Cao Dai

**Cao Dai** is a syncretic religion
started in the early 1900s in Vietnam. It operates under the
assumption that there is one God, and various religions have been
given or uncovered parts of the truth at various times in history,
but those were for a specific time and culture. But now begins an epoch when people can realize that there should be one universal
understanding of religion, and understanding that it can work
together for a common goal. Cao dai as a religion doesn't seek to convert people to their own religion, but rather help other religions see
themselves in a light that is not mutually exclusive with eachother. Cao dai the figure is a kind of syncretist figure that lumps together various understandings of divinity, including yahweh and the jade emperor. And so they see these different religions as all trailing back to the same divine source.

While cao dai does not seem to be a major source of inspiration for megaten, its combination of eastern and western ideas has a lot of parallels with the megaten cosmology. And so it is useful for the sake of comparison.

## God

**Tao**. In the beginning, there was
nothing before the creation of the material universe but one
principle, or monad. This monad is Tao, or the “primordial ether.” (In megaten terms this bears resemblance to the great will)

**God**. From the tao emerged God, or
cao dai. God divided itself into two parts, one to control Yang, and
one lesser one called the mother goddess or mother buddha to control
yin. Yang here is
associated with spirit and infinite light, and yin with matter. So
the mother goddess is considered a form of mother earth and
identified with the physical universe. (Note the similarity to mem aleph). But its also pointed out that in the end, god is one and
genderless, everything being derived from the supreme principle. But limited beings by their nature see division, and so
God appears as division.

God divided its spirit into everything
in existence. Not only people and animals, but even rocks. Implying
that everything in reality has mind in it. Everything in existence has
both yin and yang aspects other than God, who is all yang, or
infinite light, lacking corruption. But limited things enfleshed in
matter were necessary to make a world order to create people that
could return to him. Note that “God” is not quite implied to be
all powerful. He was a product of the tao, not the other way around.
Although some formats talk about the tao as his true essence. God also refers to special saintly figures who have existed in history as himself. Showing that everything is derived from the one principle, and considered part of it.

This also ties to how in megaten, special beings can be considered faces of God.
Note
its not clear if only the male god aspect that corresponds to the
female one is limited, or god in general is. God in the absolute sense is also
compared with nirvana, and called the great emptiness lacking all
qualities. So its possible that cao dai in the manifest sense is not
then all of god, which the tao is associated with, but an emanation. Note also that the mother goddess despite being
good controls yin, which is implied to be negative or corrupt. But
which the mixture of was necessary to create the world. (Which of
course ties to chaotic elements seen as bad in game relating to mem
aleph, the earthly side.) Note also that mem aleph is represented
looking like a Buddha pose statue, which can tie to the title mother
buddha. Obviously Cao Dai and the mother buddha are working in unison whereas in megaten yhvh and mem aleph are not.

## Cosmology

**The cosmology** is similar to
buddhism, except that instead of just heavens over the one earth
(horizontally at least, since buddhism implies multiple world
systems.) there are several planets, with heavens above them, and a
highest heaven. You have actually two separate goals. One being
creating peace on earth and acting morally, and the other being
liberation of yourself across lifetimes. And you are ultimately released once you ascend
past the highest heaven to nirvana, which requires both extremely
high karma and release from clinging to negative mentalities. Once

you enter nirvana you merge and become one with God.

An interesting thing about cao dai is the humility of God. God is emphasized as being
very humble. And has a long list of names that combine titles of low
religious ranks that implies that he exists and thinks of himself as
in some sense a servant for the benefit of all life rather than the
other way around. And he is often noted as revealing messages tying
him to individuals, talking about how him and them are one, and they
should understand this relation in order to more properly finally
re-unite. Since all life is built from his spirit, and each person is
said to have two aspects to their soul. The aspect that is part of
God, and the fallible individual aspect. So he does come off like a
moderator of the tao for the benefit of the collective.

This is something
that seems to work into the themes of smt at times. Since of course
II when you meet god when on law he acts arrogant and separate from
you. And this is implied to be a problem. And again, the added scene
of II shows zayin realizing that everything is part of God.
emphasizing that the proper functioning of God is not one of
arrogance. In IV when you fight ancient of days it talks about how
the dispensation of the universe is collective. Which indirectly ties
into the humility of God aspect, since in that case, the language
implies that its placing the needs of the collective above itself,
and acting as their messenger or moderator.
Cao dai being a modern religion even
ties yin and yang to modern science, implying that within a universe
yang is positive energy and yin is negative energy, comprising
everything that exists.

The founder of cao dai was originally
going to use a new cross design as a symbol before getting a “vision”
of the divine eyeball. So as a new syncretist religion which has
eastern elements, and karma, but places a seemingly non all powerful analogue to yahweh at its head, and wants to create world peace on every
world before ultimately merging them with god, it parralels a lot of
aspects of smt cosmology and law especially closely. Its also more
egalitarian (though not perfect) than some religious hierarchies,
since it has a large hierarchy of priests and bishops and a pope
based off of a combination of the catholic church and a government,
but all positions other than the highest two individuals, the pope
and some other pope equivalent are open to either sex.