Interesting, but I find its description contradictory.
According to Cao Dai, before God existed, there was the Tao, that nameless, formless, unchanging, eternal source referenced in the Tao Te Ching. Then, a Big Bang occurred, out of which God was born (emanationism). The universe could not yet be formed and to do so, God created yin and yang. He took control of yang and shed a part of himself, creating the Goddess to preside over yin. In the presence of yin and yang, the universe was materialized. The Goddess is, literally, the mother of the myriad of things in the Universe. Thus, Caodaiists worship not only God, the father, but also the Goddess, literally refer to as the Mother Buddha. Note that God's importance and role is higher than that of the Mother Buddha. Also, the Mother Buddha is male, as are all buddhas. The Mother Buddha only oversees yin and is not a part of yin, which is female.
There are 36 levels of heaven and 72 planets harboring intelligent life, with number one being the closest to heaven and 72 nearest to Hell. Earth is number 68. It is said that even the lowest citizen on planet 67 would not trade place with a king on 68 and so forth.
First it says that there is this formless source, and then God emerges from this source. If God is the creator, and if he emerged from this source, then he can't be God. The formless source is the true God.
In any case, Buddhism cannot accept and does not believe in a personal creator.
Regarding personal God does not exist according to Buddhism, I have posted this
before regarding Buddhism and God (now updated a little):
------------------
First of all Buddhism does not accept the Judeo-Christian or other
theistic religions' idea that there is a personal Creator, means
the Old Testament kind of God that has a personality of its own..
and you can actually meet him up for coffee Mr. Green. If there is
a personal Creator it brings a lot of questions into mind.
Therefore, Albert Einstein supposedly said (though whether he
really said it I do not know),
"Buddhism has the characteristics of what would be expected in a
cosmic religion for the future: it transcends a personal God,
avoids dogmas and theology; it covers both the natural &
spiritual, and it is based on a religious sense aspiring from the
experience of all things, natural and spiritual, as a meaningful
unity"
and..
“If there is any religion that would cope with modern scientific
needs it would be Buddhism.”
Regarding the question of Personal God in Buddhism,
Quote:
Originally posted by An Eternal Now:
Slightly edited from the first topic in our forum regarding
Creationism: How the Brahma believed He was God?
In Buddha's days there were many many different teachings, one
popular one was Brahmanism. In fact the Brahma was still worshipped
nowadays. Brahma was known to be "The Supreme One, the All-mighty,
the All-seeing, the Ruler, the Lord of all, the Maker, the Creator,
the Chief of All".
In Buddhism, the Mahabrahma resides in the 1st Jhana plane, the
first plane among the 8 jhanic planes. There were higher realms
above where he lives that he was unaware of, and above it all,
beyond the 8 Jhanic planes and all Samsaric planes, is Nirvana.
Nevertheless all the devas below the 1st Jhana planes considered
him as the Creator God. Buddha did not subscribe to the belief of
such a notion that the Universe and its Inhabitants were the
Creation of the Mahabrahma. He met with the Brahma, asked him
questions which he could not answer. Eventually he has taken refuge
in the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha.
The Buddha was also known to have said this,
If the creator of the world entire
They call God, of every being be the Lord
Why does he order such misfortune
If the creator of the world entire
They call God, of every being be the Lord
Why prevail deceit, lies and ignorance
And he such inequity and injustice create?
If the creator of the world entire
They call God, of every being be the Lord
Then an evil master is he, (O Aritta)
Knowing what's right did let wrong prevail!
When the previous universe was destroyed and this universe was
formed, the Mahabrahma was first to be reborn. Other subsequent
brahmas/devas were to be reborn.
'On this, brethren, the one who was first reborn thinks thus to
himself: " I am Brahmà, the Great Brahmà, the Supreme One, the
Mighty, the All-seeing, the Ruler, the Lord of all, the Maker, the
Creator, the Chief of all, appointing to each his place, the
Ancient of days the Father of all that are and are to be. 'These
other beings are of my creation. And why is that so? A while ago I
thought, 'Would that they might come!' And on my mental aspiration,
behold the beings came." DN 1 2:5
In reality, the universe works by the law of Karma and he has no
control over the system of karma.
The Venerable Ledi Sayadaw, a highly renowned Myanmar scholar-monk
of the first part of this century, gave a careful analysis of the
powers of Maha Brahma in his Niyama Dipani (MB pp. 138-39). He
states that although Maha Brahma can perform all sorts of
transformations, he cannot actually create independent creatures,
change the kammic law of cause and effect, or keep anyone from
growing old or dying. Brahma can use his special powers to
transport a man to the brahma plane for a short visit, but he
cannot ensure that someone will be reborn there.
from http://www.jenchen.org.sg/vol5no3f.htm:
When he came to know about Sakyamuni Buddha in the human world who
speaks of the universal truth, he was curious and arrived at the
human world with the intention to debate with the Buddha. The
Buddha, with his ability to know another's mind, knew his intention
and asked, "You claim to be the creator of the human race and all
things in the universe, is this a fact?"
The king replied, "Yes, it is."
Buddha continued to question him, "Since you created life, why did
you also create death? Is death created by you too?"
The king paused for while, and thinking that everyone loves life
and nobody welcomes death, he replied, "I did not create
death."
Buddha asked him again, "All human beings experience sickness, did
you create sickness also?" The king knew that nobody likes to be
ill, and he replied, "I did not create illness."
Buddha asked many questions in succession, but the king denied that
he created them. Eventually, he admitted that he did not create the
universe and all things in it, and certainly not the human race.
The king of heavens was full of regrets and he felt ashamed.
Finally, he accepted Buddha as his teacher and invited Him to
spread the Dharma in the heavens.
http://www.mahindarama.com/e-library/whybuddhism2.html
"To those who talked about the first cause of this world, the
Buddha responded by saying that it is impossible to find a first
cause since everything is changing, interdependent and conditioned
by other things. Something that acts as the cause in the present
may become the effect in the future. Later that same effect may
again become the cause. Such phenomenon continues ad infinitum. It
is called the universal law of Anicca or
impermanency.”
----------------------
In Visuddhimagga XIX:
Everywhere, in all the realms of existence, the noble disciple
sees only mental and corporeal phenomena kept going through the
concatenation of causes and effects. No producer of the
volitional act or kamma does he see apart from the kamma, no
recipient of the kamma-result apart from the result. And he is
well aware that wise men are using merely conventional language,
when, with regard to a kammical act, they speak of a doer, or
with regard to a kamma-result, they speak of the recipient of the
result.
No doer of the deeds is found,
No one who ever reaps their fruits;
Empty phenomena roll on:
This only is the correct view.
And while the deeds and their results
Roll on and on, conditioned all,
There is no first beginning found,
Just as it is with seed and tree. ...
No god, no Brahma, can be called
The maker of this wheel of life:
Empty phenomena roll on,
Dependent on conditions all.
----------------------
In Buddhism, we
believe that pondering over such things brings no benefits at all
to our spiritual practice, enlightenment, and liberation from
samsara.
Kinds of speech to be avoided by contemplatives
"Whereas some priests and contemplatives, living off food given in
faith, are addicted to talking about lowly topics such as these --
talking about kings, robbers, ministers of state; armies, alarms,
and battles; food and drink; clothing, furniture, garlands, and
scents; relatives; vehicles; villages, towns, cities, the
countryside; women and heroes; the gossip of the street and the
well; tales of the dead; tales of diversity [philosophical
discussions of the past and future], the creation of the world and
of the sea, and talk of whether things exist or not -- he abstains
from talking about lowly topics such as these. This, too, is part
of his virtue.
"Whereas some priests and contemplatives, living off food given in
faith, are addicted to debates such as these -- 'You understand
this doctrine and discipline? I'm the one who understands this
doctrine and discipline. How could you understand this doctrine and
discipline? You're practicing wrongly. I'm practicing rightly. I'm
being consistent. You're not. What should be said first you said
last. What should be said last you said first. What you took so
long to think out has been refuted. Your doctrine has been
overthrown. You're defeated. Go and try to salvage your doctrine;
extricate yourself if you can!' -- he abstains from debates such as
these. This, too, is part of his virtue."
-- DN 2
Ten wholesome topics of conversation
"There are these ten topics of [proper] conversation. Which ten?
Talk on modesty, on contentment, on seclusion, on non-entanglement,
on arousing persistence, on virtue, on concentration, on
discernment, on release, and on the knowledge & vision of
release. These are the ten topics of conversation. If you were to
engage repeatedly in these ten topics of conversation, you would
outshine even the sun & moon, so mighty, so powerful -- to say
nothing of the wanderers of other sects."
-- AN X.69
-------
"Malunkhyaputta Sutta stresses that whether the universe was
created or uncreated, finite or infinite, is irrelevant to our main
spiritual concerns: the cause and cessation of suffering:
"Therefore Malunkhyaputta, bear the undeclared as undeclared.
Malunkhyaputta, what are the not declared? The world is eternal, is
not declared by me. The world is not eternal, is not declared by
me. They are not essential for the principles of the holy life,
they do not lead to turning away, to detachment, to cessation, to
appeasement, to realisation, to enlightenment and to extinction.
Malunkhyaputta, what are the declared by me? This, is unpleasant,
is declared. This, is its arising, is declared. This, is its
cessation is declared. This is the path to its cessation, is
declared. Malunkhyaputta, why are these declared by me? These are
the essentials for the principles of the holy life; they lead to
turning away, to detachment, to cessation, to appeasement, to
realisation, to enlightenment and to extinction. Malunkhyaputta, I
declare them." MN 64"
Therefore in Buddhism, the question of God is irrelevant and not
given importance. Instead, like a scientist, the Buddha encouraged
the Buddhist practitioners to find out for themselves the truths
that the Buddha said, to put it to test, and to see for ourselves,
and to get enlightened. Buddhism does not encourage any blind
belief and dogmas (see Kalama Sutra), and also encourages
analytical questioning -- whether this teaching actually helps
us.
Quote:
Kalama Sutra
"Rely not on the teacher/person, but on the teaching. Rely not on
the words of the teaching, but on the
spirit of the words. Rely not on theory, but on experience.Do not
believe in anything simply because you
have heard it. Do not believe in traditions because they have been
handed down for many generations. Do
not believe anything because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do
not believe in anything because it is
written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely
on the authority of your teachers and
elders. But after observation and analysis, when you find that
anything agrees with reason and is
conducive to the good and the benefit of one and all, then accept
it and live up to it."
- the Buddha
Note: this is just a summary, please read the entire sutra here:
http://buddhism.kalachakranet.org/resources/kalama_sutra.htm
l
-------------------------
There are countless enlightened persons from Buddha's times till
today, some of them even posting in this forum (not me), who have
awakened to the ultimate reality and seen for themselves the truths
that the Buddha taught. Beliefs in divine etc are not important and
irrelevant in Buddhism, Buddhism being a man-centered (means having
great love and compassion for all sentient being, as well as to
practise for one's own spiritual development) rather than
God-centered teaching, which is a reason why it is the only
religion that does not have a history of having fought religious
wars, --
Quote:
No fanaticism
Of Buddhism alone can it be affirmed it is free from all
fanaticism. Its aim being to produce in every man a thorough
internal transforming by self-conquest, how can it have recourse to
might or money or even persuasion for effecting conversion? The
Buddha has only shown the way to salvation, and it is left to each
individual to decide for himself if he would follow it.
- Prof. Lakshmi Narasu, "The Essence of Buddhism"