ID48837 - Chương : 88. Why was the poet Li Bai chosen as the Giáo-Tông (Pope) of the Great Way of the Third Universal Salvation (Đại Đạo Tam Kỳ Phổ Độ)?
Sách : 99 Questions and Answers to Understand the Great Way of the Third Period of Salvation
Tác Giả : Tùng Thiên Từ Bạch Hạc
Question 88: Why was the poet Li Bai chosen as the Giáo-Tông (Pope) of the Great Way of the Third Universal Salvation (Đại Đạo Tam Kỳ Phổ Độ)?
Question 88: Why was the poet Li Bai chosen as the Giáo-Tông (Pope) of the Great Way of the Third Universal Salvation (Đại Đạo Tam Kỳ Phổ Độ)?
Caodaists worship the true spirit (chơn linh) of Li Bai as the Giáo-Tông of the Cao Đài Religion; we do not worship the historical poet Li Bai as the Giáo-Tông.
The true spirit of Thái Bạch is a divine force of the Supreme Being, existing since the dawn of creation. This is similar to the case of Đức Hộ Pháp.
The Golden Star manifests, taking on the duty of the Celestial Palace.
With the power entrusted by the Heavenly Court,
He guides and leads the star-spirits across Heaven and Earth.”
Based on these four verses, we may understand that His origin springs from the vast and sacred reservoir of primordial spirit — the Supreme Ultimate — manifesting as an immeasurably radiant, pure-white energy.
(According to the Hán–Việt Dictionary by Nguyễn Văn Khôn, 1969: “Thái” means immensely great; “Bạch” means white, clear, bright.)
Thus, at the beginning of the cosmos, He bore no personal name, yet His divine authority was boundless (as the remaining three verses indicate). Through ages beyond reckoning, until the time when:
Then in the Tang dynasty He descended in human form.
Thái Bạch Kim Tinh now governs on high,
And through the long night the Moon’s child visits the earthly realm.”
Only then did the title Thái Bạch appear, during the age of Phong Thần. In the Tang dynasty, He projected a portion of His true spirit to incarnate as the great poet Li Bai.
Today, we honor Him by the earthly name He once bore in that incarnation — Li Bai, the illustrious literary figure of the Tang dynasty.
We borrow that earthly life of His as a symbolic vessel to revere the sacred and exalted divine authority under the title: LÝ ĐẠI TIÊN TRƯỞNG KIÊM GIÁO TÔNG ĐẠI ĐẠO TAM KỲ PHỔ ĐỘ
He has fulfilled — and continues to fulfill — His charge:
In this Third Amnesty to deliver and guide all primordial souls.”
