This page records how a Caodaist offers incense before the altar of the Supreme Being (Thiên Bàn), following books compiled by members of the faith, most of them from the Tây Ninh Holy See. The library's Caodai shrine follows what is written below: the censer always receives the full five sticks and the visitor does not choose another number. It is a description for learning, not a ceremony.
IAlways The Full Five Sticks
Caodaism does not leave the number to the worshipper. The introduction to the prayer book Kinh Thiên Đạo và Thế Đạo, as copied in Bước Đầu Học Đạo, says: when worshipping the Master, one must burn the full five sticks of incense.
A second reading appears in Quách Văn Hòa's commentary: the five sticks stand for five kinds of fragrance in a person's practice, namely precepts, concentration, wisdom, liberation, and the knowledge and vision of liberation. Hộ Pháp himself said he left the scholars free to explain, while he understood the five as the Five Energies. The library records both and does not choose for the faithful.
At the library's Caodai shrine, each offering of five sticks counts as one sincere visit.
IIThree Inside First, Then Two Outside
IIIThe Five Vows And Where Each Icon Comes From
Caodaists close each ceremony with the five lines of Ngũ Nguyện, the Five Vows. They look to shared concerns: the Way, all beings, pardon, peace and the Holy House. At a real altar the five are read in one breath. The library's shrine lets you choose one line to stay with, then invites you to read all five. The Vietnamese text follows Giải Nghĩa Kinh Thiên Đạo và Thế Đạo and was checked against two other sources from within the faith. The English lines are the library's own rendering.
The three coloured flag of the Way. Hoằng khai means to open and spread everywhere. The flag joins yellow, blue and red, for Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism, and states the aim of the Great Way: the Three Teachings return to one source. The flag flown at the Tây Ninh Holy See also carries the Divine Eye and the three ritual emblems. The icon shows only the three bands and does not draw the Divine Eye.
An object of the faith. Pairing the flag with this vow is the library's choice · Source: Khai Đạo Phạm Tấn Đãi, on the inner and outer meaning of the Great Temple. Hiền Tài Nguyễn Văn Hồng, Giải Nghĩa Kinh Thiên Đạo và Thế Đạo, entry Ngũ Nguyện. English Wikipedia, Caodaism (the three colours)The Prajna boat (thuyền Bát Nhã). Phổ độ means to save widely. Trần Văn Rạng writes that the Prajna boat is the visible form of the three Palaces of the faith, with a helmsman, bow, stern, hull and twelve rowers. In Caodaism the boat is the image of carrying people across the sea of suffering. The icon simplifies it to a boat with oars.
An object and image of the faith. Pairing it with this vow is the library's choice · Source: Trần Văn Rạng, Giáo Dục Văn Hóa trong Đạo Cao Đài. Nguyễn Văn Hồng, Giải Nghĩa Kinh Thiên Đạo và Thế Đạo, entry Ngũ NguyệnThe Prayer of Repentance (Kinh Sám Hối). Xá tội means to pardon faults. The Prayer of Repentance is recited to own one's faults and vow to change. The commentary records that the Sacerdotal Council teaches it be recited on the first and fifteenth days of the lunar month. The icon is an open prayer book.
A scripture of the faith. The book icon is drawn by the library · Source: Quách Văn Hòa, Chú Giải Kinh Sám Hối. Nguyễn Văn Hồng, Giải Nghĩa Kinh Thiên Đạo và Thế Đạo, entry Ngũ NguyệnThe tablet in the Three Saints painting. In the entrance hall of the Tây Ninh Holy See a painting shows three Saints writing on a tablet. According to Phạm Tấn Đãi, what they write is Love and Justice. The icon shows only the tablet, the brush and the quill. It does not portray the three figures and does not copy the words on the tablet.
An object in the Holy See. Pairing it with this vow is the library's choice · Source: Khai Đạo Phạm Tấn Đãi, on the inner and outer meaning of the Great Temple. Nguyễn Văn Hồng, Giải Nghĩa Kinh Thiên Đạo và Thế Đạo, entry Ngũ NguyệnA temple front with its bell and drum towers. A Thánh Thất is the house where a local congregation worships the Supreme Being. The front of the Holy See, and of temples built on its plan, has two tall towers: the White Jade Bell Tower (Bạch Ngọc Chung Đài) and the Thunder Drum Tower (Lôi Âm Cổ Đài). The commentary widens the word Thánh Thất to the whole universe and all beings.
Architecture of the faith · Source: Khai Đạo Phạm Tấn Đãi, on the inner and outer meaning of the Great Temple. Nguyễn Văn Hồng, Giải Nghĩa Kinh Thiên Đạo và Thế Đạo, entry Ngũ NguyệnThe library does not draw the Divine Eye (Thiên Nhãn) as a button. The Divine Eye is the sacred image through which the Supreme Being is worshipped, set at the highest place of the altar. The library has not read any text of the Sacerdotal Council on using the Divine Eye as decoration, so it chooses restraint: all five icons are objects and architecture.
IVAfter The Offering
So at the Caodai shrine, once the incense has risen, the library invites you to read all five vows with a sincere heart and to stay longer with the one you chose. That invitation is the library's own. At a real altar the Five Vows come after the prayers, and the worshipper then bows three times with four nods in each bow.
Bước Đầu Học Đạo records the words of the Supreme Being: the four daily ceremonies are of great benefit to you, my children, not of any benefit to the Master. The sources the library has read do not say whether a person worshipping alone reads silently or aloud.
VWhat The Library Is Not Sure Of
Are you a Caodaist and see something wrong? Please send a correction with its source to thayungkhiem@gmail.com. The library will fix it and credit you.
VISources
Sources read on 5 October 2026. Van Dao Duong describes. It does not replace a real rite and does not represent any Caodai church or temple.
Go to the Caodai shrine to offer incense
?Quick Questions
How many incense sticks do Caodaists offer
Always five. The inner row of three is the Three Powers: Heaven, Earth and Humanity. Two more in the outer row make five, the Five Energies.
In what order are the five sticks placed
The first in the centre, the second toward the right side of the altar, the third toward the left side of the altar, then the fourth and fifth in the outer row. All five should be visible from the front.
What are the Five Vows
Five lines read at the end of each ceremony: may the Great Way spread wide, may all beings be saved, may the disciple be pardoned, may all under Heaven have peace, may the Holy House be safe. They are followed by three bows with four nods each.
Why does the Caodai shrine not let me choose the number
Because the books of the faith say the full five must be burned. The library keeps that number. Each offering counts as one sincere visit.
Why is the Divine Eye not among the buttons
The Divine Eye is the sacred image through which the Supreme Being is worshipped. The library does not use a sacred image as a button, so the five icons are objects and architecture of the faith.