Syncretist modern Vietnamese religious movement with a strongly nationalist political character.
Cao Dai draws on ethical precepts from Confucianism , occult practices from Daoism , theories of karma and rebirth from Buddhism , and hierarchical organization (including a pope) from Roman Catholicism . It was formally established in 1926 by Ngo Van Chieu (1878–1926?), a colonial administrator in French Indochina who professed to have had a communication from the supreme deity. The movement met with resistance from the Vietnamese government both before and after the communist takeover in 1975. It was reported to have some three million adherents in Vietnam and abroad in the early 21st century.