Ngô Văn Chiêu (28 February 1878 – 1932) was the first disciple of Đức

Cao Đài Caodaism ( vi, Đạo Cao Đài, Chữ Hán: ) is a monotheistic syncretic new religious movement officially established in the city of Tây Ninh in southern Vietnam in 1926. The full name of the religion is (The Great Faith or theThird Un ...

. His religious name is Ngô Minh Chiêu.Serguei A. Blagov Caodaism: Vietnamese Traditionalism and Its Leap Into Modernity "Ngô Văn Chiêu - Atomization of Caodaist movement commenced when the first disciple of the new doctrine, Ngô Minh Chiêu, broke away. He left Phò Loan on April 24, 1926, rejected their seance pronouncements and chose his own mediums, usually young"

Life

He was born in 1878 and raised by his aunt. He developed an interest in

Chinese folk religion Chinese folk religion, also known as Chinese popular religion comprehends a range of traditional religious practices of Han Chinese, including the Chinese diaspora. Vivienne Wee described it as "an empty bowl, which can variously be filled ...

during this period. Later he served in the colonial bureaucracy and developed a fascination with

spiritism Spiritism (French: ''spiritisme''; Portuguese: ''espiritismo'') is a spiritualist, religious, and philosophical doctrine established in France in the 1850s by the French teacher, educational writer, and translator Hippolyte Léon Denizard R ...

. He declined his appointment as the first Caodaiist Pope and was not involved in the official establishment of Caodaiism in 1926. Instead, he chose to withdraw to a life of seclusion. Thus, the role went to Venerable Lê Văn Trung, who accepted on the condition that his title be Acting Pope. In 1926, Lê Văn Trung and over two hundred others signed the "Declaration of the Founding of the Cao Đài Religion"; Chieu was not among the signers. He had accepted another entity as Đức Cao Đài and is credited as founder of the Chiếu Minh sect of Caodaiism. He died at 3:00 PM, 18-4-1932.

References

External links

Cao Dai page at Religious MovementsPartial at Britannica
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ngo, Van Chieu 1878 births 1932 deaths Vietnamese Caodaists Founders of new religious movements Date of death missing