Before establishing the Laws and Rules of the Temple of the Divine
Alliance, Our Divine Master recommended as follows : “Let all
the disciples obey my will.” This shows how important the role of the
Hiep-Thien-Dai is. Why this importance? We will explain it herewith.
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.
WHO IS THE HO-PHAP?
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.
WHO IS THUONG-PHAM?
(Leader of the Spiritual Realm)
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.
WHO IS THE THUONG-SANH?
(Leader of the Temporal Realm)
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.
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