My introduction to the Cao Đại faith, probably like a lot of others from the Euro-American world came through the book The Quiet American written in 1955 by Englishman Graham Greene.
“A Pope and female cardinals. Prophecy by planchette. Saint Victor Hugo. Christ and Buddha looking down from the roof of the Cathedral on a Walt Disney fantasia of the East, dragons and snakes in technicolour.”
CAO ĐẠI
Đại Đạo Tam Kỳ Phổ Độ – Great Way of the Third Time of Redemption – is the official name for the Cao Đại religion which began in Vietnam in 1925. Today, numbers run from almost 4.5 million to over 6 million followers of the faith live in Vietnam with thousands of other adherents among the Vietnamese diaspora in North America, Europe and Australia.
The religion represents a syncretic approach encompassing the lessons found in many religions. Another example would include the Unitarian Universalists, one among several other faiths. While other religions incorporate some degree of syncretism into their thought and practices – here as one example, the Catholic faith has successfully morphed elements of local cultures into the basics of Catholicism – only a few religions blend other religions as much as Cao Đại.
Ngô Văn Chiêu
Cao Đại demonstrates a faith developing from within unsettling political conditions, in this case, the occupation of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos by France from 1887 until 1954 when France finally left Southeast Asia behind. Ngô Văn Chiêu commonly gets the nod as the founder of the movement. Born in 1878 in Binh Tay area of Saigon’s Chinatown – Cho Lon, he was a member of an impoverished mandarin branch of the Nguyen dynasty who ruled – under French supervision – from Hue. His family had been a part of the Vietnamese literati. His grandfather served at the imperial court at Hue in high Confucian tradition, but the family fled the chaos brought about by the French. After this escape the family fell on hard times.
Ngô Văn Chiêu attended and graduated from the Collège Chasseloup-Laubat, a school initially offering a three-year program for “young Annamites from good families” aiming “to provide interpreters and clerks for government offices, machinists for the Roads and Bridges Department, and employees for the Cadastre and Telegraph Office.” While growing up, economic circumstances meant he had to live with his aunt. His aunt married a wealthy Chinese herbalist who encouraged the young boy’s fascination with Taoist-based mediumship. With this background and a mastery of French, Ngô Văn Chiêu could read the works of French Spiritists, including the medium Flammarion, as early as 1902.
SPIRITS MANIFEST
His after-work activities included attendance upon the spirit voices summoned by spirit mediums in the Taoist-Shamanistic tradition. Sometimes these trance sessions became led by women and sometimes by young children prized for their spiritual innocence. Mediums would reveal the voices of spirits, or the Cau Co or ‘spirit pen’ would be raised to heaven and from its tip, the ink would reveal heaven’s will. Ngô Văn Chiêu’s enthusiasm for spiritism increased as he first sought remedies, and later solace, for his dying mother. During these communications, he encountered traditional Chinese deities including the great red-face demon slayer Guan di Gong.
Working first with the Immigration Service in Saigon – 1899, he later gained appointment as Chief of the Phú Quốc district, an island off the southern coast of Cochinchina and Cambodia in 1902. On the island, Ngô Văn Chiêu had plenty of time to himself and further his interest in fantasy stories and necromancy. While on the island, a spirit called Cao Đại appeared in 1920 directing him to become a vegetarian and revealing its sign to him – an eye, surrounded by rays. His spiritual journey reached a high point when the Divine Eye (or Thien Nhan), came to him in a vision sometime during April 1921. From that point on, the spirit of Cao Đại began to dominate this humble administrator’s life.
RETURN TO SAIGON
In 1924 French authorities posted Ngo Minh Chieu back to Saigon. on Chiêu’s return, he shared his revelations with a group of educated Vietnamese civil servants eventually known as the Pho Loan group. They were inspired in 1923, by the discovery of one of Victor Hugo’s red séance notebooks. This book appeared in the Saigon newspaper L’Écho Annamite.
Victor Hugo lived in exile in 1853 on the island of Jersey where he learned of typtography, a technique beginning from two New York girls in 1848 to communicate with spirits by way rapping sounds. There method, known as ‘table turning” involved a three-legged table allowing it to tip one way or another enabling the table feet to tap answers to questions put to the spirits.
Coming across the Atlantic, the craze for turning tables took off in Paris and a fellow novelist, Delphine de Girardin educated Hugo in the technique. For the next two years, Hugo and his family conducted scores of séances between 1853 and 1855. During these encounters, they spoke with the spirits of Jesus, Dante, Shakespeare, Moses, Molière, Racine, and other illustrious dead persons. They also met the “living phantasm” of the Emperor Napoleon III, who apologized for redirecting France’s Second Republic into a Second Empire. Hugo recorded the séances in four red notebooks, three of which became subsequently lost.
table tipping
Ngô Văn Chiêu and the Pho Loan group conducted séances together. The Pho Loan group seem to have originally searched for poetic inspiration, but what they found was something quite different. This group came together in 1925 at a time when many French-language newspapers in Saigon were carrying stories regarding trends in European spiritism. The Pho Loan group were not using ancient Chinese methods of mediumship but European and American methods of spirit communication, in particular table-tipping. This process involves a table that has one leg purposefully uneven. As the members of the seance place their hands on the table, the shortened leg taps out a morse-code style message, a very cumbersome system of divination.
ouija spirits
Turning away from table-turning in favor of an instrument called the corbeille à bec, messages transmitted more quickly. The corbeille à bec – a version of a planchette, with roots in the Chinese tradition of fuji-spirit writing – is an upturned basket held by a number of mediums. The stem extends out from the basket tipped with a crayon held over paper. Other mediums stand taking down the messages as revealed. It is a very communal way of receiving messages, and perhaps, one less inclined to individual manipulation.
Eventually these spirit voices introduced to the group to a profound, philosophical voice revealing himself under the pseudonym of AĂÂ. These, the first three letters of the Romanized Vietnamese alphabet demarcated by additional diacritical marks. The technique was used during séances Ngô Văn Chiêu performed where he received many revelations from God forming this religion. Cao Đại’s holy scripture, Thánh Ngôn Hiệp Tuyển, is composed of all the messages received using the corbeille à bec. Through the technique, the group received messages from many spirits, not all of them Eastern. Among the messages were those from Lao-Tzu, the Chinese poet Li Po, the female Bodhisattva Quan Am, but also Joan of Arc, Pasteur, Descartes, Lenin, and Victor Hugo.
Le Van Trung
Le Van Trung also attended the Collège Chasseloup-Laubat, graduating six years before Ngô Văn Chiêu. In 1905, he worked as a contractor on the railways. Very successful in his new job, Trung became elected to the Senate of Indochina and later the General Advisory Board of Indochina. However, in 1920, he suffered severe financial setbacks going bankrupt in 1924. Depressed, he became an opium addict.’
After 1924, with his life spiraling downwards, a cousin invited Le Van Trung into a Minh Ly group where seances were held. These Minh groups were semi-secret associations, syncretic in their nature receiving prophetic and political messages from the spirit world. At a seance, the Chinese Tang Dynasty poet Li Po explained to Le Van Trung his religious destiny. Hearing this he immediately reformed his life. He took up vegetarianism, his eyesight improved, and he broke his opium habit.
Cao Đại begins
On Christmas eve 1925 the Pho Loan group met to hear AĂÂ reveal the following message:
“Be joyful tonight on this anniversary of my appearance to teach the religion in the West. Your allegiance brings much happiness to me… Soon you must help me establish the religion. Have you seen my humility? Imitate me so that you may genuinely claim to be religious men.”
Soon AĂÂ would reveal himself as Ngoc Hoang Thuong De Viet Cao Đại Giao Dao Nam Phuong. It seemed obvious the Pho Loan members and Ngô Văn Chiêu were worshipping the same Supreme Being. Caodaist sources suggest on 7 January 1926, the Pho Loan received a message instructing them to visit Le Van Trung. In Saigon, the French-speaking administrative class was a small world. A nephew of Le Van Trung was a follower of Ngô Văn Chiêu.
Upon Lê Văn Trung ‘s agreement, a séance organized. According to Caodaist history books, Trung gained a request from Duc Cao Đại – God the Father – to join the Pho Loan in the establishment of the new religion. Lê Văn Trung dedicated himself full-time to the new religion. At this time both parties went to meet Ngo Minh Chieu and his disciples.
The New Faith Grows
Throughout 1926, the new faith continued to grow. On 7 October 1926, acting upon seance instructions, the first adepts of Caodaism presented a petition to the French authorities informing them officially of the new faith. There were 247 signatures on the petition, however Ngô Văn Chiêu’s name was not one of them.
As Caodaism was developing strongly, Ngô Văn Chiêu gave up the position as a leader of this religion. In Can Tho, he founded a Caodaist sect called Cao Đại Chieu Minh Tam Thanh Vo Vi. As an intensely reserved man, Chiêu had no intention of becoming involved with a potentially mass movement. He preferred instead to guide a small band of enthusiastic followers. Ngô Văn Chiêu died in Can Tho in 1933.
The petition offered to the French stated the present world misery came from the disunity existing between religions. Caodaism set out to perfect the Tam Giao of Vietnam. Tam Giao means ‘three teachings’, Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism. This statement is also a metaphor for the bringing into balance of the religions of the world. As Caodaism declared its syncretistic intentions, the syncretism not only aimed at Eastern faiths but saw a way to bring the great traditions of the West to share in a universal acceptance of the religious development of the world. A pantheon of Western religious figures headed by Jesus became part of the Caodaist pantheon. Messages were received by many of them including, most prominently, one French spiritualist better known for his literary rather than his religious life, Victor Hugo.
Trung takes up the reins before giving way to Phạm Công Tắc
With the departure of Ngô Văn Chiêu, Caodaism organized under the leadership of Lê Văn Trung. With his good diplomatic and organizational skills, he became one of the founders of Caodaism. Trung served as the chief of Cửu Trùng Ðài – the executive body of Caodaism. He died in the Tây Ninh Holy See in 1934.
Phạm Công Tắc, born in 1893 to a Catholic family in Tây Ninh, also studied at Collège Chasseloup-Laubat College. Upon graduation, Tắc joined the Tax Service in 1910. Later, after a transfer to Phnom Penh, Cambodia, he left the Tax Service to join the Dong Du movement. After his conversion, he cooperated with Cao Quynh Cu to found a group of Caodaism called Cao Pham. With the establishment of Caodaism, he became the chief of Hiep Thien Dai – the legislative body of Caodaism.
Basics
The laws of the new religion through the effort of those taking part in the séances quickly took shape. Cao Đại statues read as writer Paul La Farge notes, “Although nominally composed by spirits, the Caodaist statues read as if they were the work of a group of civil servants who combined a Confucian love of authority with a French relish for bureaucratic complication.”
Caodaism followers believe makes up the third phase of religion, unifying the first two phases: polytheistic religions, like Buddhism, and monotheistic, such as Christianity. As a result, the religion’s symbolism and practices are varied. Caodaists believe in reincarnation, for example, with the only way to reach heaven being to become a Buddha. But Caodaism also leans heavily on Catholicism. There are several levels of saints that Caodaists can pray to, including Jesus Christ, the prophet Muhammad, Joan of Arc and the writers Victor Hugo and William Shakespeare.
Also, in Cao Đại, one can retain one’s old religion, since Cao Đại includes all religions under one umbrella.
Hierarchy of Cao Đại
The religion stands divided into three branches. First is the Bát Quái Ðài, presiding spirits headed by the Taoist Chinese poet Li Po who lived from 701 until 762. Li Po – also known as Li Bat – acts as the Cao Đại Spiritual Pope. Second is the administrative section, the Cửu Trùng Ðài including the Pope – based in the Holy See at Tây Ninh, six cardinals, thirty-six archbishops, seventy-two bishops, three thousand priests with other posts beneath. Last, there is the Hiệp Thiên Ðài consisting of a group of mediums responsible for further discerning of the laws of the church. A very important factor in the popularity of Cao Đại was the church acted independently of the Indochinese government.
The outfits worn by the clergy are distinctive. The Pope wears a white dress embroidered with the “Bat Quai”, (the 8 trigrams). The other dignitaries divide into three branches wearing different colored outfits. The “Thai Thanh” represents the branch of Buddhism and wear yellow clothes, while the “Thuong Thanh”, Taoists dressed in blue and the Confucian “Ngoc Thanh” in red. In the three branches there are an unlimited number of student priests. Like the faithful, they dress in white. A women’s college has its own dignitaries led by a female cardinal. She has the same duties and powers as her male counterparts. So, she does has authority over male priests, but she is not eligible to occupy the title of Pope.
Growth Problems
In just a short time, the Cao Đại faith grew to an estimated half million to over one million believers by the early 1930s or almost a quarter of the population of South Vietnam. One big problem became spirits finding it too easy to interact with different followers. There were ten different sects of Cao Đại after only one decade with each sect led by a charismatic leader claiming overall leadership based upon spiritual selection. Then in 1934, Trung, the Acting Pope of the faith died.
With Trung’s death, Phạm Công Tắc, leader of the Hiep Thien Dai became the leader of Caodaism. He thus managed both its executive and legislative bodies simultaneously. He also began to move Cao Đại into the political arena. Forming a militia with close ties to the Japanese looking towards the possibility of independence following World War II In 1940, Tắc found himself exiled to Madagascar for the war’s duration by the Vichy French government.
The Cao Đại tended to pick the wrong political side after the 1930s. They were pro-Japanese in World War II. It was during the war when the Cao Đại established their own separate army acting to defend their members, but an organization which continued to act in the political situations both of the war and after – the Cao Đại army plays a major role in Greene’s The Quiet American.
Post War
In 1946, Tắc returned to the Tây Ninh Holy See regaining his previous position. During the Indochinese conflict, the Cao Đại first joined the Viet Minh front before turning to support the French army. In 1954, the peace agreements signed in Geneva put an end to this ambiguous situation, but the religious armed groups remained active.
In 1956, the President of the new Vietnam – south, Ngö Dinh Diem, decided to break the power of the private militias forcibly integrating them into the national army, including that of the Cao Đại . Tắc suffered exile again, this time to Phnom Penh, Cambodia where he died in 1959.
Tắc’s crime was for lack of support for the pro-Catholic Ngö Dinh Diem’s government. Finally, after Tắc’s exile, the other high Cao Đại dignitaries committed themselves to returning to activities strictly religious, rendering to Cao-Dai his traditional serenity.
After the Fall
With the fall of South Vietnam in 1975, many followers became part of the first refugees to flee the country. Cao Đại leaders were seen by the communist government as potential troublemakers and many who stayed in Vietnam spent years in the infamous re-education camps.
Vietnam has relaxed its suppression of religions within the last 20 years. But in order to climb up the Caodaism hierarchy, one must receive approval from the government. The use of séances is outlawed making it impossible to select a Pope. Popes – and other high members of the Cửu Trùng Ðài – are selected with the use of the corbeille à bec, a practice not allowed by the political powers that are. Most high positions remain unfilled today. A management committee has been appointed by the communist government, but the majority of the committee are more faithful to the communists than to the church.
General Beliefs
On a philosophical level, Cao Đại teaches contempt for honors, wealth, luxury, and servitude linked to the material. Instead, the faith advocates the search for tranquility of the soul. On a religious level, Cao Đại advocates the worship of God, the Father of all, and the veneration of the Superior Spirits. The faith does admit ancestor worship but forbids meat offerings and votive papers. On a spiritualist level, Cao Đại believes in the survival of the soul and in its evolution through the reincarnations, as well as the posthumous consequences of the regulated by the law of karma. The word Cao Đại comes from the Vietnamese pronunciation of the Chinese characters “Gao” and “Tai” meaning “high tower” or the place in the heavens where the Supreme Being resides.
the divine eye
The Divine Eye is the most important symbol in Cao Đại. The Eye represents God and the ability of God to see all, everywhere at once. The left eye is divine because God is yang with yang on the left. Cao Đại uses concepts from different religions. Yin and yang from the Taoism. Taoism is a religion promoting harmony or union with nature, the pursuit of spiritual immortality and self-development. The Divine Eye symbol at local Cao Đại temples have 16 rays of light radiating from it. There are nine radiating upwards representing the nine levels of heaven. Another seven radiating downwards representing seven emotions a disciple must control. Within Cao Đại temp les and literature, The Divine Eye is widely displayed. The Divine Eye was directly revealed during one of Ngô Văn Chiêu’s séances.
cosmologies blend
The cosmology of Cao Đại is complicated by attempting to unite the circular version of time found in Hindu and Buddhist thinking with the linear path found in Judaism, Christianity and Islam. There are 72 planets of which the earth is number 68. Each person works their way towards lower number planets – “superior” – by accumulating good actions. While a linear path is laid out, the circular path – reincarnation – allows different levels to be attained. Short cuts can be made through meditation, taking positions within the earthly hierarchy and through charity works.
Paradise is not seen as eternal bliss, but a vast bureaucracy aimed at managing the cosmos. One who attains the level of elevated souls use their talents to help other lesser souls. Cao Đại is thought to be millenarian in thought. There is to be a meeting of souls at some future date by Buddha – Maitreya, where believers spreading the faith of Cao Đại will be elevated.
Cao Đại also divides the world into a period of three covenants. The first was at the time of Moses with the second at the times of Christ and Mohammed. The third covenant started with the formation of Cao Đại in 1926. The third amnesty is scheduled to last for 700,000 years. A brief History and Philosophy – The Sacerdotal Council of Caodaism
Messages Delivered
There were lots of messages delivered by a host of different spirits. Victor Hugo often. A symbol of the mystical pursuit, he also represents a symbol of justice and high French culture. In one 1933 instance, Hugo predicts Tây Ninh will become another Lourdes. Jeanne D’Arc sometimes addresses the faithful while Louis Pasteur talks of the health benefits of vegetarianism and Chinese gods Guan Ti Gong and Li Po help guide the administration. Li Po, as Spiritual Pope of Caodaism revealed to Phạm Công Tắc both the mystical and engineering processes required for the completion of the Great Divine Temple in Tây Ninh.
Séance communication represented success, but also weakness. Séances held outside of the Great Divine Temple could cause the transmission of messages not wholly acceptable to the hierarchy. This tendency away from organized spiritualism came from long traditions of personal spiritualism in Asia which the new religion found hard to break. In 1936, the decision was made to stop all official seances outside the Holy See.
messages restricted
Of course, the Great Divine Temple and papal residence provided the perfect location to receive messages with the Temple built to divine specifications and charged against evil forces. But another reason for the ban was a growing profusion of messages leading the faithful away from the central organization. The existence of the spirit world is a given, but faith is required to know good messages from bad. Being part of the faithful being able to discern which messages seem or feel true. Cao Đại grants evil spirits the right to deliver erroneous messages in order to test us.
The selected messages are gathered in the Thánh Ngôn Hiệp Tuyển – The Holy Word of Selection. Within the book, the history, philosophy and practices of the faith are laid out.
In the Caodaist Diaspora, because of the communist restrictions, the faithful have to decide in lieu of a functioning hierarchy what Tây Ninh would want if it were operational. Caodaists continue to worship in the various temples of the Holy See, but no official life is possible. Currently Caodaists have the ability to practice esoteric meditation and spirit communication on their own. Outside of the guidance of the hierarchy, such practices for Tay-Ninh aligned Caodaists definitely remain unofficial, and mostly unspoken.
Inside the Great Divine Temple of Tây Ninh
Taking center stage in the Great Divine Temple in Tây Ninh is the Altar to the Supreme Being. Rising from the ground on twelve steps with symbolism taking place on each step and side is the Universal Glove. With a diameter of three meters, three decimeters and three centimeters, the perfect sphere dimensions conveyed via spiritual revelation in 1926. The Divine Eye looks out over the congregation from the center of the Globe.
Below the Universal Globe is the Cao Đại Altar. The altar stands complex in form and meanings. Daily worship includes four services held before either a home or temple altar. A minimum of one service is required at either midnight, 0600, noon or 1800 with a bell rung before the service.
Monthly rituals take place at temples on the 1st and 15th days of each lunar month. These are held at midnight or noon. The faithful come to the temple in their area to attend the ceremony and hear teachings. Other different rituals occur through the year – major and minor with slight differences between the two. The ceremonies and holy days held follow the lunar calendar except for the celebration of the birth of Jesus (Christmas) and Victor Hugo (May 22) – Nguyệt-Tâm Chơn-Nhơn.
metaphors
Nearly every structural and design element in the temple has a metaphorical meaning. From the dragons wrapped around the interior pillars to the number of steps leading to different levels to the building’s overall orientation relate to core beliefs or elements of the various traditions that Cao Đại draws from. One doesn’t need to understand them to appreciate a visit, but it is necessary to acknowledge that this is not some slapdash aesthetic, but rather one reflective of specific and important foundations of the religion.
The temple is a symbol of spiritual harmony blending a host of western and eastern design elements together in a syncretic manner reflecting the religion as a whole. Each corner of the temple reveals deeper layers of spiritual symbolism, from the omnipresent Divine Eye to sacred animal motifs representing strength, rebirth, and longevity. Carvings of sacred animals hold significant spiritual meaning. The dragon symbolizes strength and power; the phoenix, representing rebirth and renewal, while the turtle represents longevity and stability, with all prominently displayed throughout the temple.
A staircase visitors can ascend represents the Nine Fairy Steps representing the path to spiritual enlightenment. Each level reflects a different stage of spiritual growth – the highest level showing an ultimate union with God. This concept ties closely with the Caodaist belief in spiritual progression, where followers aim to achieve higher states of consciousness through moral living and devotion. Worshippers wear robes of different colors signifying their religious allegiances – yellow representing Buddhism, red Confucianism, and blue for Taoism.
Complex of the Holy See and the Temple
The Holy See complex consists of the central Great Divine Temple, administrative offices, residences for high officials and adepts working on the grounds, and other major facilities. It covers an area of approximately 1 square kilometer with a total of twelve entrances. The front of the temple features two 27-meter-tall towers on either side. On the left is a bell tower while the right is a drum tower. Each tower has six floors whose heights are unequal. The bottom three floors are connected by a structure spanning the space between the towers. The ground floor immediately behind the main entrance is divided into three spaces with the main hall in the middle, and the right and left sides serving as entry spaces for men and for women, respectively.
The middle part of the temple is a long space divided into nine levels from low to high, corresponding to the nine ranks in the Cao Đài spiritual hierarchy. The fifth level is the area for bishops. The last part of the Great Divine Temple consists of a high octagonal-shaped tower. In Caodaist tradition, this is the place of Đức chí Tôn (Jade Emperor), Saints, Buddha, and Fairies. Here sits considered the soul of the temple. The floor of the main altar is a twelve-tiered octagonal platform. In the center, on the highest level, the large Globe with a 3.3-meter diameter representing the Jade Emperor’s universe. The ball bears a large Divine Eye symbol. The Great Divine Temple is the only place that has the Globe, with other Cao Đại temples not allowed to include one.
In the Diaspora
Any local area with more than 500 believers is authorized to establish a Parish with a temple led by a dignitary. Parishes can establish only with the permission and authority of the Pope. But there have been no popes for years. Since the religion began different sects of the faith existed with up to 30 at one point. Several of the sects have broken away from the Tây Ninh Holy See.
Figures of about four million followers follow the Cao Đài faith. Of those between 13,000 to 15,000 live outside Vietnam like the US, Australia and Cambodia. Followers in Cambodia have been present since the beginning of the religion and they were punished for it during the long years of Pol Pot. For American Caodaists, religion became a core component in maintaining an ethnic connection with their Vietnamese counterparts. The religion’s nationalist teachings modified as they lost their homeland through the exile experience.
american presence
The Cao Đài slowly revived their religious presence with the construction of many temples across the U.S, most notably California, but also Texas. Hosting nine Cao Đài temples, California is home to 90% of the Caodaists in the country, with 1350 followers in 2010. Most follow Tây Ninh Caodaism reflected in the newly built temples, but two are non-denominational though led by Tây Ninh Caodaists – Anaheim and Pomona temples. The Vietnamese Cao Đài diaspora in the USA also continue the veneration of the Mother Goddess, like their Cambodian counterparts. Altars dedicated to her located in a couple of different California buildings.
Even here in Portland, Oregon, there is a small Cao Đài church sitting far out on the east side along Division Street. Does that mean there are at least 500 believers here? The front of the church resembles a very small version of Tây Ninh’s Great Divine Temple. Portland maintains a good-sized population of Vietnamese. Based on church sizes, the Buddhist and Catholic religions appear to much better represented.
BACK TO GREENE
The Quiet American centers on a series of terrorist bombings where a military general backed by the United States became implicated. The novel’s narrator ,British journalist Thomas Fowler, falls in love with a Vietnamese woman, Phuong. Fowler meets a young American intelligence officer, Alden Pyle. Pyle becomes enamored with Fowler’s love interest. Greene – through Fowler – portrays Pyle as wholly uninitiated in foreign affairs. Fowler often blasts Pyle for supporting a “Third Force”—an alternative to Western and Soviet control.
Many of the events written about in The Quiet American did take place – the bomb explosion which turned Fowler against Pyle; the Cao Đài militia fighting with the French, but always keeping their bets hedged; there was a General Thế whom Americans on the scene saw as a possible for Diệm – at least until the general became a victim of a sniper’s bullet in 1955.
Trình Minh Thế
Trình Minh Thế previously was an officer in the Cao Đài militia. He broke from the Cao Đài in June 1951 taking 2,000 troops and to forming his own militia, the Liên Minh. His new group devoted themselves to fighting both the Việt Minh and the French.
As Diệm moved to consolidate the various militia groups into his ARVN – South Vietnam’s official army, Edward Lawnsdale negotiated for Thế to use his men to back up Diệm. His militia blended into the ARVN as he gained the rank of general. Thế then marched his Liên Minh triumphally into Saigon on 13 February 1955.
Diệm’s government began to falter with several former militia leaders thinking about a possible coup. Which side of the fence Thế fell on remains unclear, but their entrance into Saigon probably responded to a late call from Lawnsdale to help protect Diệm. Who killed Thế also remains murky. The French had tracked him for a long time, but Diệm could have ordered the hit as well in order to take out a possible rival.
Greene and Cao Đài
Some writers think Greene actually thought about taking up Cao Đài beliefs on a personal level. That kind of flies in the face of Fowler’s several remarks denigrating Cao Đài.
“Caodaism was always the favourite chapter of my briefing to visitors. Caodaism, the invention of a Cochin civil servant, was a synthesis of the three religions. The Holy See was at Tanyin. A Pope and female cardinals. Prophecy by planchette. Saint Victor Hugo. Christ and Buddha looking down from the roof of the Cathedral on a Walt Disney fantasia of the East, dragons and snakes in technicolour. How could one explain the dreariness of the whole business: the private army of twenty-five thousand men, armed with mortars made out of the exhaust pipes of old cars, allies of the French who turned neutral at the moment of danger?”
“I was certain he knew that all of us were there to laugh at his movement; our air of respect was as corrupt as his phoney hierarchy, but we were less cunning. Our hypocrisy gained us nothing—not even a reliable ally, while theirs had procured arms, supplies, even cash down.”
“Sometimes I would wake up in the night saying, ‘Take the case of the Caodaists.’ Or the Hoa-Haos or the Bình Xuyên, all the private armies who sold their services for money or revenge. Strangers found them picturesque, but there is nothing picturesque in treachery and distrust.”
Cao Đài outside the Great Divine temple seen by Greene
“‘And now,’ I said, ‘There’s General Thé. He was Caodaist Chief of Staff, but he’s taken to the hills to fight both sides, the French, the Communists…’”
Fowler does not question if Caodaism is real or not but asks “if this Cathedral had existed for five centuries instead of two decades, would it have gathered a kind of convincingness with the scratches of feet and the erosion of weather?”
Then there is also the longstanding thought that for the Pyle character, Greene based it on the real CIA agent Edward Lansdale. Lansdale worked as an air attaché in Saigon, though that served as a cover for his more covert operations.
greene and edward lansdale
Pete Buttigieg, former Democratic presidential candidate and secretary of transportation in the Biden administration, wrote his Harvard thesis covers on the Lansdale-Greene feud. That included some of Lansdale’s beliefs that Greene was basically anti-American. Greene, himself, described Pyle as having no direct person linkage. The young, “innocent” Pyle becomes a collaborator in a series of terrorist bombings, killing dozens of innocent civilians, including women and children. Fowler describes Pyle, “You can’t blame the innocent, they are always guiltless. All you can do is control them or eliminate them. Innocence is a kind of insanity,” as a stand-in for American foreign policy.
As to Lansdale, Greene noted several times, he was not Greene’s model for Pyle. “Just for the record,” he wrote in a letter to the Sunday Telegraph in 1966, “your correspondent … is completely wrong in thinking that I took General Lansdale as the model for The Quiet American. Pyle was a younger, more innocent and more idealistic member of the CIA. I would never have chosen Colonel Lansdale, as he then was, to represent the danger of innocence.”
ONWARD STUDY?
A great place to start would be to read this piece prepared for US powers that were in 1966 for a good overall study of the history and practices of the faith, especially pertaining to the impact politically and militarily.
Then there are Cao Đài sites which go heavily into the beliefs and practices.
The Quiet American consists of a quick read. Good by itself, but the book is even better if you understand some of the events roiling Vietnam in the middle 1950s. There were two movies made from the book. One from 1958 stars Audie Murphy, Michael Redgrave and Giorgia Moll (as a not very convincing Vietnamese woman). This version goes counter to the book. Here, the message advocates the use of American power overseas against communism. The movie from 2002, reclaims the spirit of the original novel, a caution against foreign interventions – main actors include Brendan Fraser, Michael Caine and Đỗ Thị Hải Yến (who does a much more believable job as the Phuong character)