Phạm Công Tắc

Hộ Pháp ("Defender of the Doctrine", commonly translated as “Pope”) Phạm Công Tắc (1890–1959), was one of the most important leaders in the establishment, construction, development and consolidation of the system of the Cao Đài religion. This religion was founded in 1926.

Of the first twelve disciples, he was the most important leaders of Cao Đài, a new religion, in the process of construction and perfection of the religious mechanism. He was leader of the Tây Ninh branch, the dominant branch of Cao Đài in southern Vietnam. His authority, however, was not uncontested.

In 1925, he and his two colleagues (Cao Quynh Cu and Cao Hoai Sang) tried to contact with spiritual entities through spirit communications. Using table-tapping, they got messages, first from their deceased relatives, then from Saints, and eventually from God. They all were admitted to be God's first disciples in the Third Religious Amnesty.

On 25-4-1926, eighteen mediums were chosen by God to spread His teachings and carry out His instructions. Of those, Phạm Công Tắc was the most important medium. It was he who wrote out the Cao Đài Religious Constitution and most of the Scriptures currently worshipped by Caodaiists. He was promoted to Hộ Pháp, one of the top-ranking posts of the clergy.

In 1927, transferred to Cambodia by the colonial government, he seized the opportunity to establish Cao Đài Foreign Missions under spiritual guidance.

After acting Giáo Tông Lê Văn Trung’s death, he became the religious head and established a number of other religious organs. Arguably, most of the relatively complex religious structure owed him the full development as we know it.

He himself both gave the order to begin the construction of the Tây Ninh Holy See and later officiated the inauguration. Without this temple, Cao Đài might not have become a well-organized religion. Furthermore, other buildings and houses were set up under his supervision, including The Temple Of Intuition, The Temple of Enlightenment, Long Hoa Market, The Temple of Acknowledgement, The Temple of the Goddess. Others were planned for more favorable conditions such as The Temple of Thousands of Dharma, The Main Entrance Avenue, Cao Đài University which have not been started (2007).

In addition to the responsibilities of religious leadership, he was a true missionary who, in the name of God, preached the new doctrines. Not to mention numerous religious speeches, he gave speeches on The Holy Never Pathway and Esoteric Practice which were shorthanded by stenographists and published in 1970. These documents were considered among the most significant scriptures due to their content of Cao Đài philosophy as well as the ways of religious practice.

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