Mysteries of the Left Eye of God: Caodai Spiritism in Vietnam and California

Janet Hoskins - University of Southern California  

Abstract: Spirit mediums in French Indochina in the 1920s began communicating with a number of invisible entities identifying themselves as the spirits of important religious and historical figures from both Europe and Asia, including Lao Tse, the Taoist poet Li Bái, Victor Hugo, Joan of Arc, Jesus Christ, and the Supreme Being Cao Dai.  Since 1975, spirit séances have been illegal in Vietnam, but have been conducted by Vietnamese refugees in California.  This paper explores the ways in which Caodaists, who worship under the sign of the Left Eye of God, have articulated their relationships with invisible forces, and the gaudy, eclectic visual design of their temples, which express religious hybridity in a particularly vibrant form.  Using film footage and still images from Vietnam and California, this paper explores the transnational imagery of a new global religion that tries to demonstrate the common origins of all religions.  One interesting aspect of Caodai spirit messages is that they are conveyed primarily through writing, usually through the use of a phoenix-headed basket which flies and flutters like a bird, often rapping the table to correct mistaken transcriptions.  The texts transmitted in this manner are full of colorful visual imagery and references to other senses (the ‘sweet fragrance’ of the female goddesses, the strong shaking of the Invisible Pope, etc.) suggesting that invisible spirit presences are first experienced through other senses, and only visualized during the final stages of esoteric meditation, which in Caodaism are associated with opening the left eye at the moment of death.

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