Its pantheon of saints includes such diverse figures as the Buddha, Confucius, Jesus Christ, Mu h ammad, Pericles, Julius Caesar, Joan of Arc, Victor Hugo, and Sun Yat-sen. In Cao Dai, God is represented as an eye in a triangle, a symbol that appears on the facades of the sect's temples. The religion's organization is patterned after that of Roman Catholicism, with a pope, cardinals, and archbishops.
Worship involves elaborate rituals and festivals.
In 1919 Ngo Van Chieu, an administrator for the French in Indochina, received a communication from the supreme deity during a table-moving s ance. Chieu became the prophet of the new religion, which was formally established in 1926. A Cao Dai army was established in 1943 during the Japanese occupation of Indochina. In 1955-56 Diem disbanded the Cao Dai army and forced the sect's pope, Pham Cong Tac, into exile. After the communist takeover in 1975, Cao Dai was reportedly repressed by the government.