Religions & Spiritual Traditions  Caodaism FAQs  FAQ

What are the principal scriptures and sacred texts of Caodaism?

Within Caodaism, several principal scriptures form a coherent sacred corpus that both structures religious life and expresses its syncretic vision. Central among these is the *Kinh Thiên Đạo và Thế Đạo* (Prayers of the Heavenly/Celestial Way and the Earthly/Worldly Way), which serves as the main prayer book, gathering essential prayers, liturgies, doctrines, and ethical teachings. Through this text, daily devotion is shaped and the believer is gently oriented toward harmony between spiritual aspiration and worldly responsibility. Alongside it stand various other prayer collections and ritual manuals used in regular worship and ceremonies, further embedding the tradition’s teachings into the rhythm of communal and domestic practice.

Complementing the liturgical texts are the foundational legal and organizational scriptures that define the structure and ethos of the Caodaist community. The *Pháp Chánh Truyền* (Religious Constitution or Constitutional Canon) sets out the hierarchy, administration, and functions of the church, providing a framework for doctrine, governance, and religious life. In close partnership with it, the *Tân Luật* (New Laws or New Canonical Laws) codifies religious regulations, moral precepts, and norms for conduct, including guidance for monastic and lay practice. Together, these texts do not merely regulate external behavior; they articulate an ordered spiritual society meant to mirror a divinely inspired cosmos.

Equally distinctive is the body of revealed literature that emerges from Caodaism’s spiritist dimension. The *Thánh Ngôn Hiệp Tuyển* (Compilation or Collected Divine Messages) gathers communications received through séances, understood as messages from the Supreme Being (Cao Đài) and a wide range of saints and sages. These include figures such as Jesus Christ, the Buddha, Confucius, Laozi, Victor Hugo, and other spiritual personages, whose voices are received as converging streams within a single sacred river. More broadly, collections of séance messages function as a living scripture, offering doctrinal, ethical, and cosmological guidance while exemplifying the religion’s openness to both Eastern and Western sources of wisdom. Through this interplay of prayer books, constitutional canons, legal codes, and revealed messages, the scriptural universe of Caodaism seeks to weave heaven and earth, tradition and revelation, into a unified spiritual path.