Sacred images in Caodaism

IThe Divine Eye, the sacred image of the Supreme Being

Caodaism makes no statue and paints no portrait of the Supreme Being. Instead, followers worship the Divine Eye, an open eye drawn as a left eye. A book of the Government Committee for Religious Affairs puts it briefly: Caodaism worships the Thiên nhãn, meaning the eye of heaven, the symbol of Đức Chí Tôn. Janet Hoskins, an anthropologist who studies Caodaism, writes that the left eye of God appears at the top of every Cao Đài altar.

From Phú Quốc in 1921

The first person to see the Divine Eye was Ngô Văn Chiêu, a civil servant under French rule. The book Thiên Nhãn Thầy records that on the morning of 20 April 1921 on Phú Quốc island, while he was pondering what sign to use in worshipping the Supreme Being, he saw a very large eye appear, shining with radiant light. The book goes on to say that he did not yet fully believe, and so did not yet draw the Divine Eye to worship it. In the first lunar month of the year Giáp Tý (1924) he again saw the Divine Eye appear on Phú Quốc, asked through spirit writing how to worship, and was taught to draw the eye as he had seen it and worship it. Wikipedia adds that later Phạm Công Tắc and Cao Quỳnh Cư were told to go to Ngô Văn Chiêu's house to see how he worshipped. Britannica, for its part, says that Ngô Văn Chiêu received his first message in 1919 and that the religion was formally founded in 1926.

The teaching in the Thánh Ngôn Hiệp Tuyển

The Thánh Ngôn Hiệp Tuyển (Compilation of Divine Messages) records a spirit writing session in early 1926 in which the Supreme Being explains why the Holy Image of the eye is drawn for worship. The message contains five Chinese phrases, read in Sino-Vietnamese as: Nhãn thị chủ tâm, Lưỡng quang chủ tể, Quang thị Thần, Thần thị Thiên, Thiên giả Ngã dã. The annotated edition by Hiền Tài Nguyễn Văn Hồng explains them as: the eye is the master of the heart, the two lights are sovereign, light is spirit (Thần), spirit is Heaven, and that Heaven is I. The message also teaches that Thần, the spirit, is what has been missing since the Way was closed, and that now the Supreme Being lets Thần unite with Tinh and Khí so that the Three Treasures (Tam Bửu) are complete.

At the Tây Ninh Holy See the Divine Eye is everywhere. Wikipedia counts 23 lotus windows around the walls of the Great Temple, each with a Divine Eye in a radiant triangle, which together with the Divine Eye on the Phi Tưởng Đài at the front makes 24. The book Lược Thuật Tòa Thánh Tây Ninh (An Outline of the Tây Ninh Holy See) also explains the grapevines modelled around the eaves of the Great Temple, just above the Divine Eye frames. The vine stands for Tinh, the wine for Khí and the grape for Thần.

IIThe Globe of Heaven and Earth on the Bát Quái Đài

At the Tây Ninh Holy See the Divine Eye is not painted on a picture but on a large blue sphere called the Quả Càn Khôn, the Globe of Heaven and Earth, which stands for the whole universe. It rests on the Bát Quái Đài (Tower of the Eight Trigrams), the innermost and most sacred part of the Great Temple. The Holy See's Vietnamese English dictionary renders Quả Càn Khôn in English as celestial sphere or universal globe.

The model of the globe was taught in a spirit writing session on 17 September 1926, recorded in the Thánh Ngôn Hiệp Tuyển. According to this message, the globe is round like the earth, with a diameter of three thước three tấc, that is, 3.3 metres, painted sky blue. On it are drawn the Northern Dipper and the stars, 3,072 stars in all. Above the Pole Star the Eye of the Supreme Being is drawn. The message also says that the globe ought to have been made of glass, with a lamp inside so that it would always be lit.

The Bát Quái Đài is octagonal, raised on twelve steps, with eight dragon pillars. Below the globe are tablets written in Chinese characters, lacquered red and gilded, honouring the founders of the Three Teachings, the Three Governors and the Five Branches. Wikipedia records that on 29 January 1947 the Hộ Pháp (Defender of the Law) Phạm Công Tắc led the ceremony of bringing the globe from the Báo Ân Từ to be enshrined in the Holy See.

For the lunar date of the session that taught how to make the globe, the annotated Thánh Ngôn gives the 11th day of the 8th month of the year Bính Dần, and Wikipedia gives the 12th. Both give the solar date as 17 September 1926.

IIIThe Three Teachings, the Three Governors and the Five Branches of the Great Way

Below the Divine Eye, Caodaism venerates the figures who opened religions in earlier ages. The arrangement is taught in the closing passage of the divine message of 17 September 1926, a passage that the annotated edition adds from the Đạo Sử (religious history): at the top are statues of Shakyamuni Buddha, Laozi and Confucius. Below these three are Quan Thế Âm, Thái Bạch and Quan Thánh Đế. Then come Jesus and Khương Thượng Tử Nha. At the Tây Ninh Holy See these figures are modelled as statues on a large carved pediment (bao lam) in front of the Bát Quái Đài.

The diagram gives the order from top to bottom following the divine message and the book Lược Thuật Tòa Thánh Tây Ninh. For the two sides, Janet Hoskins describes them from the statues' own point of view: Laozi on the Buddha's right, Confucius on his left. Quan Âm on Lý Thái Bạch's right, Quan Thánh on his left. A worshipper looking up sees the reverse.

Shakyamuni Buddha

How to recognize: Seated at the highest point, in the centre

Founder of Buddhism, at the head of the Three Teachings on the pediment. Hoskins writes that the Buddha sits at the apex and represents the ideal of enlightenment.

Source: Janet Hoskins, Seeing Syncretism as Visual Blasphemy: Critical Eyes on Caodai Religious Architecture, Material Religion 6, no. 1, 2010. Vietnamese Wikipedia, Tòa Thánh Tây Ninh (Tây Ninh Holy See).

Laozi and Confucius

How to recognize: The two figures seated on either side of the Buddha in the top row

Laozi is the founder of Taoism (the way of the Immortals) and Confucius the founder of Confucianism. Together with Shakyamuni Buddha they form the Three Teachings, the root of Cao Đài teaching.

Source: Vietnamese Wikipedia, Tòa Thánh Tây Ninh (Tây Ninh Holy See). Janet Hoskins, Seeing Syncretism as Visual Blasphemy: Critical Eyes on Caodai Religious Architecture, Material Religion 6, no. 1, 2010.

Lý Thái Bạch

Lý Đại Tiên, Đức Lý Giáo Tông (Li Bai)How to recognize: Seated just below the Buddha, in the middle of the Three Governors

Stands for the way of the Immortals. Wikipedia records that he also serves as Giáo Tông (Pope) of Caodaism and represents wisdom (Trí).

Source: Vietnamese Wikipedia, Tòa Thánh Tây Ninh (Tây Ninh Holy See). Janet Hoskins, Seeing Syncretism as Visual Blasphemy: Critical Eyes on Caodai Religious Architecture, Material Religion 6, no. 1, 2010.

Quan Âm

Quan Thế Âm Bồ Tát, Quan Âm Như Lai (Guanyin)How to recognize: A female figure seated on a lotus

One of the Three Governors. Wikipedia records that she represents compassion (Bi).

Source: Vietnamese Wikipedia, Tòa Thánh Tây Ninh (Tây Ninh Holy See). Janet Hoskins, Seeing Syncretism as Visual Blasphemy: Critical Eyes on Caodai Religious Architecture, Material Religion 6, no. 1, 2010.

Quan Thánh Đế Quân

Quan Công (Guan Yu)How to recognize: Red face, the bearing of a general

One of the Three Governors. Wikipedia records that he represents courage (Dũng). Hoskins describes him as the red-faced warrior.

Source: Vietnamese Wikipedia, Tòa Thánh Tây Ninh (Tây Ninh Holy See). Janet Hoskins, Seeing Syncretism as Visual Blasphemy: Critical Eyes on Caodai Religious Architecture, Material Religion 6, no. 1, 2010.

Jesus

Jésus ChristHow to recognize: In the central column, below Lý Thái Bạch

Founder of the way of saints, standing for that way among the Five Branches. Hoskins places him on the third level of the pediment.

Source: Lược Thuật Tòa Thánh Tây Ninh (1963), part III, Inside the Holy See. Janet Hoskins, Seeing Syncretism as Visual Blasphemy: Critical Eyes on Caodai Religious Architecture, Material Religion 6, no. 1, 2010.

Khương Thái Công

Khương Thượng Tử Nha (Jiang Ziya)How to recognize: An old man with a white beard at the bottom of the central column

Stands for the way of spirits. Hoskins writes that he represents the veneration of local spirits and heroes.

Source: Lược Thuật Tòa Thánh Tây Ninh (1963), part III, Inside the Holy See. Janet Hoskins, Seeing Syncretism as Visual Blasphemy: Critical Eyes on Caodai Religious Architecture, Material Religion 6, no. 1, 2010.

The Five Branches of the Great Way (Ngũ Chi Đại Đạo) are the five branches of the one Way: the way of humanity, the way of spirits, the way of saints, the way of the Immortals and the way of buddhas. On the pediment each branch has a figure to stand for it, except the way of humanity, which is represented by the row of thrones of the Giáo Tông and the dignitaries below. On either side of the main pediment are two smaller ones, one modelled with the Eight Immortals, the other with the Seven Saints (Thất Thánh).

IVThe Three Saints and the three statues of the Hiệp Thiên Đài

The painting of the Three Saints signing the covenant

Past the steps of the Great Temple is the Tịnh Tâm Điện (Hall of the Quiet Heart), where the painting of the Three Saints hangs. It shows three figures standing on clouds, with haloes, writing together on one tablet. Followers call it the Third Covenant between Heaven and Humanity (Thiên Nhơn Hòa Ước), the covenant between God and humankind in the Third Period of Salvation. On the tablet are two lines with the same meaning. The French line reads Dieu et Humanité, Amour et Justice. The Chinese line reads, in Sino-Vietnamese, Thiên thượng Thiên hạ, Bác ái Công bình.

The painting was made by the artist Lê Minh Tòng in 1947 and hung in August 1948. The book Đệ Tam Thiên Nhơn Hòa Ước explains that the three figures come from three countries that once had grievances with one another, and that they stand together to express humanity setting aside grievances between peoples. Janet Hoskins writes that Victor Hugo, like Sun Yat-sen and Trạng Trình, is not worshipped as a god. She compares the role of the three to that of John the Baptist, who announced the coming of a new religious era.

The Hộ Pháp, the Thượng Phẩm and the Thượng Sanh

Behind the painting, facing the Bát Quái Đài, stand the statues of the three highest dignitaries of the Hiệp Thiên Đài: the Hộ Pháp Phạm Công Tắc, the Thượng Phẩm Cao Quỳnh Cư and the Thượng Sanh Cao Hoài Sang. The three stand on three lotus pedestals. A seven-headed serpent, called the Thất Đầu Xà, coils around all three bases. Behind the Hộ Pháp is a very large character Khí.

Mr Good, Mr Evil and the Scales of Justice

At the front, on either side of the entrance, stand the statues of Ông Thiện (Mr Good) and Ông Ác (Mr Evil). Ông Thiện wears armour and a golden helmet, holds a long-handled blade and has a gentle face. Ông Ác also wears armour but has a fierce face and holds an axe and a seal. Wikipedia explains that the two statues follow the story of two princes, one standing for the upright mind, the other for the deluded mind. In the middle of the entrance is the Scales of Justice: a hand reaching out of the clouds holding a balance over the globe of the earth.

VThe three towers of the Great Temple and the statues on its roofs

The Great Temple at the Tây Ninh Holy See is 97.5 metres long and 22 metres wide, and faces west. Construction began in the 1930s, was completed in 1947, and the inauguration was held in early 1955. From the entrance to the place of worship, the temple is divided into three connected parts, called the three towers (đài).

At the end of the Cửu Trùng Đài (Tower of Nine Spheres) stand seven thrones lacquered red and gilded. The highest is for the Giáo Tông (Pope), with dragons carved on its armrests. The next three are for the three Chưởng Pháp (Censor Cardinals), carved with phoenixes. The three below are for the three Đầu Sư (Cardinals), carved with qilin (lân). The book Lược Thuật explains that the twenty-eight dragon pillars of the temple stand for the Twenty-Eight Lunar Mansions attending God.

Statues on the roofs and in the courtyard

Maitreya Buddha riding a tiger

How to recognize: Seated on a lotus on a tiger's back, on the roof of the front

The statue stands on the roof of the Phi Tưởng Đài, just above the Divine Eye of the front. The tiger recalls the year Bính Dần, 1926, the year the religion was founded.

Source: T. L. Thiền Giang, Minh Tâm and Thanh Quang, Lược Thuật Tòa Thánh Tây Ninh (An Outline of the Tây Ninh Holy See, 1963), part II, The Holy See building. Vietnamese Wikipedia, Tòa Thánh Tây Ninh (Tây Ninh Holy See).

The dragon horse on the Nghinh Phong Đài

How to recognize: A dragon horse (Long Mã) running on half a globe

The Nghinh Phong Đài rises above the roof of the Cửu Trùng Đài. Wikipedia records that the dragon horse runs west but turns its head east, meaning that the Way arises in the East, spreads to the West and returns to the East.

Source: Lược Thuật Tòa Thánh Tây Ninh (1963), part III, Inside the Holy See. Vietnamese Wikipedia, Tòa Thánh Tây Ninh (Tây Ninh Holy See).

The three statues on top of the Bát Quái Đài

How to recognize: Three standing statues facing three directions on the roof of the Bát Quái Đài

The book Lược Thuật names the three as Brahma, Siva and Christna Vichnou. The first faces west, standing on a swan (Huyền Nga). The second faces north, treading on a seven-headed serpent. The third faces south, riding a water dragon (Giao Long). The book explains that the three correspond to the three cosmic eras (ba nguơn).

Source: Lược Thuật Tòa Thánh Tây Ninh (1963), part IV, The Bát Quái Đài.

Prince Siddhartha setting out in search of the Way

How to recognize: The prince on a white horse, with an attendant running behind

The statue stands in the Đại Đồng Xã, the great courtyard in front of the Great Temple. Nearby is a Bodhi tree given in 1953 by the Venerable Narada Thera, grown from a cutting of the tree at Bodh Gaya.

Source: Vietnamese Wikipedia, Tòa Thánh Tây Ninh (Tây Ninh Holy See).

VIThe Thiên Bàn: twelve objects and five incense sticks

The altar of the Supreme Being is called the Thiên Bàn. Whether in a temple or at home, it holds twelve objects in a common pattern, which the religion's books liken to the strokes of the Chinese character Chủ (主, lord). At the top is the Holy Image of the Divine Eye. Below it are three rows of offerings.

The sources differ on whether the vase of flowers and the plate of fruit go on the left or the right, and not every source says whether this is counted from the worshipper or from the altar. The diagram therefore shows only which objects are in the middle and which are on the sides.

The religion's books advise setting up the Thiên Bàn in a pure place, preferably in the middle of the house, and placing it high. Bước Đầu Học Đạo also describes the Thượng Tượng ceremony, the installation of the Holy Image when a family first sets up its Thiên Bàn.

VIIThe Holy Mother temples

Alongside the Supreme Being, Caodaists worship Đức Phật Mẫu, the Holy Mother, also called Diêu Trì Kim Mẫu (the Golden Mother of the Jasper Pool), in separate buildings called Holy Mother temples (Điện Thờ Phật Mẫu). According to 2020 figures cited in an article in the journal Religious Studies Review (Nghiên cứu Tôn giáo), the Cao Đài Holy Assembly of the Tây Ninh Holy See alone has 387 temples and 145 Holy Mother temples. When bowing, followers invoke Diêu Trì Kim Mẫu, the Nine Immortal Ladies (Cửu Vị Tiên Nương) and the saints of the White Cloud Lodge. The offerings are flowers, wine and tea.

At the Tây Ninh Holy See, the Báo Ân Từ serves for the time being as the place where the Holy Mother is worshipped. The book by Trần Văn Rạng records that in the year Nhâm Thìn, 1952, when the Báo Ân Từ was being repaired, the Hộ Pháp directed the builders to model the following statues.

The diagram follows the order given in the book, not a survey made on site. The book describes this scene after the story of Emperor Wu of Han (Hớn Võ Đế) invoking the Holy Mother on the night of the full moon of the eighth lunar month.

The book also records that the Hội Yến Diêu Trì Cung ceremony may be held only at the Holy See. The 1948 archive photo earlier on this page shows the Hộ Pháp at one of the feasts of Diêu Trì Kim Mẫu, according to the museum's caption.

VIIILocal temples and the Holy Assemblies

Caodaism was founded in 1926 and from the 1930s divided into several Holy Assemblies. According to a book published in 2022 by the Government Committee for Religious Affairs, Caodaism has 10 Holy Assemblies and 1 school of practice, with more than 1.2 million followers as of the end of 2021. That book says that Caodaism worships the Divine Eye. The charters of the individual Holy Assemblies show differences in form: a globe or a picture, statues of the holy figures or only name tablets, and one Holy Assembly uses a Holy Image of its own.

Cao Đài Holy Assembly of the Tây Ninh Holy See

The Holy Assembly with the most followers. Wikipedia records that local temples worship the Holy Image of the Divine Eye, which is a picture, while the large Globe is reserved for the Holy See. The Đa Phước temple in Đà Lạt was rebuilt from 2005 on one of the Holy See's temple models, and its front also has two tall towers, as the photo shows.

Source: Vietnamese Wikipedia, Tòa Thánh Tây Ninh (Tây Ninh Holy See). Vietnamese Wikipedia, Thánh thất Đa Phước (Đa Phước temple). Nguyễn Thanh Xuân, Công nhận các tổ chức Cao Đài (The recognition of Cao Đài organizations), Religious Studies Review (Nghiên cứu Tôn giáo), no. 2, 2025.

Some temples in southern Vietnam, seen in photos

Photos taken inside the temples of Saigon, Cái Bè, Mỹ Tho and Tân Châu show the same arrangement: a pediment with statues of the holy figures above, a blue curtain, and inside it the Thiên Bàn with a framed Holy Image of the Divine Eye. The library has not verified which Holy Assembly each of these temples belongs to, so it describes them only from the photos.

Source: Vietnamese Wikipedia, Tòa Thánh Tây Ninh (Tây Ninh Holy See).

Truyền Giáo Cao Đài Holy Assembly

Its centre is Trung Hưng Bửu Tòa in Đà Nẵng. Photos inside Trung Hưng Bửu Tòa show a bright, plain sanctuary: at the far end a blue Globe with the Divine Eye, above it a board reading Vạn Giáo Nhất Lý (all religions share one principle), and no pediment of statues as at Tây Ninh. Hội An has two temples, one belonging to the Truyền Giáo Holy Assembly, the other to the Tây Ninh Holy See. The city's inventory record says that Caodaism in Hội An worships the Divine Eye as the symbol of the Supreme Being, and explains in general that on the Globe the Divine Eye is drawn just above the Pole Star. The record does not describe the altar of each temple separately.

Source: Nguyễn Thanh Xuân, Công nhận các tổ chức Cao Đài (The recognition of Cao Đài organizations), Religious Studies Review (Nghiên cứu Tôn giáo), no. 2, 2025. Hội An Monuments Management Office, Phiếu kiểm kê bước đầu về đạo Cao Đài ở Hội An (Preliminary inventory record on Caodaism in Hội An), 2014.

IXWhat the library is not sure of

XPhotos and licences

Every photo on this page comes from Wikimedia Commons, under Public domain, CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA licences. Authors and licences are given exactly as on the original file pages, read on 07/10/2026. The photos have only been reduced in size, with no change to their content. Click the name of a photo to go to its original file page. If you are an author and see an incorrect credit, please let the library know so it can be corrected.

XISources

The pages above were read in October 2026. If a page has changed its address, please let the library know so it can be updated.

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