宗教 Religions

分享兩個在越南的宗教小記

高台教是1925年12月25日在越南正式創立的新興宗教,總部在越南南部的西寧。還記得我們在胡志明市有一天的當地遊被攪錯了嗎?結果我們到不了西寧的高台廟參觀,只在下午去了古芝地道。

到了峴港,這裡有高台教的第二大的廟宇,自然去看了。

去之前,我們沒有做資料蒐集,這些資料都是事後讀的….廟的外表沒什麼,有點中西合璧的感覺,但進到內殿,被嚇一跳,因為廟的祭壇後方是一隻很大的眼睛,在一個大的藍色球體上…說實在的,我感覺很詭異,也立即想到二十世紀少年。

據維基百科所載,這是天眼,是象徵高台神的符號,是神的左眼。

我們知道六點會有祈禱 (每天0000, 0600, 1200 和1800會有祈禱),在那邊等著,信徒身穿白袍,赤腳走入廟內,過程也是諗經之類,站或跪。

其他教義我沒有看得很懂,就不搬字過紙了,有興趣的可請教谷歌老師。

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占婆 

占婆族其實是很久以前在越南中部和柬埔寨一帶的民族,其宗教很接近我們之前在吳哥窟看的印度教。在會安附近有一景點「美山」,就有一建築群,但因去年已到過了偉大的吳哥窟,所以這次略過了。

也是在峴港,到了占婆博物館,這博物館不是很充實,我們唯一的發現是原來占婆的印度教,和柬埔寨看過的有些變化。

印度教主要的神話角色都差不多,但面貌不盡相同,好像占婆的比較圓潤可愛。另外,我們最大的發現是在柬埔寨的印度教,往往會出現「林伽」, 是男性的性徵; 而在占婆族的印度教裏,他們創造了很多女性的神,當中也包括了用女性的乳房所代表的女性神,照片中的眾多乳房就挺有趣的。

by: Jo

Sharing some observations on religions in Vietnam

Cao Dai is a new region founded on 25 Dec 1925 in Tay Ninh, a city near HCMC.  Remember our one day tour was screwed when we were in HCMC?  We miss the visit to the HQ of Cao Dai temple in Tay Ninh as a result, and ended up only to Cu Chi tunnels.

When we arrived in Danang, we noticed that the biggest Cao Dai temple outside of Tay Ninh is here, so we must not miss it this time.

Again, we did not do any research before going, all the information I have here is collected afterwards. The outlook of the temple is a bit of a crossover of oriental and western architecture, but nothing too special about it.  But I was a little bit shocked when I got inside the temple.  There is a huge blue sphere behind altar with a big eye on the sphere.  Honestly, I find this a bit scary and also made me think about the Japanese comics “20^th century boys”.

According to Wiki, this is the symbol of Cao Dai, the left eye of God.

We know that there will be prayer time (everyday, prayer time at 0000, 0600, 1200, 1800), so we waited.  The followers wear white robes and enter the temple bare footed.  They are praying, standing and kneeling down.

I don’t think I can understand everything about Cao Dai, if you find it interesting, learn more from Google.

Champa

Champa is the people who settled in Central Vietnam and Cambodia many years ago.  Their religion is very similar to the Hindu religion we saw in Cambodia last year.  There is a tourist spot “My Son” near Hoi An which has a few Hindu temples but we have skipped this since we already seen the Angkor Wat last year.

In Danang as well, we went to visit the Cham museum, which is not too informative but we noticed something interesting and different from what we saw in Cambodia.

We see most of the familiar Hindu gods but their appearance are slightly different.  Looks more rounded and cute in the Champa world.  In addition, with Hindu in Cambodia, you see a lot of Linga (man’s sexual representation), while in the Champa world, they created female version of some of the Hindu gods and in particular, they uses the women’s breast to represent the female god.  This is not something that exists in Hindu in Cambodia.                                  

by: Jo