Hoskins - The Vietnamese Faith (Thur)

[Anonymous]

I like your idea! To be honest, it is hard for me to consider Caodaism as a religion.

[Anonymous]

Caodai is a mixture of multiple religions and beliefs. In one of the slides, there was a carving of religious figures and many of those figures I recognize from Chinese movies. I wonder if there is a community of Caodaists in China and how it similar or different to the Vietnamese version. There was a part of the lecture that I was confused by, "Is there are almost no members of the communist party who are Caodaists"? After this lecture, I going to try and visit the Caodai temple in Orange County to learn more of this religion and it's close to my house.
I think an interesting assignment for students would be to visit/research a religion that they dont have any previous knowledge about and then have them present it to the class.

[Anonymous]

Prof. Hoskins gives an outstanding explanation and analysis of the two very obscured religious practices in Vietnam, Cao Dai and "mother goddess" worship. Her narrative of the videos she shot was fascinating and informative. Equally interesting was that the videos were shot in Southern California. I was surprised to find out that Dao Mau rituals were occuring, in Orange County. Prof. Hoskins offers great resource to teach about personal identity and life aspirations.

[Anonymous]

Who really knows what another individual believes and/or does not believe? If someone does believe, that belief could change. Dr. Meeks articulated that the individual self is dynamic, and constantly fluctuating. The tolerance of Caodaism gives the follower options to adjust as ones beliefs change, whereas most other religions adhere to a strict set of doctrines. Professor Hoskins presentation was enlightening for me, and I plan on visiting a temple soon.
edited by mmadruga on 7/28/2016

[Anonymous]

The new religions which rose from the late 19th century to the 20th century are very interesting and different than traditional religions. They seem more inclusive and open-minded. For me, Caodaism looks still strange, yet it makes me more curious about it. I am personally interested in Garden Grove area, and I might meet who are Caodaists in my classroom.

[Anonymous]

I grew up in Korea and barely moved to the States, but I have been surprised by Pf. Jung-Kim's lecture about Korean Wave. I still don't know why K-XXX are popular in Asia. I think we tend not to pay attention to what we are used to see.

[Anonymous]

At first, I was surprise by the low percentage of people who indicated themselves as Buddhist until Prof. Hoskins explained how the data was recorded. As a little kid in Vietnam, I have seen DaoDai temples and thought they were the same as other Buddhist temples, just more colorful. This is the first time I have heard of both of these religion. It just goes to show how ignorant I've been. This has been an enlightening week!
edited by hlien on 7/28/2016
edited by hlien on 7/28/2016

[Anonymous]

Tagging on, I feel that the potential for debate/discussion/research/presentation with regards to religion and philosophy is somewhat limitless for all students really. Especially in light of what we learned about indigenous Vietnamese religion today. Dao Mao and Caodai each present so much to share and discuss, especially Caodai with its reverence for Victor Hugo and how it seems to try and incorporate a bit of everything! There's a part of me that feels like it was purely a reactionary ideology for the purposes of survival. I can almost imagine once you are part of a Caodai temple, you finally get access to the "real" church behind a false paneled wall, like a speakeasy during prohibition (I mean that with no disrespect). I say that because of how oppressive it must feel to be part of a culture that is perpetually in civil war or occupied by a foreign government, or both, for so long. The diaspora of Vietnamese who are practicing Caodai is incredible; it seems more popular outside of Vietnam for sure, but I wonder how many underground Caodai temples there are in Vietnam (hidden in side Catholic Churches perhaps). While it's far fetched, it's totally fun to think about. Victor Hugo...wow!

[Anonymous]

I liked Proffesor Hoskins' presentation because it was extremely colorful, different from anything I know, and to some point little silly. I had no idea that the Vietnamese religion is such a bouquet of variety of cultures, colors, rituals. Although their costumes, decorations, and rituals look very interesting, I don't think I would ever ask them to predict my future. The whole process looked more like a festival entertainment than a religion. In my classroom the most I probably would do is creating paper decorations of lotus flower, or a serpent.

[Anonymous]

The second part of Dr. Meeks presentation really showed how religion can be transformed from one place to another. As we saw vietnamese religion tried to encompass many religions to recruit more members or to not leave anyone out...

I also noticed how in California the Vietnamese religion focused more on attaining "things" like a husband or a computer. It seemed to me that they focused more on these things due to the influence of the materialist culture in the USA. It would be interesting to compare and contrast the how they practiced the religion here in states as compared to that in Vietnam

[Anonymous]

It is interesting to know about Caodai. I have so many friends that are Vietnamese; they always told me they are Buddhism. I knew their practice was different with the Buddhist in Taiwan, but I didn’t know maybe it may have something else to cause this difference.
edited by ysun on 7/30/2016
edited by ysun on 7/30/2016

[Anonymous]

I was not clicked with this Caodaism to Taiwanese‘s yi-kwan-dao when I heard that from Dr. Hoskins. (She mentioned it) After a few days to figure out what I had learned from her… I finally realized, yes, it is so similar to the people in Taiwan who practice yi-kwan-dao.
Yi-Kwan-Dao means they combined different religions into one. They don’t eat meat, they obey many rules… I was invited to one of their event once, but I was not able to make it. If I went, I guess I am able to understand this much better.
One thing I learned from my yi-kwan-dao friends, they were all so nice and honesty. That make me have so many positive energy grow from these friends.

[Anonymous]

Professor Janet Hoskins gave a presentation on the "indigenous" religions of Vietnam and how those religions moved to the U.S., the historical background, and the growing popularity of the religions in California. Statistics make it difficult to truly understand religion in Vietnam, especially the numbers related to indigenous religion mainly because of political correctness. Religion is identified on the Vietnamese ID card, and there are people who leave it blank, or put Buddhist even though they are not practicing Buddhists. Professor Hoskins says that the Communist Party in Vietnam currently allows religions to exist. Professor Hoskins academic focus is on the faith of Caodaism and Dao Mau.

Caodaism brings European religion and Asian religion together into one. Caodaism is practiced in California and the faithful are growing in numbers in the Southern California region. Dao Mau is also growing in popularity in the Southern California area, and it is more focused female divinities and its specific rituals are becoming more developed. The diaspora of the Vietnamese people allows for traditional local religions to spread, and to maintain a "connectedness" with the homeland on behalf of spiritual followers. It is not therefore, and export, but the religion connects the diaspora to their indigenous roots. An interesting take on Asian religious practices and how those practices move to other countries. This study could be part of a religion unit with specific focus on the movement of indigenous religions and the connection to the greater Los Angeles region.

[Anonymous]

I found Professor Hoskins presentation on indegenous religions interesting. Its seems there is a similarity between indegenours vietnamese beliefs and santaria. For example, both involve a priest or priestess who can call on spirits, both pay tribute through the creation of alters, and both seem to have small group worship (as opposed to larger congregation of catholic/christian churches.) Lastly both stem from indegenous cultures that have been transplanted great distances.

[Anonymous]

This one was perhaps the most surprising. These "garage religions" (funny term) are quite involved and deep. The practitioners are quite devout and I was impressed that the "churches" are handed down to very specific individuals and those up & coming priests are ready for it. I was impressed with the way they took on the spirits that they were working through, like the women who smoked cigarettes to show they are males & other actions they took up to express age & social status.

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