Cao Dai

Cao Đài, a relatively new, syncretist, monotheistic religion, was officially established in the city of Tây Ninh, southern Vietnam, in 1926. Đạo Cao Đài is it's shortened name. The full name is Đại Đạo Tam Kỳ Phổ Độ (Great Religion [of The] Third Period [of] Revelation [and] Salvation). Cao Đài literally means "high place." Figuratively, it means that highest place that God reigns. Caodaiists frequently use the term Đức Cao Đài (Venerable Cao Dai) as an abbreviated name for God, who is the creator of the universe, whose full title is Cao Đài Tiên Ông Đại Bồ Tát Ma-ha-tát (translation: Cao Dai the Ancient Sage and Great Bodhisattva Mahasattva). According to Caodaiists, the full title was chosen by God because within it are representations of Three Teachings: Saint, Sage and Buddha.

Caodaiists always credit God as the religion's founder. They believe all the teachings, symbolism and organization are communicated directly from God. Even construction of the Tây Ninh Holy See is claimed to have had guidance from God. Cao Đài's first disciples were Ngô Văn Chiêu, Cao Quỳnh Cư, Phạm Công Tắc and Cao Hoài Sang. They claimed to have received direct communications from God, giving them instructions for establishing a religion that would commence the Third Era of Religious Amnesty.
Followers engage in practices such as prayer, veneration of ancestors, nonviolence, and vegetarianism with the goal of rejoining God the in Heaven and also the goal of freedom from the cycle of birth and death. Estimates of the number of Cao Đài followers in Vietnam vary, but most sources say 2 to 3 million. However, some are as high as 8 million. In additional, 30,000 (numbers may vary) (primarily ethnic Vietnamese) live in the United States, Europe, and Australia
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Origin of God and the Universe

According to Cao Dai, before God existed, there Tao, a nameless, formless, unchanging, eternal source referenced in Tao Te Ching. Later, a Big Bang occurred, and God was born (emanationism). The universe couldn't yet be formed and to do so, God created the yin and yang. He then took control of yang and shed a part of himself, becoming the Goddess presiding over yin. Through presence of yin and yang, the universe was materialized. The Goddess is the literal mother of the myriad of things in the Universe. Therefore, Caodaiists worship not only God, but also the Goddess, literally refered to as Mother Buddha. God's importance and role however is higher than that of the Mother Buddha. Also, Mother Buddha, is a part of Yang, and therefore, is male. Yin is the female side, and the Mother Buddha only oversees Yin, and is not a part of Yin.
Heaven consists of 32 levels and 72 planets containing intelligent life, with number one being closest to heaven and 72 closest to Hell. Earth happens to be number 68. It is said that the lowest citizen on planet 67 would never trade place with a even a king on 68 and so forth.