The mystery of Creation presents us with two enigmas: the attempt to know the Visible and the attempt to penetrate the secret of the Invisible. It is possible to know the Visible, but to penetrate the secret of the Invisible is not easy. The Visible is separated from the Invisible by a mysterious veil which, since the creation of the universe, has not been completely lifted even by initiates who have been raised to the stage of wisdom.

Humanity alone holds in its hands a key to this: it lies in the observation of the harmony of the manifestations of these two enigmas, or more simply these two aspects, to become aware of the union of the Visible and the Invisible.

In the existence of creatures, according to the mechanism of the Creator, Essence and Matter must be mingled into a “Oneness”. Heaven and Earth have their principles, Yin and Yang, beings have their physical reality and their intelligence, human beings have their bodies and souls. The vitality of created beings in the Universe is always brought forth by the union of matter and spirit.

The souls of minerals and vegetables, of animals and men, of Genies and of Saints, of Archangels and Buddhas are different because of the individual degree of evolutions; thus the exterior physical form of one does not look like another. Minerals are different from vegetables, vegetables from animals, animals from humans, humans from Genies, Genies from Saints, Saints from Angels and Archangels, Angels and Archangels from Buddhas, Buddhas from God. To summarise, the difference between the Temporal and Spiritual is clearly defined. Matter depends of the essence which gives it its exterior form. The undeniable proof of this is that human beings differ from each other in their physical appearance. Evil people are unattractive on the outside, while those who are virtuous attract us by their gentleness; in this way people in the past came to know others through their cast of feature.

The body, then, must be in harmony with the soul, like Matter with Being. Matter is visible and Being is invisible; to form the union, the two must be in harmony, for the Visible implies the Invisible and vice versa.

Thus the Temple of the Nine Degrees of Evolution (Cuu-Trung-Dai) makes up the Body for which the Temple of the Divine Alliance (Hiep-Thien-Dai) is the soul. It has already been said that the Cuu-Trung-Dai is the temporal part of the New Religion, while the Hiep-Thien-Dai is the spiritual part, that is, the Spirit. Now Matter can be defined, but Being cannot. In the Way of perfecting of Wisdom, while many evolved divine beings wish to be reincarnated into poor families, other lower divine beings can reach a high level, thanks to the knowledge and application of the Holy Teaching. In this way the Spiritual is limitless just as the New Religion is limitless. This is the foundation for the mystic side of Caodaism.

Disciples will know that our Divine Master has not defined fully the duties which are incumbent on the dignitaries of the Hiep-Thien-Dai and this causes some lack of understanding in the hierarchy of the ones chosen by God, on the part of the adepts. This is the desired effect, since Our Divine Master makes it clear in this way that all members of the Hiep-Thien-Dai are their own responsibility and must become worthy of the grade of office attributed to each one. The Cuu-Trung-Dai represents the Temporal, the Hiep-Thien-Dai the Spiritual. The Spiritual must guide the Temporal in order to establish a divine organisation which has been given the purpose of saving humanity. The salient point is that without the Hiep-Thien-Dai Caodaism cannot exist. Heaven and Earth may pass away, but the Divine Way will not pass; humanity may be brought to nothing, but the Hiep-Thien-Dai will never be.

The dignitaries of the Temple of the Divine Alliance have the spiritual mission of raising the veil of the Invisible and they act as a unifying bond between Humanity and God. They are Mediators who are to create harmony between the Temporal and the Spiritual. This is why Our Divine Master has recommended all the disciples to obey His Will.

Below are His Teachings :

Divine Text : The Temple of the Divine Alliance is the sacred place where God is made manifest to give spiritual direction to the New Religion. As long as Caodaism endures the Temple of the Divine Alliance (Hiep-Thien-Dai) exists.

Commentary : The Divine Master is the Unique Creator, the Supreme Head of the Universe and Master of the Invisible. Since He is Master of the Invisible, He is Master of the Esoteric Power. Thus where the Supreme Master is found, the Holy Doctrine is found.

The Temple of the Divine Alliance is the dwelling of our Master and it holds the Spiritual Power of the New Religion. As long as the New Religion lasts, the Seat of our Divine Master exists. Otherwise the world would end. Since the New Religion is eternal, the Hiep-Thien-Dai must equally be eternal

Divine Text : The five branches of the Great Doctrine are given material form through the believers who are heretical and who day by day move further from the Truth, completely perverting the significance of the Holy Religion. For this reason I made the unshakable resolve to come MySelf and teach My children, not to entrust the teaching of My Holy doctrine any longer to Incarnate beings.

Commentary : This text is clear. Our Divine Master has stated simple the profanation of the Holy doctrine by those very people who were given the task of spreading it. With time, Faith lessens, human passions are born again stronger than ever, the Holy Words are perverted so that it is adapted to material needs. This is the way that the divine Doctrine is gradually changed into human doctrine.

Today the Supreme Master decides to come HimSelf to teach His disciples and no longer wishes to entrust the Holy Mission to human beings.

On this point, if someone says : “The Supreme Master has said that He no longer entrusts to humans the task of guiding His disciples in the Way of God. Why does He Confide it to the dignitaries of the Cuu-Trung-Dai and of the Hiep-Thien-Dai who are just as human?” A passage from the discourse of Ho-Phap read at the Holy See on the fourteenth day of the second month of the year Mau-Thin (1928) give an explanation for this observation :

“The Divine Master is coming to encourage all the fore-ordained Missionaries which He sent into this world to form His Holy Image, which is the Body of the Saints. Thanks to this Body of the Saints, which must be the members of the Sacerdotal Council, the Supreme Being is avoiding an incarnation throughout this Third Amnesty (or Alliance). Now the Caodaist Sacerdotal Council consists of two visible sections in this world :

1. The dignitaries of the Cuu-Trung-Dai: they represent the Material Body of the New Religion;

2. The dignitaries of the Hiep-Thien-Dai: they represent the element of this Religion which is part-material, part-spiritual (Perispirit).

Finally the third invisible part made up of the Divine Beings of the Bat-Quai-Dai (the Council of the Great Spirits which heads the Eight States of Soul of the Manvantara). This group represents the Spiritual or the Soul of the New Religion.

As it says in several passages that have been quoted above, our Master is the Supreme Being, the Omnipotent Creator of the Universe, and He is also by definition Master of the Bat-Quai-Dai. Since He is Head and Master of the Bat-Quai-Dai, He is the Soul of the New Religion. Now the union of the Soul with the Body can occur only through the mediation of the Perispirit (Chon than). The Body must be Holy to have a Holy spirit. Thus the disciples and dignitaries of the Cuu-Trung-Dai are only able to reach the Virtue of God through the intermediary of the dignitaries of the Hiep-Thien Dai.”

A second observation could be made :

“The Eternal Omnipotent has said that He no longer entrusts His Holy Mission to the Incarnate Ones. Why does He need to found the Temple of the Divine Alliance? Without the Dignitaries of the Hiep-Thien-Dai, would He not be able, by His Own Power, to form the New Religion?”

Our answer would be as follows :

“The Eternal is Absolute Master of the Spiritual world. He has given Humanity an intelligence which is adequate to direct the corporal world and to rule over other living beings. To effect the harmonising of the Universe, God and Humanity must be united in perfect agreement: Humanity needs the help of God, but God too must depend on the potentiality of Humanity to bring all His creatures towards the Good and the Beautiful.

Humanity which is placed under the spiritual power of God who determines its destiny according to the Karmic Law, has available only the one freedom and the one power: it must become self-mastering and must maintain itself in the way of Perfection. The plurality of existences has as its clearly defined aim the attainment of supreme Wisdom in the Virtue of God and thus unification with the Omnipotent. This freedom of acting and this power over oneself have been given by the Supreme Being to all His creatures and cannot as a result be suppressed. It would be impossible for Divine Justice which cannot belie Itself to stoop to this. Since Good is rewarded and Evil is punished, all children of God must be allowed the freedom to choose their own Way.

Hell and Paradise are the symbols of Perdition and Eternity. Hell is reserved for cruel souls, just as Paradise is reserved for Good Spirits: this is the way the Divine Law is fixed. Nothing forces us into Hell, just as no one helps us to go up to Paradise. The two Ways open before us: it is up to us to make the choice of making ourselves worthy, or of destroying ourselves. The divine beings can only lend us their clearsighted guidance.

If by his psychic Power and his miraculous Manifestations our Master strengthened the faith of all His creatures, the whole of Humanity would certainly abandon Evil and would do Good. The Divine law would then be one-sided, since our Master would raise all souls to Paradise and would close the gate of Hell. On what base then could Divine Justice be upheld: What would be the use of Karma and of the Law of reincarnations?

What is more our Master and the Divine Spirits have neither body nor words. How can They communicate with the visible World?

The dignitaries of the Cuu-Trung-Dai and of the Hiep-Thien-Dai merely form organisations to assist the Supreme Being and the Great Spirits to found the New Religion to guide Humanity in the True Way of God.

The Law of Reincarnation is a divine mechanism which allows souls to expiate their faults and to make progress along the road of Evolution. If Esotericism were suppressed, what would be the foundation to support the Holy Doctrine?

Humanity understands evolved beings, perverse spirits and impure souls which form different degrees of the bodily society. If our Divine Master made use of his miraculous power to assist all souls to make progress in the Way of Salvation, so that they reached the Heavenly City in one reincarnation, what merit would there be for the Spiritual Hierarchy?

As it is already set down that the Temple of the Divine Alliance (Hiep-Thien-Dai) is the Perispirit of Caodaism, the Temple of the Nine Degrees of Evolution (Cuu-Trung-Dai) makes up its Body and the Temple of the Eight States of Soul (Bat-Quai-Dai) represents its Soul; the union of the Soul and the Body only occurs through the mediation of the Perispirit which is partly temporal and partly spiritual. It acts as a link to unite the Spiritual and the Temporal.

Thus the New Religion receives the Wisdom of the Holy Spirit to spread it through the World.

Divine Text : Humanity must be united with God just as the Cuu-Trung-Dai is united with the Bat-Quai-Dai.

Commentary : The Invisible Temple of the Bat-Quai-Dai is the Soul of the New Religion, placed under the aegis of our Divine Master. It is natural that the Body should be guided by the Soul to that it can be holy. Now as the Soul of the New Religion is formed by the Eternal One, the knowledge of the Holy Doctrine depends not on the Visible World but on the Omnipotence and the Wisdom of God. This is the meaning of the saying of our Divine Master, that he no longer entrusts the teaching of the Holy doctrine to human beings.

Divine text : What is more, the Hiep-Thien-Dai is the mystical place where the Pope comes and is placed in spiritual communication with the Thirty-Six Heavens, the Three Thousand Worlds, the Sixty-Seven other Earths and the Lords of Karma so that he can pray for the Salvation of Humanity.

Commentary : This text is already explained in the chapter on the powers of the Pope.

Divine Text : You already know the spiritual powers of the Hiep-Thien-Dai. I am now speaking to you about the temporal powers of the dignitaries of this Temple.

Commentary : From the spiritual point of view, the dignitaries of the Hiep-Thien-Dai act as Mediums between the Pope and the Great Spirits of the Invisible World. They are the unifying links between the Cuu-Trung-Dai which is entrusted with the conversion of souls, and the Bat-Quai-Dai which is concerned with the salvation of souls. The Temple of the Divine Alliance is also the place where all the Spirits of the Universe are united. This is the spiritual mission of the Hiep-Thien-Dai

As far as temporal powers are concerned, the dignitaries of the Hiep-Thien-Dai are entrusted with the maintenance and application of the religious Rules and Laws so that they can watch over the good progress of the adepts in the Way of God, transforming the Cycle of Destruction into the Cycle of Renewal (The Cycles of Creation, Destruction and Conservation have already been explained in the chapter on the Powers of the Dignitaries of the Cuu-Trung-Dai. The Temples of the Nine Degrees of Evolution has its Religious Tribunal, just as the Great Spirits of the Bat-Quai-Dai have the Spiritual Tribunal. If someone who is accused finds the verdict pronounced by the Cuu-Trung-Dai is unjust, such a person may make appeal to the Hiep-Thien-Dai. If he is still not satisfied, he makes a further appeal to the Tribunal which is under the control of the Bat-Quai-Dai [this is a rare eventually]. As for the formation of the Tribunal of the Cuu-Trung-Dai or the procedure of appealing to the Spiritual Tribunal, this is the legislative power of the Ho-Phap), to assist Humanity to bring to reality the Era of Peace and to escape from the Era of Destruction.

Divine Text : The Hiep-Thien-Dai is placed under the authority of the Ho-Phap (Head of the Legislative Body). He is assisted by the Thuong-Sanh (Head of the Temporal Section) and by the Thuong-Pham (Head of the Spiritual Section). The Ho-Phap is concerned with the Laws and with Justice.

Commentary : Just as the Cuu-Trung-Dai is placed under the Pope's orders, and the Bat-Quai-Dai under the Power of God, the Hiep-Thien-Dai is placed under the authority of the Ho-Phap. From the spiritual point of view, Caodaism has its divine Laws, just as from the temporal point of view, Humanity has its laws and its justice.

Ho-Phap is the one who unveils the Mystery of the Invisible and is the Maintainer of the Rules and laws of the New Religion. He is the one who pronounces judgments on the dignitaries and disciples, elevates the dignity of the fervent through their merit and brings sanctions against those who have committed faults. He is actively involved in assuring that the religious Rules and Laws which have become Divine Laws are carried out in detail, in order to keep the dignitaries and adepts free of the sufferings inflicted by the Lords of Karma.

In so acting, he watches over the positive progress of the disciples in the Way of God, and guides all evolved souls to achieve the Divine Phase of the Great Spirits. He holds control over the Legislative Power both exoterically and esoterically.

The Ho-Phap presides at all session of the Upper Chamber of Judgments.

Divine Text : He has control over four Lords of the Zodiac, namely :

Tiep-Phap (Juridical Legislator)
Khai-Phap (Juridical Reformer)
Hien-Phap (Juridical Renovator)
Bao-Phap (Juridical Conservator)

Commentary : The Head of the Legislative Body has under his authority four Lords of the Zodiac who support him in his lofty task.

These four dignitaries have the same power as He when they have the duty to represent him to carry out his lofty mission. Each of them as well possesses distinct powers.

The Juridical Legislator (Tiep-Phap) is concerned with the aplication of the religious jurisdiction, and receives all complaints and appeals. He may grade the issues as of lesser importance, or refer them to the Cuu-Trung-Dai and he does not involve himself in any but significant situations which merit to be examined or judged again. In this case he is to hand over all the records to the Juridical Reformer (Khai-Phap).

The Khai-Phap on receipt of the documents transferred by the Tiep-Phap, is to study them in detail. If it concerns matters which will be judged by the Tribunal of the Cuu-Trung-Dai or which are under appeal, he is first to inform the Cuu-Trung-Dai that they must postpone the date of the hearing of the Tribunal for a fortnight, and secondly, advise the Ho-Phap who calls an assembly of the Hiep-Thien-Dai for this purpose.

The assembly of the Hiep-Thien-Dai makes the decision, after having heard the Khai-Phap, whether it is necessary either to make some modification in the penalties awarded by the religious Laws and Rules, or to uphold the verdict to be pronounced. In the latter case, the Khai-Phap must hand over in his turn all the documents involved to the Juridical Renovator (Hien-Phap).

The Hien-Phap, after receiving these documents, is to carry out a careful investigation in order to gather all the evidence related to these matters, and to submit it all to the Juridical Conservator (Bao-Phap).

The Hien-Phap is forbidden to communicate either with the Hien-Dao (Religious Renovator) or with the Hien-The (temporal Renovator). All matters once surrendered to the Hien-Phap become secret, even where the dignitaries of the Hiep-Thien-Dai.

In his turn, the Bao-Phap keeps the files which are handed over under seal of secrecy, and after much deliberation, proposes all the penalties and sentences to the Ho-Phap for his judgments.

The Juridical Conservator (Bao-Phap) is the Director of the offices of the Ho-Phap.

Divine Text : The Ho-Phap is concerned with the conservation and application of the religious Laws and Rules, temporally and spiritually. Every transgression of the law must be brought to the awareness of the Hiep-Thien-Dai.

Commentary : To sum up, the Ho-Phap is the Sovereign-Protector of Religious Justice both esoterically and exoterically. He is concerned about the conservation of the Holy Doctrine to help Humanity to follow the Way of God. Every transgression of law on the part of the Cuu-Trung-Dai or of the Hiep-Thien-Dai must be severely punished.

In order to be able to carry out in a divine way this Lofty Mission the Supreme Being requires the Ho-Phap and his four fellow-workers (Chi Phap) to swear to be impartial during the exercise of their functions.

Thuong-Pham is the Representative of the Ho-Phap in the formation of virtuous souls of the Priestly Group / Sacerdotal Council.

All children of God converted to the New Religion have their spiritual dignity. To guide evolved souls to move through the various stages of Perfection to attain supreme Wisdom is the aim of the Amnesty of God.

Thanks to Thuong-Pham all lofty souls and those in the process of evolution may make their spiritual ascent in peace and tranquillity. Thuong-Pham is the one who keeps them alert to any transgression of the divine law, who watches of their spiritual development, and insists that they submit to priestly discipline.

In a word, the Leader of the Spiritual Realm (Thuong Pham) helps the Cuu-Trung-Dai to live in an atmosphere of happiness; he reveals the Heavenly Voice to virtuous souls, and guides them to the Divine Phase of the Great Spirits, while closing behind them the Door of regression.

All religious offices depend on Thuong-Pham if they are to raised according to the merit of the dignitaries. He considers the priestly laws to take up the defence of all dignitaries and adepts; he prevents all perversion of the Divine Rules, and helps all initiates to attain their aim.

He is simultaneously the President of the Hall of Defence, and Protector of all disciples.

Divine Text : The Thuong-Pham is Leader of the Spiritual Power. Under his command he has four Lords of the Zodiac, namely :

Tiep-Dao (Religious Legislator)
Khai-Dao (Religious Reformer)
Hien-Dao (Religious Renovator)
Bao-Dao (Religious Conservator)

He is concerned with the meditation cells /houses(Tinh That) and the Temples / Churches (Thanh That); he supervises all disciples and defends them against abuses by authorities.

Commentary : All meditation houses/cells depend on the power of the Leader of the Spiritual Realm. He is entrusted with the defence of the adepts against all excessive uses of power. He is the one to allot offices to candidates in the provincial parishes and he apportions work to members of the Cuu-Trung-Dai having regard to their talents.

The Leader of the Spiritual Realm symbolises the Holy Doctrine (the Dao). Wherever the Heart of the Eternal (the Dao) exists, there Thuong-Pham is found.

In terms of his office he is ranked with the Legislative Cardinals, and embodies the Cuu-Trung-Dai to the Hiep-Thien-Dai. This means that he exercises administrative power in the Hiep-Thien-Dai, a body which is essentially legislative.

The four collaborators of Thuong-Pham have the same power as he does when they represent him, but they have distinct areas of concern.

The Tiep-Dao (Religious Legislator) receives and examines all protests and claims about justice. If there are cases worth a defence, he passes them on to the Khai-Dao (Religious Reformer).

Once in receipt of the documents passed to him by the Tiep-Dao, the Khai-Dao must study them in every detail. Where there are issues which involve the intervention of the Hall of Defence, the Khai-Dao must first ask the Cuu-Trung-Dai to delay the decision for a period of no longer than a fortnight, and secondly inform the Ho-Phap who convokes the Hiep-Thien-Dai for this purpose.

Before this assembly occurs, the Religious Reformer is to provide detailed explanations about the issues in question, and he is to convey in his turn all the documents to the Hien-Dao (Religious Renovator) only with the approval of the Hiep-Thien-Dai.

In order to carry out his role, the Hien-Dao is to try to reach a profound understanding of the issues involved, and he conveys all of this to the Bao-Dao (Religious Conservator).

The Hien-Dao is forbidden to communicate with the Hien-Phap (Juridical Renovator) and the Hien-The (Temporal Renovator). Once they are placed in the hands of the Hien-Dao, all matters become secret, even where dignitaries of the Hiep-Thien-Dai are concerned.

In his turn the Bao-Dao preserves the same secrecy, and after familiarising himself thoroughly with the contents of the files sent to him, makes a draft of all the required conclusions in order to present them to the Thuong-Pham who has the responsibility of defending the issue. The Religious Conservator is the Director of the Offices of the Leader of the Spiritual realm.

The Thuong-Pham and his four collaborators must swear an oath of impartiality during the exercise of their functions.

Minerals have their own life just as vegetables do, and animals and birds, and humans. They are all creatures of God which include pure souls (pure souls have existed since the creation of the Universe), souls which are in the process of evolution, or impure souls (souls in the process of evolution or impure souls were formed only after the creation of the Universe) , and vicious or perverse souls (vicious or perverse souls are souls whose life is evil, and which move along the way of Evil involving both pure and impure souls. The law of suffering is for all, even for pure souls after they have been reincarnated, for God forges all great souls in the crucible of suffering).

Pure spirits are Angels of Light incarnate among men who seek of mission of perfection or of Salvation; spirits which are in the process of evolution or are impure are souls which have moved from the stage of vegetal and animal beings to reach the level of humanity. Perverse spirits are pure or impure spirits which become involved in a path of vice and plunge into the state of demons because of their evil actions.

Among all these creatures, the human race occupies the highest rank, and what is more from the temporal point of view humans are the most evolved. In creating the Third Amnesty, the aim of our Divine Master is to lead all souls back to the Way of Salvation, what may be their origin.

Whether it is a matter of pure souls experiencing their purgatory, or of souls in a state of evolution living out their karma, or perverse souls repenting of their evil actions, all these souls must be converted by the Thuong-Sanh in order to be able to cross over the Temporal Stage. He has control of all the laws and rules which relate to the worldly life of all adepts to guide them out of the Abyss of Suffering.

He may present a formal complaint before the religious Tribunal against all those who impede the faithful as they move along the Way of God, and he may ask for sanctions against any office-bearer who gives an example of impiety to [his] co-religionists.

He is the President of the Hall of Accusation, and is responsible for the Public Ministry linked with the Religious Tribunals.

Divine Text : The Thuong-Sanh is concerned with the temporal life of the New Religion. Under his command he has four Lords of the Zodiac, namely :

Tiep-The (Temporal Legislator)
Khai-The (Temporal Reformer)
Hien-The (Temporal Renovator)
Bao-The (Temporal Conservator)

Commentary : Everything which involve the temporal life of the New Religion is part of the concern of the Thuong-Sanh. His four collaborators have the same function as he does when they represent him to fulfil their temporal missions.

Separately they have different functions.

The Tiep-The (Temporal Legislator) receives all suggestions about temporal rules, and all complaints against the dignitaries of the Priesthood. Whatever the rank of those accused, he is to convey these complaints to the Khai-The (Temporal Reformer).

The Khai-The tries to discover the cause of all these complaints, and if the charges brought have a significant base, first he is to notify the Cuu-Trung-Dai of the importance of the affairs, and secondly he is to inform the Ho-Phap who convokes the assembly of the Hiep-Thien-Dai in order to decide what course to follow. The approval of this assembly must precede the transmission by the Khai-The of all the documents to the Hien-The (Temporal Renovator).

In his turn, the Hien-The opens a serious inquiry to see all the witnesses and proofs involved with the accusations which have been initiated, and directs the whole matter to the Bao-The (Temporal Conservator) with a detailed report. The Hien-The is forbidden to communicate with the Hien-Phap (Juridical Renovator) or the Hien Dao (Religious Renovator). Once they have been put into the hands of Hien-The, all affairs become secrets, even where dignitaries of the Hiep-Thien-Dai are involved.

The Bao-The in his turn keeps all matters under seal of secrecy when they are handed over to him, and he prepares a draft of all the necessary acts of accusation, so that he can submit them to the Leader of the Temporal Realm who has the task of prosecuting the accused, whether before the Religious Tribunal of the Cuu-Trung-Dai, or before the High Court of the Hiep-Thien-Dai.

The Bao-The is the Director of the Offices of the Leader of the Temporal Realm.

The Thuong-Sanh is the Symbol of the Temporal Realm, that is to say, of Humanity. Thus wherever the Symbol of Humanity is found, Thuong-Sanh must be there.

He has the right to control the office-bearers in the accomplishment of their duty and he may ask for the dismissal of any who fail to match the loftiness of their apostolic task. In rank he is classed on the same level as the Legislative Cardinals (Chuong-Phap).

The dignitaries of the Hiep-Thien-Dai derive from the Legislative Group, but Thuong-Sanh fills an administrative role. Now Thuong-Sanh is the embodiment of the Cuu-Trung-Dai at the Hiep-Thien-Dai.

Thuong-Sanh and his four collaborators of the Temporal Power must take an oath of impartiality during the exercise of their functions.

Aside from the High Dignitaries whose powers are decided by the Supreme Master, there are other members of the Hiep-Thien-Dai who are under the authority of the Ho-Phap, such as the “Bao-Van-Phap-Quan” (Conservator of Arts and Literature), the “Bao-Sanh-Quan” (Protector of Public Relief), the “Bao-Hoc-Quan” (Protector of Teaching) and other members of the academy whose arrival is expected by Ho-Phap.

Divine Text : I advise you to maintain your impartiality in the exercise of your functions. Do not forget that anyone who has great power has a heavy burden of responsibility.

Commentary : This admonition from Our Divine Master is the basis for the Pope Li-Tai-Pe's requirement that all the Dignitaries of the Hiep-Thien-Dai should swear an oath of impartiality before the Priesthood during the exercise of the duties. And to indicate the greatness of their power, the Pope gives to each of them a sash of command. Wherever they may be, when they wear this sash to carry out their duties, all dignitaries and adepts must obey them in every detail. The Priesthood alone has the right to decide their degree of guilt if they are at fault.

On reception of legislative power from the Hiep-Thien-Dai all dignitaries must likewise take an oath of impartiality. The “Bao-Van-Phap-Quan” (Conservator of Arts and Literature) must also take an oath of fidelity to the Temple of the Divine Alliance.

Contents

POWERS OF CUU-TRUNG-DAI / EXECUTIVE BODY

RELIGIOUS VESTMENTS OF THE DIGNITARIES OF THE COLLEGE OF MEN OF THE CUU-TRUNG-DAI

DIGNITARIES OF THE COLLEGE OF WOMEN

LAW FOR THE ELECTION OF THE DIGNITARIES OF THE CUU-TRUNG-DAI

POWERS OF THE HIEP-THIEN-DAI / LEGISLATIVE BODY

CEREMONIAL DRESS OF THE DIGNITARIES OF THE HIEP-THIEN-DAI

NEXT