Caodaism presents itself as a deliberate synthesis of major Eastern and Western religious currents, weaving them into a single, overarching spiritual vision. From the Eastern side, it draws deeply on Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, and Vietnamese and Chinese folk practices. Buddhist ideas of karma, rebirth, and gradual spiritual progress shape its understanding of the soul’s journey, while the aim of liberation from the cycle of birth and death is reinterpreted as ultimate union with the Supreme Being. Taoist metaphysics and cosmology appear in concepts such as an ineffable ultimate principle, yin–yang, the Five Elements, and the use of spirit-writing and mediumship as legitimate channels of revelation. Confucianism contributes a strong emphasis on filial piety, moral cultivation, social harmony, and hierarchical yet reciprocal duties, which inform both personal ethics and institutional order. Ancestor veneration and a rich spirit world, familiar from Vietnamese and Chinese folk religion, are retained and integrated into a broader, ordered pantheon.

From the Western side, Caodaism absorbs elements of Christianity, especially in its monotheism and its ecclesiastical organization, as well as from Spiritism and related spiritualist currents. The Supreme Being is conceived in a way that resonates with a personal, providential God, and Jesus is honored as a great saint or manifestation and moral exemplar, while Christian ideals of love, charity, and moral reform are affirmed. The religious hierarchy—Pope, cardinals, bishops, priests, and a central Holy See—clearly echoes Catholic structures, complete with sacral vestments, canon‑like regulations, and regular communal worship. At the same time, Spiritist influences appear in the central role of séances, mediumship, and spirit-writing, through which messages are received from saints, spirits, and the Divine Eye. This revelatory framework is interpreted as part of a “Third Amnesty,” in which earlier religious traditions are seen as partial but genuine stages in a progressive divine disclosure.

The synthesis is perhaps most visible where these currents meet in shared symbols, practices, and ethical ideals. The pantheon places Eastern sages such as Buddha, Laozi, and Confucius alongside Western figures like Jesus and Joan of Arc, as well as national heroes, within a single graded spiritual hierarchy. Ritual life combines fixed times of communal worship reminiscent of Christian practice with chanting, incense, and musical forms familiar from Buddhist and Taoist temples, while spiritist séances are not seen as foreign intrusions but as a natural extension of long‑standing Eastern and Western practices of spirit communication. Ethically, Caodaism brings together Buddhist compassion, Confucian virtue and social responsibility, Christian universal love and charity, and Taoist harmony with the natural and moral order, presenting them as convergent expressions of one underlying truth. In this way, Eastern metaphysics and cosmology are joined to Western monotheism and church organization, yielding a tradition that seeks to honor the diversity of past revelations while gathering them into a single, integrative spiritual path.