blue, red representing unification of the Three Religions and
the Five Branches. It is called as ‘Bảo Sanh Kỳ’ (Life Protecting Flag).

The Cao Đài Army shoulders the holy responsibility to restore order and
security, and to create happiness for mankind. It shall be a model for peace for
neighboring countries. At the present, the powerful countries use modern

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weapons such as atomic bombs only to destroy others, while the Cao Đài
Army as the Divine Army achieves complete victory by the sword of courage
which destroys evil and the flag of life which upholds altruism. It shall win by
virtue and spirit without doing anything against the conscience. In general, the
Cao Đài Army is a World Peace Organ.

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11. CEREMONY TO SANCTIFY THE UNIVERSAL GLOBE
Holy See, the 8th day of the 1st month Đinh Hợi year (1947)
Today, the Universal Globe has been moved to the Holy See. The Supreme
Being has settled in His throne. We should be happy because mankind will
keep evolving with the blessings from this Holy See.
From now on, nobody will consider the Holy See as a mass of sand and
cement. It will embody the faith of all the children of the Supreme Being.
It is the result of the skillfulness of you, masons and carpenters, who toiled
and moiled in poverty for ten years. From now on, any race that has enough
faith in the Supreme Being, our Great Creator, will look to the Holy See and
pray every day for His blessings.
As the Holy See is complete and the Faith has established its solid foundation,
we will gradually eradicate human cruelty and guide them to the path of peace
and altruism. We shall bring happiness to mankind during this transition.
We should be glad because mankind will rely on our symbol of faith to receive
blessings from the Supreme Being.
I would like to remind you that the Supreme Being has delivered His promise
to us. Standing on this pulpit, I can attest that with certainty. The
extraordinary work in recent years is clear evidence for that. Due to our
nation’s lack of faith, our organ of suffering relief which can liberate us from
the heavy yoke was not established until now. How painful it is for us to
observe the mutual killings. If only our nation had faith and prayed, He would
respond to our prayers.

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12. THE GRAND CEREMONY TO THE SUPREME BEING
Night of the 9th day of the 1st month Đinh Hợi year (1947)
Among the Vietnamese people, some do not have faith in the Cao Đài religion.
They do not believe that God founded the religion to create a new Race named
‘Minh Đức Tân Dân’ (New People with Bright Virtue), and that the religion will
bring salvation and peace to the entire earth and all living beings. That is, it
will end competition and mutual killings. Because some people do not believe
in God and do not follow the law of Justice, they brought about the current
turmoil. Their lack of faith has given rise to wars, destruction, severe suffering
and fratricide. Whenever humanity realizes that God’s religion as the National
Faith of Vietnam is the solution to human suffering and that it will bring
security, order and peace to all mankind, they will be showered with His
blessings and bathe in true happiness.

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13. THE THREE TREASURES
Holy See, the 15th day of the 1st month Đinh Hợi year (1947) – The Upper Cycle
Ceremony
Offerings to the Supreme Being include Flower, Wine and Tea in accordance
with the Three Treasures of man which are Tinh (Jing, Essence), Khí (Qi,
Energy) and Thần (Shen, Spirit). These three are the most precious treasures
on earth.
When we make offerings to the Supreme, they have to be purified and
perfected. If they are tainted with earthly impurities, they will be reduced to
nothing.
Therefore, male and female disciples of all ranks must cultivate and purify
your body, mind and spirit.
At each ceremony, we need to offer the Treasures to the Master. Those good
seeds will be sown among humanity as examples of spiritual cultivation so
that humanity will all receive His blessings.
As a result, it is essential for Dignitaries in His Holy Body to polish their three
treasures to the point of purity so as to offer them to the Supreme Being.

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14. DIÊU TRÌ FESTIVAL
The 30th day of the 1st month Đinh Hợi year (1947)
The Diêu Trì Festival (a major mid-autumn festival) is the path to
enlightenment on earth. The Mother Buddha and the Nine Female Buddha
descend to earth during the Festival to teach the Tao through drawings,
poems and sermons. It is the Festival of the Immortals on earth.
The Supreme Being stands for Buddha, the Holy Mother for Dharma, and
Human Beings for Sangha. Without the Holy Mother, there would be no visible
matters or beings in the universe.
Although the Supreme Being created the universe, all living beings, including
humans, are born from the union of Yin and Yang elements. That is why
humans call their parents the epitome of heaven and earth. Such concept
carries many profound meanings which cannot be put into words.

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15. WORSHIP OF THE MOTHER BUDDHA AT THE TEMPLE OF GRATITUDE

At the Temple of Gratitude, the 1st day of the 2nd month Đinh Hợi year (1947)

From now on, we are very honoured to worship the Mother Buddha at the
Temple of Gratitude. In the early days of the Faith, Bần Đạo/ I knew what Her
mission was. She and the Nine Female Buddhas guided the children of the
Supreme Being from the very beginning until we were wise enough to receive
His teachings.

Because of gratitude to Her, the Great Dignitaries proposed to worship Her at
the Holy See upon establishment of the faith. However, the Mother Buddha
told us that the Supreme Being is the Emperor, while She is a subject. They are
never on the same par. Her respect for the Supreme Being signifies His
unfathomable power.

The entire visible universe is created by the Mother Buddha. Our physical
body in the earthly world as well as the coming and going spirit is also Her
creation; She is the Mother of the soul. The more we know about Her great
favour, the more grateful we are for Her creation and nourishment.

On our path of cultivation, enlightenment/ liberation depends on Her support
and affection, since no Being loves Her children as She does. If we have a full
picture of Her creation of the visible worlds, our love and respect for Her will
be immense. Her refusal to be worshipped in the Holy See shows how
respectful She is towards the Supreme Being, even on earth.

Female adepts should learn from their Mother’s virtues to cultivate
themselves. It is not uncommon for women to dominate and be unrespectful
to their husband, and also abandon their children. It is simply because they do
not inherit the passionate love of their Mother.

Let us now talk about why the Mother Buddha came into being before the
Supreme Being who came out of nothing. If we recognize His existence, we
realize that this entire universe is just nothingness. He is an invisible and
formless Being in the formless realm. He also comes from human’s
imagination. When a man grows up, he wants to create his fortune. Likewise,
because we would like to seek the source of Dharma, we call Him the Buddha.
From the secret dharma which separated Yin from Yang, the Mother Buddha
created the entire visible universe. Her power gives birth to our visible forms
as parts of our Three Treasures.

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The Three Treasures are three elements which constitute our living body. The
physical body is an animal that we ride. People misunderstand that death puts
an end to our existence. In the same token, wouldn’t there be any more life if
all living beings in this universe were destroyed!
Due to this earthly form, we do not see through to the truth. The divine/
pineal eye allows us to see the three elements in us. The first is the physical
body which comes directly from living matters. The second is the perispirit
which comes from the essence/ energy of living matters, and which exists
among the Earthly and Heavenly Angels/ Angels. The third is the pristine qi/
energy which comes from our spirit, and which exists among Beings from the
rank of Saints.
Union of these three elements will bring about our enlightenment. It is
achievable. If we can achieve it, we should keep going after it. There are many
ways to it. However, in order to reach that goal, we have to refine ourselves. In
this beginning, we have to perform the visible dharma, but without attainment
of the true dharma, it is just like we go with only pants and no shirt.
Since the visible worlds came into being, the Supreme Being does not let Her
see Him anymore. The Mother Buddha can only respect and fear Him, but not
see Him. Therefore, She seeks happiness and consolation from Her children. It
is the same with women’s love. In the presence of their husband, they do not
often show love or caress their children. But in their absence, all their love is
for their children.
When She sees Her children leave their physical body to return to Her after
death, the Mother Buddha is very glad to welcome them back like a woman
reuniting with her beloved child after a long separation.
This Temple is a place to worship the Mother Buddha after we have
completed our human/ temporal duties and have resumed our spiritual
position.

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16. NATIONAL AFFAIRS

Meeting of National Affair Department, the 9th day of the 2nd month Đinh Hợi
year (1947)

Today, we will discuss and explain National Affairs. Before we start, I have
several points to share as an outline for what we will discuss and act on,
because we need to have clear purposes.

We know well that powerful nations like France, England, the United States,
and Russia each has their own political regime. We should understand that
each political regime is based on a common purpose, doctrine and mentality
of the people.

In the past, when France was under the monarchial dictatorship, the French
could hardly bear the injustice and cruelty of their king. Therefore, there were
many erudite philosophers like Jean Jacques Rousseau and Montesquieu, who
wanted to establish justice and civil rights. They racked their brains to come
up with concepts of democratic politics which formed the foundation of a
political regime based on civil rights.

When such a regime came into being, the French acknowledged it as a
doctrine of civil rights and resolved to instate it so as to oppose the
monarchial dictatorship. Russia was also in the same situation. It used to be
oppressed by monarchial dictatorship, before Lenin sought to create
democratic ideals which gave birth to the civil right regime of communism.

In general, due to the dictatorship of the monarchy or a leader, the people of
those nations developed revolutionary spirit and created civil right regimes.
Once such a regime comes into being, the people regard it as a worthwhile
doctrine for their pursuit to eradicate the current regime which goes against
their hearts.

I would like to pose a question here. How can the public eradicate a ruthless
regime to institute a civil right one? In my opinion, they applied the following
two methods:

Firstly, they put up ideological struggles, such as demonstration, diplomatic
resistance, and non-cooperation; or economic struggles to clamp down or
overthrow an outdated regime.

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Secondly, because the first methods lead to their oppression, they unite to
form an equivalent military force in order to support and protect their
doctrine.

You know well that people establish an army in order to support their
doctrine or purpose. As we already understand it, we must realize that politics
creates military forces, but not vice versa.

We are now in the same situation. So which doctrine are we pursuing; isn’t it
the Cao Đài doctrine? If we want the doctrine to survive, we have to establish
a military force. Since it is created by politics, it must follow political
principles. It must be controlled by politics because we engage in politics.

Politics means national affairs, so all nations have their national affairs
department. If the department wants to achieve its political goals, an army
will exist to support it. Do you agree? If you do, we must acknowledge that the
army shall be under the control of politics so we can implement national
affairs. The army must follow political guidelines, but direction of the army
during operations will entirely be under the authority of the military staff who
can demand war tools from the national affairs department.

In summary, we have designated that the national affairs department must
issue political guidelines to control the army so that it has enough force and
condition to conduct its political missions.

Similarly, when an imperial court in the past had established its politics, it
would define guidelines for the army. If the army does not obey the orders of
the court, the court will be powerless and chaos ensues. If the strong dominate
over the weak, there will be no humane politics.

These are the truths about the evolution history of politics or political
methods. The people engage in politics to fight for their rights, and form the
army to support those goals. Therefore, the army serves the people, but not
vice versa. In a broad sense, the court establishes the army.

As we are currently engaging in politics, there must be an army. When our
political struggle ends, the army shall be dissolved. The state of the nation
forces us to engage in politics. We have voted to establish the National Affairs
Department with the purpose of administering national affairs on behalf of the
people and save their lives as well as their rights. We should definitely
support the National Affairs Department of the Sacerdotal Council to fight
against the disastrous politics of the exploitation regime, i.e. colonialism.

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A clear evidence is that D’Argenlieu came to Indochina to carry out his duties
assigned by the French Cabinet. What are those responsibilities? Aren’t they
political orders, guidelines, and conditions which must be instituted by
D’Argenlieu?
Now, as France wants to impose federational politics to reach their goals and
reap their interests, its Cabinet sent Bollaert to Indochina who is a talented
politician. He carried with him political orders, conditions and guidelines to
hasten efforts towards their political goals in Indochina, esp. in Vietnam.
Therefore, the French army in Indochina is under his direction. In other
words, he has the right to decide war or peace, resistance, which enemies to
fight, and where his army cannot touch.
Now we are clear that Bollaert came here to administer politics and national
affairs, rather than to only execute an order. Otherwise, what are we fighting
for? For what political goal? We are conducting national affairs to realize our
doctrine. The National Affairs Department will devise prudent political plans
in opposition to the prudent politics of Bollaert and the French Cabinet. The
news has been broken to us that Bollaert and Prime Minister Hoach will visit
the Holy See soon.
As we are serving our nation, we have to put up political fight to win back
what we deserve.

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17. THREE TREASURES: MATTER, ESSENCE/ ENERGY AND SPIRIT

The 15th day of the 2nd month Đinh Hợi year (1947)

Each human has three treasures: Tinh (Matter) which is the physical body we
inherit from our parents, and is connected to our perispirit (Corp astral)
which is a form of ether protecting our life. It maintains the life of our physical
body with the vital energy created by our Mother Buddha. It is connected to
our spirit which is given to us by the Supreme Being. The three elements are
united into one which has three components called Matter, Essence/ Energy
and Spirit.

By choosing the three precious objects of Flower (Matter), Wine (Essence/
Energy), and Tea (Spirit), the Supreme Being demands us to make those
precious offerings to Him, i.e. He wants us to exist forever with Him.

In order to deserve His love, we have to refine the second body (perispirit) to
become pure and light. There are only two conditions we have to meet which
are vegetarianism and spiritual cultivation. These conditions will strengthen
our perispirit and keep it within the boundary of kindness and virtue. During
our life, the second body exists around us to provide the vital energy and
connect us with our spirit. When it leaves our dead physical body, it will
ascend with the spirit if it is pure. If it is evil, it cannot get out of the dead foul
body and will be separated from the spirit. It will then be brought into exile by
the Death. Therefore, the Supreme Being has granted us the secret dharma to
cut the chain of karma so that it can leave the physical body and unite with the
spirit in the realm of eternal life.

Humans are too cunning and indulgent in their physical pleasures, which have
caused endless wars and tragedies. These wars are also the result of their
desire for civilization progress and modern technologies like atomic bombs
which are used to kill each other. In the National Library of the US, there are
up to 200 million books. If one reads one book every day, it will take several
lives to digest them all.

The Supreme Being is well aware that humans have evolved to a very high
level, but are arrogant and only care much more about the physical than the
spiritual. As a result, He came to found this religion in order to teach humanity
good and bad, as well as to cultivate them for perfection so that they can unite
with Him. If we all know this, the entire world will be cleansed of its evils. The
Death will never reach us.

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If we saw the Divine Realm, we would learn that the life of all living beings are
being destroyed ruthlessly. As human beings commit such bad karma and
breed hatred, they remain trapped in the rebirth cycle and cannot escape the
secular world.
I hope that from now on we will keep in mind this truth, and keep refining our
second body to be pure. We must love animals and all living beings so as to
put a stop to bad karma. Our duty is to promote the elixir which is the Faith of
the Supreme Being as a means of eternal salvation for all humanity.
If all human beings understand this, there will be no more sufferings like now.
Human beings all have the same origin, but have become divided, hostile, and
engaged in non-top fighting due to the differences in mentality and customs of
multiple countries and races.
The Holy Will of the Supreme Being behind the establishment of the Great
Faith and unification of all religions is to harmonize the minds of all His
children and to save all 920.000 created souls being trapped in this world. The
Great and Merciful Father has taught us the ultimate truth and blessed us with
His teachings about how to attain a Divine position. He has shown us the
mechanism of enlightenment, i.e. to refine and unite Matter with Essence, and
then Essence with Spirit.
The important value of the Three Treasures offering He would like us to make
to Him is its ability to end competition and conflict which cause the world
wars. World peace and equality also come from this secret dharma. No other
religious or moral philosophy is more sublime than this. Unless we practice
the dharma, our second body will all become impure and sinful. The world
will thus be defiled and destroyed.

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18. THREE TREASURES: PRE-CREATION ENERGY, POST-CREATION
ENERGY AND MATTER

Holy See, the 15th day of the 2nd month Đinh Hợi year (1947)

Today, Bần Đạo/ I continue to preach about the Three Treasures. I explain this
topic first because the Supreme Being uses Flower, Wine and Tea to represent
the three elements which create all ling beings. Only the Spirit is our true self,
while the perispirit comes from the essence of matter. Our Spirit uses the
visible forms to get close with the creation mechanism of the universe.

Why do we come in this physical body? What are we here for? I will also
preach about the reasons why we must cultivate ourselves, what it is good for,
and the root cause of our cultivation.

I will preach about the origin of man before moving on to the Cửu Thiên Khai
Hoá (the Nine Heavens of Creation), and the true physiognomy of the Bát Quái
Đài (the Eight-trigram Palace).

Now, I will continue with the Three Treasures which constitute human beings.
Our Spirit comes from the vital energy, i.e. the Pre-creation energy; our
perispirit comes from the Post-creation energy; while our physical body
comes from physical matters. Which one gives life to us? It is the Spirit. The
Spirit has unfathomable power which no science has yet researched
thoroughly. Its power is granted by the Supreme Being. Such a power is
unlimited which preserves the life of all living beings in their physical forms.
The perispirit, as Post-creation energy, preserves physical energy.

Among those three elements, only the Spirit is the divine light from the
Supreme Being which preserves our earthly life. When time comes and our
vital energy runs out, that power leaves our body. The body will rot, which we
call death. Let us see to understand Pre-creation, Post-creation and Physical
energy. We know that all living beings have three elements a follows:

Physical matter which can be seen by our eyes

Smell which is Post-creation energy

Power/ Competence which is Pre-creation energy

As they constitute the human form, they also constitute human characters. For
example, we cook and eat rice to get its essence (Post-creation energy) which

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sustains our vital energy. The physical essence/ energy comes into our body
and strengthen our power/ competence. The reason we tremble in hunger is
because we lack vital energy. Our perispirit, as Post-creation energy, is not
visible, but do not think that it does not exist. The essence from the rice we eat
is turned into blood to sustain our perispirit. We know that it exists, but
cannot see it. People often call it ‘phách/ vía’ (soul) which exists in all human
beings.

Why are people afraid of ghosts? Because they see the perispirit, which is
neither visible nor invisible, and is unlike what they often see. If we see a soul
and are fortunate enough to get close to them, they will love us much more
than anyone. Due to their seven emotions and six desires, human beings are
discriminating in their visible forms, and do not love each other as much. They
are afraid of each other.

When we return to the invisible realm and unite with our Creators, we will
realize that the Tao is responsible for preserving life, teach and encourage
living beings to advance on the path of evolution. We may only love and
protect, but not harm or spoil others.

Now I will preach about the invisible realms. If we attain the dharma to leave
our body and unite with our friends there, we will see that they are not at all
like what the secular minds think. In those realms, the noble beings like Saints,
Immortals and Buddhas only have one sincere wish to do good for living
beings. They feel fortunate to have chance to comfort the soul of living beings.
They are always loving towards others.

We reincarnate as humans mainly to attain the dharma to become perfectly
Spiritual and Divine. Each life we learn and elevate ourselves so that one day
we can dream of becoming God. We know that the Gautama Buddha calls
himself a Teacher in nature, and is called Master by the monks. If the monks
met and got close to Him, they are but beloved friends to Him.

In this world, even a Buddha does not have low opinion of anyone; they are
not biased towards any type of people, because they have known the path.
Any secular or ignorant soul will eventually reach the end of the path.
Buddhas only care about one thing which is to happily show us each and every
nook on the path so that we will also walk all the way to Buddhahood.

They do not dare to look down on any being, not even non-human beings.
Living beings are but our less evolved siblings. We see animals being killed

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because they have no way to protect themselves. If we kill them for meat now,
when they evolve to human being or higher we will meet them again next to
us. Then, they will laugh and say, “In the past, you ate me once.” Nothing is as
shameful as this. Therefore, we have to be vegetarians.
As no one kills humans for meat, no one has the right to eat less evolved
beings. We are here to be friends with them; they help us learn all the
mysteries of the Tao so as to become as divine as the Supreme Being. The
Master has said that He has preserved positions and causes for all of us and
will never take back, unless we give them up. Don’t we believe in our Father?
Even our earthly fathers love us dearly, who leave us the family trade before
passing away. The only difference is the inheritance from our earthly fathers
is of smaller scale due to their secular methods. Is our Holy Father not as
generous as our earthly father? He has said that the position and fortune He
preserves for us cannot be passed on to anyone else unless we give them up. I
think if you know His mechanism/ reward, esp. the male adepts and the army
soldiers, your biggest joy is to sacrifice yourself to Him. I am sure the Master
never accepts debt from anyone, and He will never forget the debt of love
from His children. If He does not pay off such debt, I promise to reincarnate to
pay it off.
Because there are people who dare to sacrifice themselves to the Master in
order to build a Divine Nation on earth, I am sure the Nation will become
reality. The Supreme Being creates for His children a small door which is hard
to walk through, but His children who dare to die for Him will collapse the
door and march ahead. If we have the Divine eye, we will see noble souls, like
even the Angels, Saints, Immortals and Buddhas, bow to them as they walk
past.
We do not know how much He will pay back for His children’s love, but He
will never pay less than what we have lent to Him. Please allow all male and
female adepts to copy these exact words and popularize them.

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19. THREE TREASURES: CONFUCIANISM, BUDDISM, AND TAOISM

Holy See, the 15th day of the 3rd month Đinh Hợi year (1947)

Today, as I perform the sacrament of expiation for our brother, the Religious
Bảo Đạo [Religious Conservator] Hồ Tấn Khoa, I will continue to preach about
the Three Treasures. I will preach that topic again. I would like to declare this
to all male and female adepts and the Divine Dignitaries of both visible
branches so you are all clear. Life is changing. Since I was exiled abroad, it has
been eight months. The state of the nation is clear to all does not need
repeating, because I have preached to you many times.

Now let us ask ourselves what is the motto at the heart of the true religion of
the Supreme Being. What path should we follow? We see that in either the
divine or earthly realm, the Supreme Being unite the three religions of
Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism into one secret doctrine to guide our
soul and body. It is a method to liberate our soul. Confucianism takes
altruism/ humanity as its basis, Taoism takes justice, and Buddhism takes
mercy and compassion. These three philosophies combined guide both the
temporal and spiritual, i.e. our body and soul, toward the end of the path
where the Supreme Being is waiting for us to unite with Him.

What is humanity? A humane person does not hate and betray others. What is
justice? It means selflessness and righteousness; the truth cannot be denied.
Mercy leads to forgiveness, and compassion to the preservation and love of all
living beings. We shall follow the stipulations from the true doctrine of the
Supreme Being. We have to be generous, forgiving, loving, just, and righteous.
If we have all those qualities, we will not hate or resent anyone. On the
contrary, the Great Merciful Father forces us to love our enemies and
opponents.

According to the true doctrine, how should we deal with secular forces, our
nation and our race? Should the Cao Đài religion lower ourselves and yield to
the parties? Our Faith shall yield to nobody, and shall never lower ourselves
into slavery to any party. Our sovereignty is granted by the Supreme Being. As
the Master does not serve anyone, our Faith will only be Master.

It has its own power which does not yield to any other power. It has its own
ownership and does not belong to anyone or any party. It must establish the
right of love, justice and mercy. It has the duty to guide living beings, but not
serve them. Now that our nation has fallen into slavery, which way should the

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children of the Supreme Being go? We must know that as we carry divine
missions, we are His Holy Body and God in this world. Since He concedes to
and serves no one, His children only have the duty to guide the divine
conscience of His children. This divine conscience is the basis to establish
rights for human beings. As His children, we certainly must know our duties
towards the nation and society. We are now faced with corruption, and we
only acknowledge civil rights/ rights for the Vietnamese people. During this
chaos, our people have been deprived of their rights, while the multiple
parties are dividing the nation. Therefore, we have to seek and establish rights
for the king. The rights of the king and his people are related to the destiny of
Vietnam. If we seek those rights, we do not have to seek our destiny. Our
sovereignty must be retained to help the king define the rights of our country,
nation and society.
Consequently, we have to restore the king role to establish the rights for his
people. Rights is part of the Cao Đài religion’ policy to help the monarch create
power for the people. I have declared this to the government. I will declare to
the entire world that we will head towards Monarchy by civil rights as the
destiny of our country. There is no other path; such is the only noble path
which we must build successfully. Bần Đạo kindly request all of you to listen
and study that truth, and pray every night to decide the future destiny of our
race.

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20. THE POWER OF FAITH

Holy See, the 29th day of the 2nd month Đinh Hợi year (1947)

Bần Đạo will preach about the power of faith. Today, since we have the
attendance of the army ranks, I need to explain clearly such power to you all.

Now is the time for all the children of the Supreme Being to raise hands to
support and save the destiny of our nation. I preach about the power of faith
so that we will muster all our minds to pray to the Great Merciful Father. We
pray that He will bless our National Faith and it will soon be realized in order
to save the entire Vietnamese race from mutual destruction. Only by having all
our faith can we hope for the establishment of our National Faith any time
soon. The Supreme Being’s creation of this life-saving organization is met with
insurmountable obstacles and dangers, because all our people do not pray to
Him. Let me quote the words of His Holiness Jesus to His disciple: “Dear
disciples, My Father in Heaven teaches that if each of you has faith as little as a
sesame grain, your combined faith is enough to move mountains and it cannot
be stopped.” In the same token, if all our nation each had faith as little as a
sesame grain, we would not have to suffer a tragedy like this.

Unfortunately, our 25 million people who have deemed themselves children of
Dragon and Immortal, i.e. we know our noble and divine origin, donot we have
faith as much as a sesame grain? If each Vietnamese has faith as such, we can
move mountains and oceans.

When the Supreme Being came to create a National Faith of this Divine race,
He brought the corbeille-a-bec to the provinces and to the door of each of His
children. He gave us numerous sermons which form the Cao Đài religion as
the National Faith. I think there is no other being who blesses anyone with so
much mental and heart-felt devotion. He came to save, to form the Faith and
to force us to take an oath. Why does He force us to take an oath and unite?
Each of us has a little faith; He told us to unite our faith and virtues to trust
and love each other, and to acknowledge His existence as well as have faith in
Him. How disastrous! Many heard of the religion, studied it, received
teachings and took the oath. When they first came to Him, they kneeled before
Him. But when they are far away, they betray Him and His children.

I assert that the disaster of the Vietnamese people and how grave it has
become, we have to recognize that it is the result of our sin or our lack of faith
in Him. If only we had sincerely bowed to our loving and supportive Master,

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listened to and had faith in Him, there would be neither mutual killing nor
blood shedded by our race. I would like to say that this bloodshed is the
consequence of our mistrust in Him. Alas! If I recited the events of our Faith in
the past 20 years, you will know how strong the power of faith is. Since I came
here, nobody can push and make me fall, or expel and make me leave.
Whether I am still alive or dead, succeed or fail, the Supreme Being tells me to
sit and stay here. Even if such an order takes my life in order to preserve the
National Faith, I will not move an inch away from this place. If I treasure my
life, I will have enough time to go hide. How many friends have advised me to
go hide. I can, but I will never accept to. The Supreme Being told me to stay at
His feet no matter whether I am dead or alive. I just pray that by offering my
body and soul as a sacrifice, the National Faith will come into being. I only
pray for that but it still may not come true. Because only by uniting all the
faith of His children can we have the power to win over devils and the forces
that oppress and threaten to destroy the Faith. We can only preserve the
National Faith with the power of faith. If we unite it to preserve the Faith, we
will end the mutual killing and bloodshed. Let us all male and female adepts
have faith in the Supreme Being and form such power. Let us muster our
strength from it, and unanimously pray at the same moment, and see if the
Supreme Being releases us.
Since I came here to unite His children, I have delivered the Faith from
calamity many times. If we keep praying for some more months and fulfill our
duties, our prayer will soon come true and we will see its miraculous power.

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21. THREE TREASURES: THE ORIGIN THAT CREATED THE UNIVERSE

Holy See, the 29th day of the 3rd month Đinh Hợi (1947)

Today, I will preach about the Three Treasures, the origin that created the
universe.

For a long time, people often tell each other to follow a religion and believe in
it, but I am sure they do not know what religion is. Thus, I will preach about
the true meaning of religion, the relationship between religion and human
beings as well as all living beings, and the origin of the Three Treasures, i.e.
Matter, Essence/ Energy, and Spirit. The Supreme Being have existed by
Himself for eternity, but no Divine Being really knows His origin.

According to His Holiness Nguyệt Tâm Chơn Nhơn [Victo Hugo], even He does
not really know the origin of the Supreme Being; He only knows of His
incomparable power. I have enquired His Holiness Nguyệt Tâm Chơn Nhơn
about unintelligible matters which no religious founder has probably asked.
When I enquired about the origin and power of the Supreme Being, His
Holiness Nguyệt Tâm Chơn Nhơn gave me a French poem which was
translated into Vietnamese. But His Holiness admitted that He does not know
His origin, but only His incomparable power.

Now that we preach about this topic, I can only say that that eternal Divine
Being is the Supreme Being who is the Father of all beings. We have known
that Divine Being with particular profundity. From the ancient past, how many
people have been wondering why we have a more noble spirit than other
living beings. They have sought an immeasurable amount of wisdom and
knowledge, which helps constantly remind them of the Tao. Whether we know
it or not, understand it or not, or want to deny it or not, we instinctively
recognize that there is a divine element in our body. What is that divine
element? Mankind has been constantly looking for its origin.

Among the current religions, none of them is as systematic and sublime in
philosophy as Buddhism, but even this religion does not explain clearly. We do
not have to seek far and wide. We see and know that humans have spirits.
From our observation of the ancient doctrine of Buddhism, we can surely say
that we have a religion which governs over all other religions because it is the
origin of religion and has existed by itself since the creation of Heaven and
Earth. That Divine entity is the Father of the soul and the divine light. How can
we understand that divine light? We have learned that for ages the Supreme

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Being has used that pure energy to create mankind together with dirt/ matter;
such energy transforms into all living beings. Mankind has become wise
thanks to evolution; likewise, living beings have become omniscient and
omnipotent. Philosophers have discussed a lot, but actually have not really
understood the true origin. Buddhism says that the Divine entity divides its
nature and bestows on all living beings. Before the division, the Divine entity
is called Brahma, i.e. Buddha. After the division, the second Being Shiva
appears who controls dharma. The Supreme Being holds the power of
transformation/ evolution, but not creation. Dharma works to create Qi which
we see in the vast space around us. What is Qi? It is the mass of vital energy
which we breathe in to sustain life. Thus, Qi is the life of all living beings; it is
the dharma that creates all living beings. Therefore, the second Creator who
governs the vital energy is often called “2è Logos” and belongs to the Yin. It is
the Mother Buddha who governs creation.

As we know, creation of living beings and humans comes from the
combination and transformation of Yin and Yang. The Buddha divides His
nature to create the Dharma who is the second Being/ Throne of Yin, i.e. the
Mother Buddha. We do not know that this secret lies in the combination and
transformation of Yin and Yang. What does the Mother Buddha use to create
the visible universe? She uses the vital energy which works its way in the air
and is invisible to us. Such energy turns into visible elements like water, fire,
and wind which transforms into “Hổn ngươn khí” (Suggested: Chaos energy),
“Hư vô khí” (Suggested: Invisible energy), “Huyền ảnh khí” (Suggested: Semi-
visible energy), and eventually visible forms. The energy which science calls
atomic energy has limitless power; mankind has been able to utilized it, but
does not know its origin or its nature. Mankind has found and used atomic
energy, but does not know that such energy is the vital energy of the universe.
Neither do they know that one day secular beings will rely on it to unify their
Holy body. Why does the Supreme Being grant atomic energy to human
beings? We should look into this secret mystery which all religions wish to
find out. Today, such energy is used to destroy human beings, but who knows
that it will be a remedy to revive us, and brings us eternal life. Because atomic
energy is the origin of life, it can cause death or create life. It gives rise first to
water, fire and wind which then transform into visible matters and living
beings. Therefore, humans have the same image with the universe and the
Creator; Càn Khôn (the universe, ☰☷,乾坤) is the Macrocosm (of heaven and
earth), while human beings are the microcosm (of heaven and earth). Human

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life is in the same form with the universe; it is connected to the Supreme Being
who holds the supreme power.
Who does He create this great cause for? For All living beings, which are
topped by human beings. He will only preserve it if human beings can inherit
it. One day, one of us either male or female will inherit His power. As the
Supreme Being creates the great cause, He wants us to be able to achieve the
same, i.e. evolving the microcosm to the macrocosm.
Regarding how to achieve that great cause, He advises us only one word “Tu”
(to lead a religious life/ perfect oneself/ cultivate). Only virtuous souls
deserve it, but the world is not virtuous; it is still too cruel to achieve such
cause in years to come.

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22. THE ORIGIN OF HUMAN BEINGS
Holy See, the 29th day of the 4th month Đinh Hợi year (1947)
Today, I will preach about the origin of human beings. Before we start that
topic, we should know about the Creator, i.e. the Father of all visible living
beings, and His origin.
We have learned from ancient scriptures that this visible world helps us know
and recognize the Creator who is our Great Merciful Father. All races and
philosophers of religions believe in the Creator of the universe and living
beings, including human beings. All religions from ancient times till now
regard Him as the Father of all. Buddhism lets us know that there is a Being
with limitless and supreme power who created all living beings in the
universe. He has come among human beings, endured myriad sufferings, and
evolved through the cycle of rebirth to the levels of Angel, Saint, Immortal and
Buddha. He holds the supreme and miraculous power to create the universe;
He stipulates the law of justice to reward kindness and punish cruelty.
Therefore, mankind venerates Him as God who governs over all living beings
as the supreme Lord of the universe.
Religions mention God as an invisible and formless Being who knows
everything. A Confucian saying goes, “The heaven net is extremely vast, but
nothing gets through.” In other words, although the sky is extremely vast,
nothing can get away from His hand and His divine net/ system. Thus, He is
venerated as the Lord of Heaven who governs all living beings with justice like
a Judge.
He created the entire universe, raises and protects all living beings. He gives
each of us a soul so we are wise enough to understand that there are other
beings apart from us. As a result, we regard Him as the most Divine Being and
as our Father. No other being can be Lord of all beings apart from Him. Such
veneration raises Him above our earthly father to the title of the Great
Merciful Father. Indeed, Buddhism associates Him with the most appropriate
title. Without His divine light, we will not be able to preserve our life. We see
obviously that new-born animals which still have not open their eyes will look
for their mother’s breast to survive. Even plants spread their leaves to catch
the dew and absorb vital energy to sustain their life. Such divine light is part of
the united totality, i.e. the Father.

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The Great and Merciful Father is the Father of all living beings. We are His
children; He bestows not only the visible world on us, but also the more
precious part which is the divine light. Thank to this, we evolve from matter to
animal, human and eventually Buddha at the same level with Him. The Great
Merciful Father is Buddha; He wants us to also become Buddha in order to
attain secret power like His and build another universe. According to the law
of nature, as a Father starts the work, His children will follow Him to create
other work.
Although it is now the period of the Third Universal Amnesty, I know that the
Cao Đài religion is established to select, among the Buddhas since the creation
of the universe, one who will succeed Him. During the time He created the
Great Faith, a sign was hung at the Court of God to select a new God as His
successor. Among the Buddhas, we see there are three Beings:

1. The Gautama Buddha
2. The Maitreya Buddha
3. Jesus Christ
Who of them will become God? We assume that one of them can reach the
position. We are sure that one of them will, but cannot say for sure who will.
We only vaguely see, but do not dare to say. One who has enough power to
govern the world, and who has a noble mind to unite all humanity into the
path of the Great Faith both mentally and spiritually, will succeed the Supreme
Being.

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23. THE DIVINE LAW OF JUSTICE

Holy See, the 15th day of the 5th month Đinh Hợi year (1947)

After more than five years in exile, I returned to see the fate of our nation and
its progress which brought up mixed feelings in me. What surprised me most
was that amid the progress and civilization of the world, there is a type of
people who kill their compatriots ruthlessly. By mental judgment, we do not
know what their purpose is in deciding the future of our nation. In my
opinion, there is no organization in the entire world which accepts the killing
of man; there are many countries who go further than that. We saw clearly
how the one who wanted to rule the world by power and massacre ended up.
What a tragedy! There are many in the Vietnam race who form a group with
their mark as intelligentsia with strong power, but who wish to kill their own
people for dictatorship. Those cruel people think they are smarter than
anyone else, while using violent power to oppress their compatriots. Will they
succeed? My answer is never. I saw such cruelty touched His heart, so the
Divine army has been created to protect our people’s lives. Their cruelty has
moved His mercy. According to justice, if the Divine army goes to the battle to
bring down the enemy commander and preserve the fate of their country,
they are the agent of fate and change. Those who harm the common people by
cruel means are gangs and robbers.

From my view of the country situation as the visible aspect and the presence
of the Supreme Being, I think of the moral philosophy of the universe which is
divine justice, i.e. we have to pay back what we owe. It is undeniable. We have
seen an unjust phenomenon – why there are the silly, the smart, the master,
the servant, etc. The law of justice which is based around the endless progress
of civilization and science has killed many lives on earth. But without justice,
humans would be just like animals among which the strong dominates over
the weak, and the cunning wipes out the stupid. If the current doctrine of
competition is maintained, mankind will be totally destroyed. Thanks to the
law of karma (cause and effect), no one can destroy mankind; they think that
killing will lead to destruction. That is ignorance. Killing will not extinguish
human life; likewise, cutting trees does not kill them, but helps them grow
new ones. The cruel think that killing will end it all. It is impossible. We will
continue to see the course of cause and effect.

Our country Vietnam has been subject to the law of karma, because the old
regime killed Nguỵ Khôi. His traces still remain in the current race court. They
killed him to become lord. 80 years of slavery is the result of it.

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Those ruthless people think they will end the Faith by killing. Is it because we
do not have a king that they are meant to kill and create one? So that one day
they will kneel before the Faith in veneration. Otherwise, there would be no
divine law of justice and morality.

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24. THE ORIGIN OF MAN AND THE MATTER OF UNIVERSAL FRATERNITY

The 14th day of the 6th month Đinh Hợi year (31 July 1947)

Today, I will preach about the philosophy of human origin. The philosophy has
existed since the appearance of mankind. We have to study it thoroughly in
order to walk the right path which is the Tao.

Since the ancient past, mankind have only thought they are unique, i.e. born
and die as one unique person. If we want to know the origin of religious
philosophies and want to explore that essential matter, let us ask ourselves
where mankind comes from. Why are we born and die along with living
beings? And where do we go after death?

It is not strange. In this world, religions have always sought that origin, i.e.
returned to the original basics called Tao. That supreme philosophy must be
written into a book to convey enough meaning. If I preach about the
philosophy here, it will surely be no use for you to listen. Because it is beyond
your comprehension. Thus, I promise that on the 15th of July I will write that
truth into a sermon which covers the origin of moral philosophies.

Today, I would like to preach about the current popular topic of Universal
Fraternity (Fraternité Universelle). Why all countries and races are now
wishing to find methods of universal fraternity? Actually, since the birth of
Christianity, the question has still remained and become ever more pressing.
Buddhism sought after it for a while before establishment (of the sangha), and
then applied it to all mankind,

Since the creation of heaven and earth, mankind has had the same origin,
nature and spirit. It was Jesus Christ who pressed for that philosophy the most
to form Christianity. Today, the Cao Đài religion also goes after it. On earth,
they find that there are 2,700,000 people. They all share the same origin and
basics as to their spirit and image. They came to this world and transformed
their skin color from black to gray, red, yellow and eventually white. During
the transition from the last cycle of the third manvantara to the first cycle of
the fourth manvantara, mankind has to undergo harsh examination to leave
this earth for a more noble world. If they fail, they must stay on this earth to
form the Lucid Race (Race Lucidé) who is united from the white and yellow
skin races.

Therefore, on the same line of univeral fraternity, the Supreme Being
establishes the Cao Đài religion mainly to let mankind know that they are

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created from the same spiritual origin, so that they regard each other as
brothers of the same root. From the ancient past till now, religions have
sought various means to awaken humanity and help them consider each other
siblings. Unfortunately, humanity does not believe in the truth of religion and
remain ignorant. For that reason, the Supreme Being has to come to establish
the Cao Đài religion with the main purpose of creating for mankind a mutual
cause, and uniting them into the same situation. This is so that they will live
together in the same spirit, with the same basics for all races, to preserve each
other’s life, share the bitter sweet, and protect each other through the harsh
examination in this world of suffering.

Countries in both the West and East are devising policies based on the same
philosophy to unite humanity. Leaders of mankind adopt different politics for
different countries based on their mentality so as to divide their interests
equally and unite them in the same way of life; this is what the US is pursuing.
Meanwhile, Russia divides the properties, harmonizes people’s thoughts, gives
humans equal dignity and power. Those methods can hardly achieve their
goal. We will see those base concepts soon lose their effects. In order to unite
people’s minds, they must love, respect each other, preserve each other’s life,
share sadness and suffering, have the same faith, and treat each other like
siblings. Then, society will live happily like a great family all over the world.

In order to reach that goal, we can only uphold morality. People want to
respect each other, live in harmony and regard each other as siblings, but still
envy and fight over their friends’ wealth. How can they achieve harmony? As
long as they still fight over food, land, clothing, wealth, and status, it is
impossible to achieve universal fraternity in the mind.

We have seen evidence that those countries which seek methods of universal
fraternity but do not unite human minds will only devise ineffective policies.
Therefore, the Supreme Being came to build this oneness family with an
overarching meaning/ goal that all males and females love each other in the
boundary of justice so as to unite each other’s mind into a model. They will be
a generation of brothers and sisters, living together on all the physical, mental
and spiritual levels.

If someday the entire congregation love each other like a family and the entire
Vietnam country unite, the seed of universal fraternity will hopefully be sown
everywhere to build a permanent foundation. All other methods are only
ignorant ones.

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25. THE MECHANISM OF UNIVERSAL FRATERNITY

Holy See, the 24th day of the 6th month Đinh Hợi year (1947)

Today, I will preach about the agents of universal fraternity. I have explained
the transition between the last cycle of the third manvantara and the first
cycle of the fourth manvantara. At the beginning, humanity has to enter a
grand examination. If they pass, they will be liberated from this suffering
scene; otherwise, they will stay to be Race Lucidé.

Therefore, before the year of the tiger (1926) and the construction of the Holy
See, the Supreme Being came in lament to inform kind males and females. The
Master lamented that He came to create a religion and save the entire world
from suffering. If the Faith is formed one day sooner, humanity will be saved
one day sooner. Unfortunately, when we received His holy teachings at that
time, no one wholeheartedly observed and sought the profound truth. We
even guessed that the creation of the universe is His time, not ours. Who knew
that it would ultimately depend on us. As we traced back, we saw our race in
the mid of severe suffering and indescribable mental pains. We complained to
the Great Merciful Father, the Divine Beings and our beloved friends. We had
no idea that the Religious Founders who are teaching us have pleaded before
the Supreme Being and Divine Beings. That is the secret mystery of the
Supreme Being which has an effect on us. The Supreme Being lamented like a
Father who saw the critical peril threatening His children. He asked us to
come and save them from death, but we made an excuse that the path could be
suspended and it did not matter if we were a few days late. However, when we
reached the destination, His children were already on the verge of death.

With our conscience, let us reflect on whose fault it is that the past 22 years
have culminated in the current situation. Let us ask ourselves and answer that
it is our own fault. The truth is that the Supreme Being established the
National Faith as a transition instrument to save humanity. The entire faith
carries such a crucial duty, but does not have enough perseverance to fulfil it.
You disciples are witnesses to this. If one day the true physiognomy of the
Faith turns out as such, I will not say that I have made any contribution to the
Faith and the world. In 1939, the prophecy was evidenced by the bubbling
war all over the world. The Vietnam country is a holy land of the Supreme
Being, but could not avoid the misery, anxiety and fear. On the 27 July 1941, I
was exiled abroad. As head of the Holy Body, I admitted to myself that I have
not fulfilled duties towards life and the Faith. In my heart, I hoped that by
submitting to the exile I will shoulder the misery of the country. Out of

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