Visiting local failed Cai Dai Temple in Dallas. Need Vietnamese speaker.
Visiting temples might be something for a local Gay group to do.
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Visiting Temples as an activity.
One of the things that a local Pagan/Witchcraft or Radical Fairy group could do is visit local temples. I think that it would strengthen feelings to see functioning temples in American and also see people in various non-Abrahamic faiths having successful operations. I think many Gays don’t see having a temple as a possibility. Seeing something as a concrete reality could change the thinking of American Pagans and witches to realize that they could have a temple.
In Houston the Hindu temple has a giant statue of Hanuman. Possibly we could get a group to go visit?
A lot of Evangelical Christians are very upset over this Hindu statue.
In this case some Christian group actually went to the statue to protest it on the temple grounds.
https://www.newsweek.com/huge-hindu-statue-texas-sparks-conservative-backlash-1942732
In the Northeast section of Dallas is a Buddhist Temple, and on Sunday, they have food stalls. Lots of interesting Thai foods.
There are Hindu temples in Dallas also, but I don’t know anything about them.
Cai Dai Temple in Dallas
It seems to be a failed temple. I drove there on a rainy day to see it. There was an old Vietnamese gentleman there. He was friendly. His English was limited, but I was allowed to walk around and take pictures.
The temple is at 5535 W. Ledbetter Dr., Dallas, TX.
https://www.facebook.com/CaoDaiTayNinhTemplesOfTX/
I will add in a few more pictures after the email is sent out. Substack has a limit on the size of emails.
I drove up to it on a rainy day. The grounds were raggedy, the growth was cut in places and not others.
Further back there were buildings which I think were meant to be administrative buildings.
The floor had a layer of dust.
The ceiling had silver stars in this sky.
Closer up you can’t get the whole altar? in one picture.
View in the other direction.
More photos to be added here.
What is Cai Dai?
It is a religion in Vietnam which started in the 1920s. New religious formations are possible.
It is a syncretic religion mixing many elements from many religions.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caodaism
Cai Dai on homosexuality.
I bold face the critical sections in the following text. They believe you are homosexual through the will of God. They are very clear that homosexual are to be accepted and not judged. That the issue of homosexuality is a social question, and should not be considered a sin. They see homosexuality as contradictory to their theory of Ying and Yang, but they emphasize homosexuals are to be treated well as part of the creation of God. They make a remark about the Catholic Church to contrast Cai Dai’s view as being not like the Catholics.
I don’t know any Vietnamese to ask as to how this theology actually functions. I am looking now for someone to ask.
Question 2 - What is Cao Dai view on homosexuality?
In Caodaism, our teaching is based on the principle of YIN and YANG. Also, all human beings, holy spirits and all what we can see exist in this universe are all coming from only one source: God or the Supreme Being and will evolve through the eight grades of souls: Materials, Plants, Animals, Humans and then at higher levels to Angels, Saints, Immortals and Buddhas. Humans in this concept are therefore considered to be God’s children and thus are our brothers and sisters. Therefore, whatever life purpose or pleasure they pursue in their life is just because it is this and has been spiritually pre-arranged by the Divine Will.
In a spirit-séance on February 20th 1926, aiming to teach the Great Way to HIS first few disciples, God the Father emphasized that, “For whatever happens, you (children) must remember that I Myself am in it”. From this, it is safe to say that to Caodaists, whether someone is straight or belongs to LGBT is not a problem because we believe that it is God’s pre-arrangement, even though homosexuality is something contradictory to the principle of Yin and Yang.
Cao Dai view is that all human beings are considered as brothers and sisters of the same Supreme God. Homosexuality is a social issue which should be better examined from the social perspectives and attitudes.
This is a tough question for us as Caodaists to answer because to the best of our knowledge, the issue of homosexuality has never been mentioned in any Divine Messages, Doctrine, Philosophy or any teachings from the Supreme Leader and High-ranking dignitaries.
Regarding the Cao Dai cosmology about the origin of this universe, the principle of Yin and Yang is rather crucial. From the Caodaists’s perspectives, the balance between Yin and Yang is quite important because it is not only the principle of the nature, but also the principle of life. This world would never be developed without one of these two principles: Yin and Yang. Just imagine, what would happen to this universe if one day there was no sun or no moon anymore? What would happen to this life if there were only men or only women on Earth? Would life continue to develop? And in what ways?. Would the plants and other materialistic forms grow normally without any of these two principles?
In Caodaism, all human beings, holy spirits and all what we can see exist in this universe are all coming from only one source: God or the Supreme Being and will evolve through the eight shades of souls: Materials, Plants, Animals, Humans and then at higher levels to Angels, Saints, Immortals and Buddhas. Humans in this concept are therefore considered to be God’s children and thus are our brothers and sisters. Therefore, whatever life purpose or pleasure they pursue in their life is just because it is this and has been spiritually pre-arranged by the Divine Will.
In a spirit-séance on February 20th 1926, aiming to teach the Great Way to HIS first few disciples, God the Father emphasized that, “For whatever happens, you (children) must remember that I Myself am in it” (Thanh Ngon Hiep Tuyen, 1972). From this, it is safe to say that to Caodaists, whether someone is straight or belongs to LGBT is not a big problem because we believe that it is God’s pre-arrangement even though homosexuality is something contradictory to the principle of Yin and Yang.
However, homosexuality is a social issue which should be better examined from the social perspectives and attitudes. Thus, personally it would be better to ask the question what a Caodaist thinks about the current social phenomenon called ‘homosexuality’. I personally guess there would be different answers to this question, but the common view could be that homosexuality could be acceptable from the view of a Caodaist but it should not be a popular trend of life because homosexuality does not show a balance in the principle of Yin and Yang and does NOT exhibit any sign of natural development.
Other religions would be inclined to judge homosexuality as a sin, even a “mortal” sin. This was the view for example of the Catholic Church. The Cao Dai position is “Live and let live,” a respect for all lives and life-ways.
It is diplomatically astute to suggest that these questions are best brought up and discussed in a secular context, and between a variety of sources with different points of view.
Their consensus is likely to be that heterosexuality is not in line with Cao Dai life-ways. And importantly, it sets a soft but respectable boundaries for Cao Dai: homosexuality does not have a precedent in Cao Dai, where the polarities and complementary of yin and yang are well-established. Typically of Cao-Dai, the message is one of acceptance without judgment. [Boldface added.]
https://caodai.com.vn/en/news-detail/cao-dai-faq-frequently-asked-questions-part-iv.html
What to do next?
I am posting on local Dallas Gay Facebook groups a picture of the temple locally to ask for a Vietnamese speaker to help out. I would like to have as an activity, go as a group to go see it. Maybe we could also rent it for activities. It doesn’t appear it is being used anymore. I think we need to have someone who can communicate with the owner.
What I wanted to do here is show people that if they formed groups, one activity could be to visit local temples.
The Cao Dai are super fascinating. It's heartbreaking that the temple is in decline.
rain adds a dreamy filter on it. nice shots 💖. Also beautiful philosophies.