Great video! As a Vietnamese I feel obligated to share what I know about Đạo Cao Đài. Well, it’s nothing you didn’t cover! Most city dwellers like myself know of them, the basics of how their belief systems, the stuffs with Victor Hugo and Joan of Arc and Lenin (Lenin is held in high regards in general) One thing I can’t seem to confirm is that the Caodaists like to grow their hair long, as when I grew my hair long I often get comments like ‘ are you Caodai?’ That’s all. Hope your channel gets all the views it deserves!
Thanks for the kind words! and thanks for sharing that info I didn't come across hair cutting in my research but that's a fascinating aspect of the religion to know
I should get informed mpre about this religion. I mean, I have some leninist beliefs, I admire Joane D'Arc as a brave woman figure, well idk much about Victor Hugo though. And I have long hair, and am asian...hmmm
I would only imagine that in a way the Catholic influence was through appeases the Vietnamese population that converted to the religion of Catholicism while Lenin was to appease the Vietnamese population that converted to the religion of communism
As a Vietnamese Catholic I never knew much about this religion but have a close family friends that practice it. Your video explains so much and it just clicked for me. My dad's family is buddhist, my mom's side is Catholic but I always remembered the family friends would attend both religious gatherings. And my mom told me that they venerated the Virgin mary and buddha. I never considered such a large religion existed.
Radical Ecumenical mush. I wouldn’t be surprised if they revere that old heretic “Piltdown Pete” de Chardin for his Omega Point blasphemy, never mind that he was a horrible missionary who secretly loathed Asians, after all, they revere Lenin who burned the relics of saints, leveling ancient churches or turned them into warehouses. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Globalist Hegemony adopts it as their official religion someday, it suits them. The Franks should never have turned away from Merovingian Rule. Error after insufferable error has oozed forth from the Geneva bishops like a cancer for 1200 years.
I think the history of Macau is something you might find interesting, Portuguese Catholics settled a part of southern china trying to emulate Buddhists to convert them
I read/watch/listen-to a lot of stuff about religions, and I'd never heard of Caodaism. Very interesting! It sounds like the kind of religion which has potential for growth, since it seems so fluid/accepting and it has "magical" elements which have been popular recently (e.g. in the rapid growth of Pentecostalism).
@@RobespierreThePoof Not really. Atheists/agnostics are expected to shrink as a percentage of total world population between now and 2050 (Pew 2015). In Africa, Pentecostalism grew from 5% in 1970 to 12% in 2010 (Pew 2010), and anecdotally I've heard that it's been exploding even more since 2010. In Western societies, *mainline* Christianity is definitely falling off a cliff, but you're seeing most of those people become "not religious", "spiritual", or evangelical Christian; there isn't a big increase in people calling themselves atheist or agnostic. Even in China, where all CCP members have to swear to be atheists, traditional Chinese religion is in fact still a big part of everyday life. I think that religion is somewhat inherent in human psychology. Since the ancient Greeks, a few percent of people have always been atheists, but it has been and will continue to be unusual. I think that the huge explosion of people identifying as "no religion" but not "atheist" represents a void waiting to be filled by some new religion that fits more with the times, maybe something like Caodaism.
@@denizhantutar1680 That might be a fair point. Hmm. It is true that drawing a line between superstitions and religion is practically impossible. But it is probably useful to just acknowledge that the human mind is prone to superstitious thinking. Religions are when we agree to have the same superstitions. LOL. I was obviously thinking of organized religions, but you knew that.
@ems4884 exactly we are prone. It would be good if we had scientific literacy to distinguish factual from fictious and a secular political scene. On the other hand, the spreading of "spiritual but not religious" people and widespread belief in aforementioned stuff indicates that people gonna find something to believe in my opinion, so maybe it's a temporary situation that no organized religion really excels
Good video! Never heard of Caodaism, but it's cool to know there are still modern religions being founded, and not just cults or pyramid schemes like Scientology
@@sheepketchup9059 a book I read said Caodai in fact a thriving continuation of china's "three truths" (Wikipedia it) tradition the harmony of understanding Buddhism Taoism and Confucian ideology. They adopted the republic voting system that Catholic missionaries used. my favorite teacher is Shri mataji, and her concept of 10 adi gurus seems similar. Sahaja meditation is definitely compatible with Buddhism for example
I discovered your video about the LDP yesterday and I was instantly hooked. Your use of graphics and sounds effects make your videos really interesting and easy to watch. And I'm really happy that you uploaded a new video just a day later! Keep it up man, your content is amazing.
Thanks so much! I'm glad you enjoyed the video and the use of video game sounds. If you like this channel you should also check out the RU-vid channels for J.J. McCullough and Lucas Bender, who were two big inspirations for me
I visited a Cao Dai temple when I was visiting my friend's family with her in 2016. It was beautiful. It was the first time I'd ever heard of the religion. It's very interesting. I had studied all of the religions they drew from. We all ate together after their prayers. Lovely people. Very welcoming and of course the food was great! Fascinating video. Thanks for making it!
The syncretic and perennialism found in this religion makes me think of several other New Religious movements including Vedanta Society, Theosophy, and Baha'i. Very interesting that I've never learned how large this religion is, as someone who studies religion as a hobby thank you for teaching me something I truly didn't know.
Just a heads up, it is "The Baha'i faith" not "Baha'i". Baha'i is the singular word for practitioners, it's kind of like how it is Judaism and not "Jew".
Just found out about your channel today, fantastic content! I come from Tây Ninh, my house is only 2km from the Holy See, my family and people around here follow Caodaism. Nearly 70% of people in this province are Caodaist or practice Caodaism. Your video is very informative, religiously and historically. I wonder if you have any Caodaist friends to help you with it? Some more info about Caodai that I know: Its full name is Đại đạo Tam kỳ Phổ độ (The Third Great Universal Religious Amnesty). That means, in their belief, we have gone through 2 amnesties from God, the first one was through polytheistic pantheons like Egyptian gods, Hindu gods, ... The second time was through guys like Jesus, Buddha, Taozu, ... they were prophets of God. This time, God himself came and guide people in the third and last amnesty. After that, comes the apocalypse, in short, good people stay, bad people go bye bye, no more reincarnate for them. I will need to mention that Caodaists are vegan. The followers eat vegan for 6 or 10 days a month while the religious officials have to be completely vegan. That's it. Again, amazing video. Hope your channel gain more subcribers.
I'm glad you liked the video thanks so much for the added info! I actually don't know any Caodaists personally but I did read tons of research papers, and history books while working on the script. The work done by Prof. Janet Hoskins at USC, was probably the most helpful. Her work is sourced in the description if anyone wants to check it out. I was a bit worried that since Caodaism is a very nuanced topic I might get something wrong or miss something in my research. But I'm thankful that it looks like it turned out alright. Thanks again for the kind words!
I just watched your first 2 videos, and I have to say they are amazing. Very interesting and detailed content, also high quality combination of image and sound. Top tier videogame sounds. I would be glad if you to keep doing more content about Asian Politics and Religion.
Thanks for the kind words! I'm glad everyone is loving the video game noises. I want to use this channel to highlight lesser know things in the world and I think Asia, and, Africa is really over looked in the English speaking world at least so look forward to those videos coming out in the future!
This was a eell done informative video. As a former History teacher let me say you did a great job. Now that I think about it I remember Cao Dai beung mentioned as a faction during the various Vietnam wars but I never learned anything about them until now.
This reminds me a lot of the different prophets and religions that appeared as the United States conquered the natives. A lot of them also put their faith in a Supreme Being of some sort that would save them from American imperialism
@@normanclatcher There is a good book by Peter Cozzens called Tecumseh and the Prophet on the rise of the movement. I think Knowing Better also included the movement in his video on Indian Removal
Only criticisms I can think of is that Taoism is pronounced with a D sound and your audio has some issues and it's very hard to hear. But I really love your videos and am excited to see where this channel goes.
Epic nit pick time: at 7:20 the word “History” is cut off, YT career destroyed. But in all seriousness, another solid upload. I wasn’t expecting to learn about this of all things today, but here I am, and I am grateful! Good luck on future projects!
Wonderful video! Such a great job with the graphics and overview, I’ve always been curious about the Cao Dai and your video is the first place I’ve been able to get a real understanding of it’s history! Very glad I subscribed after getting your LDP video recommended to me, keep up the good work!
A nice blend of graphics, info and brevity on something that previously had no real inkling of. I am certainly a bit more learned than yesterday. Given the... distance... from the previous videos topic, i eagerly wait to be surprised by what else this channel could cover next.
Thanks for those kind words! My usual process for topics is to go down a rabbit role of research and try to make something I would want to see on RU-vid but isn't there yet. So look forward to a wide variety of topics to be covered. Thanks again for the support!
You need a better microphone and better enunciation. It's hard to hear what you're saying. The plonking noises are often louder than your actual voice and can somewhat distract from it. I love the actual information in the video though, thank you!
Really good video! I have heard of Caodaism but never really took time into looking into it. It is pretty interesting how it is a fairly syncretic faith with a universal religious focus that reminds me of the Bahai faith. Thank you for sharing this information about a religion that is suprisingly not known about.
Hey man I'm not sure if you're gonna read this but you've got something incredible going here with your channel. Very clear and concise, but without cutting out intricacies that are important. I expect you to become huge one day if you keep up the great work. Cheers!
I researched this a while back curious about native vietnamese religion and owe great gratitude because I couldn't figure out what the heck a beaked basket was..oh so it's a banjo with a phoenix head. I was imagining a cup you pour pancake batter with or a drum with triangular tipped edges they'd shake around like the way table tipping works. This movement is inspiring because of it's size and is compatible with the teachings of Shri mataji who teaches sahaja meditation
Well done. I love the visuals, and I think the sound affects actually work with the presentation style. (I sense I might be in the minority there) I think the one thing missing is getting a better mic, and then do some sound mixing on your audio recording. I gather though that that is already on your "to do" list, so keep up the good work.
Great video, I'd never heard of Caodaoism before. I love your visuals and the way you explain things. Small caveat, I think a better mic would help to grow your audience a great deal! Cheers!
Some constructive criticism, I don't mind the sound effects but they're louder than you. Because the sound effects are so frequent it makes it hard to hear you. Neat video, Caodaism sounds like the pac man of religion.
I had actually heard of Caodaism because Graham Greene's novel 'The Quiet American' features it as part of its plot. The novel was written in 1955, after Greene visited Vietnam during the late stages of French colonial rule. It's good that there are more modern and nuanced takes on the religion available in English these days, as Greene's take is both very Western and very influenced by the period of violent conflict he was writing about.
thank you for such an informative video. my grandma was a caodaist and her father and uncle brought caodai into their province. i live in australia because my dad’s family fled the south in 1979. it is hard to find good quality information about caodaism
Glad I could help! If you are looking for more information Janet Hoskins has some good talks and writings about Caodaism. The Left Eye of God (2008) is a also a good documentary about the faith, but it is a bit more focused on the faith in the US
What if they summon a spirit that never learned Chinese? Do we all get chinese language when we die or do they just avoid spirits who don't speak chinese?
Nice video and all But i litteraly was so confused becasue i read thr thumbnail as Vitamins and caodaism. I thought youre gonna talk about food, but i still enjoyed the video 10/10
I think it was interesting that the Cao Dai and Hoa Hao militarized and fought the Binh Xuyen and Diem Army at once but we’re crushed in 1955. After Diem consolidated power, the event of fighting quasi Buddhist factions that it made him self conscious about how fragile his rule was and persecuted the Buddhist leadership until the end of his rule in 63.
Crazy good quality for how small the channel is. Will there be any video or post on your background? Curious as to how you suddenly got into youtube and with such high quality content
Maybe when I hit 10,000k subs I'll do a QnA! Just focused on making more quality content right now. But long story short I've been watching RU-vid for a long time and always wanted to make something, just could never figure out what it should be so I just made a resolution to release a few videos this year. I looked up how to edit, record audio, and put a video together through RU-vid tutorials over a few weeks and ended up releasing my first vid in February. Seems like people are enjoying them so going to keep going!
@@Lawarch super impressive, just a few weeks!! Thank you very much for your reply :) I'm glad the algorithm seems to have treated you quite well as you deserve it. Good luck!!! Looking forward to 10k
On a side note, I'd like to point out: The Crescent and Star isn't an Islamic symbol, it's a random decorative symbol and has less history with Islam than either the five-sided or six-sided star symbols ("Seal of Solomon"). You should use the "Allah" symbol (the calligraphy) to represent Islam, which is the closest thing to an Islamic symbol spanning all sects. The Amazigh-led Hafsid dynasty, centered in Tunisia, used the Crescent on their political flag and later the Turkish-led Ottoman dynasty. Then much later several Muslim countries across Asia adopted it in the 20th century during their liberation movements as a sign of solidarity with the Ottoman Empire and against European colonialism. You'll notice that no Arab Muslim country in Asia uses it, nor does any Sub-Saharan African Muslim country. The only Arab/African countries that do use it are in the Maghreb, which unlike Arab Asia never broke off from the Ottoman Empire but were colonized by Europeans instead. It's only in the past few decades that the Crescent and Star or just the Crescent has been conflated with Islam itself. But you'll notice that Shias outside South Asia don't use it, Salafists don't use it, and most fundamentalist orthodox Sunnis don't use it. It's a political symbol, not a religious symbol.
That is interesting about the Hafsid dynasty using the crescent, I had been under the impression that the Turks introduced the crescent symbol to the Islamic world. I am sure I recall reading that it was a pre-Islamic Turkic symbol used by the Pechenegs, Khazars and others before Seljuk took it up as his banner and spread it through Islam. This doesn't make much sense though for a Berber dynasty in North Africa to be using the symbol though.
Nice video. Thank you. In China the unification of the major faiths was ordered by one Song emperor. Since that time that is practiced all over China, and is also prolific in Korea. Many sects have originated also at Taiwan. Many of these have branches in the Chinese diaspora. In my city we count on average 7 of 8. Since they all are quote the same, they are often considered folk religious branches of daoism, and they include the syncretic sects of Vietnam in this. The real amount of followers could be summarized as heavenly Dao sects and it could be many times more than just caodao. It is interesting to see how it's fragmentary chapter based organization keeps it largely unknown outside their own prolific religions
Just found your channel. Very good videos so far, love the choice in aesthetic. ¿Are most gonna be focused on East Asia or is it just the first two? Love them either way.
Thanks so much for your kind words! I want to cover the whole world with this channel! These two just happened to be the first two topics I finished the research for and they both happened to be Asia. Let me know if there is anything you would like to see me cover!
@@Lawarch Personally i'd love content more related to international relations or diplomacy, maybe on nuclear proliferation, migration or so on, mostly as that is my field of study. Thank you for asking and again great work, will def be sharing.
Thanks and I'm working on it! honestly think it was just too much compression of the audio. My latest video is just straight up my audio with little editing done to it. Let me know if you think its better!
Please talk a bit slower and reduce the volume of the (otherwise cute) effects. That makes it much easier to understand, especially if english is not your first language. Thanks for the informative video!
Excellent videos! I look forward to seeing your subscriber count rise! Your sound effects are a bit overdone and distracting, a few would be fine but its excessive.
Good content in many ways, especially highlighting spirit mediumship, which other descriptions of Caodai do not hightlight. However, you need to work on your vocal presentation. You do not have a pleasant voice, to begin with. Don't know how you can change that! BUT, you need to SLOW DOWN. This is true of very many RU-vid presenters and it is the first thing I learned when being trained in public speaking.
If you like this you'd like sahaja meditation teachings of Shri mataji. I think if someone were to try to practice cao dai they'd want you to practice sahaja meditation first
I don't know what this is about, but I've had a stomach ache for a minute and I just farted it out while watching this, so thank you for being here for me😊
@@Lawarch Shri Mataji & Sahaja Yoga movement is very similar to this, I wish they had as big a following. I think they have a much less exotic attitude. Cao dai definitely is large
Well done man whata interesting topic how i as thai don't know this faith i though Christian that flee from Vietnam to thailand in cold war already unknown But this next level unknown Also will you do vid on thai?
Really want to get into this channel / video but can hardly hear what is going on, and I'm playing it on my TV! 1. Can you invest in a better audio device. 2. Try speaking more slowly or clearly and accompany your speech with written text. I watch a lot of videos and this is some of the most jarring diction I've heard. Hopefully you can improve the quality by trying to enunciate better and slowing down.
I had heard of it but didn't know much about it except it was influenced by Spiritism (not to be confused with Spiritualism although they share much in common).
Really. I'd recommend you practice sahaja meditation or ask what they think of their movement. Very similar. There are 10 master gurus in sahaja meditation, there are said to be more but I think they didn't want to get too complicated with their teaching
This sounds so interesting but I'm sorry, I can't watch bc the bleeps/sound effects are too much. Maybe in your next video try to turn down the sound effects so they aren't as loud. Either that or please include proper subtitles so I can watch on mute. If you listen to me then thank you, but also the sounds might keep people paying attention to the video so you probably can't win! Now let me go research this religion because you got me so interested in the 1st minute! Thanks!
Your video is great, but your audio isn't! The subject is interesting, the organization is good, the visuals are outstanding, but that audio takes all of that away. That quick and monotone speech with loud sound effects is very hard to listen to. I tried so hard not to click away from this video multiple times just because of the audio alone.
I can see how a person would look at it this way but confucianism is not easy for average joes to understand. I'm glad something similar to Sahaja meditation which is my personal favorite movement is making progress, considering Confucian ideology is definitely very intelligent and reasonable
@@spacedragon1453 the 3 religions of confucianism Buddhism & Taoism are represented by the flag. My personal favorite movement is Sahaja meditation, and Confucius along with Lao Tzu are 2 of the 10 "adi gurus" of sahaja yoga..the others being Moses, Socrates, Guru Nanak, Abraham & a few others. The sahaja meditation movement & cao dai are compatible with each other.
@@InternetSumerian-le6rp Nice, I love syncretic or pluralistic religions. Kinda esoteric and breaks my brain. But fun to learn about. Still a small relgion though.
@@spacedragon1453 I don't know how interested you are in these things but I'm more interested in the truthfulness rather than the popularity of an ideology
Very small detail, but in WWII, though there was a United Front with the communists and the Kuomingtang, China was decidedly NOT communist and was controlled by the ROC. I believe the vietminh did not receive support from the CCP until 1949, when the PRC was fully formed. Before, it was all the ROC. I'm not very sure about the rest, as I am not too familiar with Vietnamese history or Caodaist teachings.
It's not really new in my opinion it just transformed the way Chinese religion was practiced the three truths tradition. That's definitely something that stood out to me when I researched this a while back being curious about the native religion of Vietnam. If you like this you'd like sahaja meditation teachings of Shri mataji. This religion taught me they consider a person's birthplace as special
