Caodaism is a new religion founded by the Supreme God in Vietnam early in the 20th century. One of the outstanding characteristics of this religion is its disclosure of the esoteric teaching. As evidence, the sacred scripture translated as The Grand Cycle of Esoteric Teaching is a collection of Cao-Dai Holy Messages to delineate Cao-Dai esoteric teaching. Though the title only mentions the esoteric feature, the book also includes the exoteric section. In fact, it consists of three parts: The Exoteric Teaching, the Esoteric Science, and the Divine Investiture.
Part I, the Exoteric Teaching, discusses the meaning of the words "The Grand Cycle of Esoteric Teaching", the revelation of God's Will, the foundation and sacred goal of Cao-Dai Great Way, the essential virtues or qualities that disciples should acquire to prepare for their esoteric practice, and the method of self-perfection.
Part II, the Esoteric Science, is the core section in which Cao-Dai Supreme God unravels the secret of the Genesis, the Celestial Law, the evolution of humans and all beings, the universe as the macro-cosmos, humans as micro-cosmos carrying all the corresponding constituents of the macro-cosmos, method to manage them, the stages and levels of spiritual initiation, and the esoteric method of deliverance.
Part III, the Divine Investiture, shows proofs of sanctification of Cao-Dai esoteric disciples who achieved spiritual enlightenment, and manifested in spiritual séances from 1926 to 1950 (as this scripture was published in 1952). Through this part one can see another outstanding characteristic of Caodaism, which is the promotion and support for male-female equality in spiritual self-perfection and deliverance.
Note: This scripture has been translated in the French language twice (1950s and 2013) and its Chinese version will come out very soon.
About the Author: Born in Vietnam, Anh-Tuyet Tran was raised in Buddhist traditions. Early in the 1980s she had a chance to read the sacred scripture translated as The Grand Cycle of Esoteric Teaching.in which she found the answers for most of her questions on the origin and the meaning of life. Since then she has become a Cao-Dai follower. She immigrated to California, USA in early 1990s, where she received a Master degree from San Jose State University and a Ph.D. in Chemistry from University of California-Davis. Currently she is a Chemistry and Biochemistry Lecturer at San Jose State University, and a member of Cao Dai Temple Overseas. After the busy hours of teaching and interacting with students, she lives quietly with her mother in San Jose, CA. Hoping that everyone could access and benefit from the aforementioned Cao-Dai sacred scripture she translated and published its English version.
