The Dictation of the Dead: Representations of Power in the Scriptures of the South Vietnamese Cult of Cao Đài

Abstract

This article aims to reveal the relationships of power in the canonical sacred texts of Caodaism, in order to explain the continuous influence of the cult since its foundation in the 1920s. Most researchers of Caodaism have focused so far on political and economic aspects of the movement, leaving aside the pragmatics of the teaching as it was formulated in its holy scriptures. The methodology of my research derives from the Foucault’s theory of power and Boyer’s theory of supernatural agency. I have applied Fairclough’s version of discourse analysis to study a few fragments from the Caodaist catechesis, church rules and theological compilations. The study shows that the power was built within the cult through a number of discourse strategies, such as spirit possession, which was traditionally influential in Vietnamese culture; a new writing system; as well as basic concepts of the religious syncretism, reinforced by grammatical identity markers that helped to create a church hierarchy. Cao Đài spiritual revelations have intertextually incorporated Taoist and Buddhist ideas, as well as Confucian ethics that Vietnamese were well familiar with, thus constructing pragmatic presupposition for church priests and followers, while interdiscursive character of scriptures represented innovations and an attempt of rebooting the traditional system of beliefs to save the nation from the upcoming imaginary catastrophe.