Stone Valley Abode
Stone Valley Abode 石谷館 (SVA), the name of our new Daoist sanctuary and retreat center, is currently being established in partnership with Stone Bowl Farm 石碗農場 (SBF; West Pawlet, Vermont). Lovingly tended to by Lauryn Axelrod over the last seven years, the Farm is a beautiful pastoral location rooted in a land conservation and wildlife protection ethic.
As the name suggests, SBF and SVA are set in Vermont’s Stone Valley surrounded by the Adirondack, Green, and Taconic mountains and at the intersection of the Flower Brook and Mettawee River watersheds. This southern area of Vermont, affectionately referred to as “The Shires” and “Lake District,” is now the home of our local Daoist center focused on tradition-based Daoist practice-realization, teacher and clerical training, as well as education, research, and translation. It also is the location of the American Daoist Seminary 美國道教學院 (ADS) and the headquarters of the Clarity-and-Stillness Order 清靜道 (CSO). As such, the Abode is one of the few global Daoist sacred sites and place-specific Daoist communities outside of the Chinese cultural sphere. In addition to hosting Daoist Foundation retreats, Stone Valley Abode will be a venue for other Daoist gatherings and events as well as for inter-spiritual retreats, especially through the Three Mountains New Monastic Community 三山社 (TMC) under the direction of Lauryn Axelrod. Visit our Gallery for a glimpse of Daoist life here. More to follow…
You can help us foster authentic Daoist community and culture in America by making a tax-deductible donation to the Daoist Foundation, assisting further networking with potential benefactors and partners, and identifying relevant grants and funding sources. For major contributions, please schedule a meeting with our Directors. We appreciate any and all support.
American Daoist Seminary
The American Daoist Seminary 美國道教學院 (ADS; a.k.a. American Daoist Academy [ADA]) is our formal Daoist school and program intended to provide deeper and more complete Daoist religious training. The full program consists of two years, with an optional third year. The Seminary is in its formative moments, with the full Daoist Studies curriculum currently in development. We will begin taking applications in summer of 2024, and then admit the first cohort (15 individuals maximum) and commence the formal program in September of 2024. A new cohort will be accepted in autumn of each subsequent year. The program will begin as a remote offering in order to accommodate people from different geographical regions. However, we hope eventually to have a residential option. For more information, please visit our American Daoist Seminary page.
Center for Daoist Studies
The Center for Daoist Studies 道學中心 (CDS) is the education and research branch of the Daoist Foundation. It also houses the Daoist Studies Archive 道學檔案館 (DSA). It is under the direction of Dr. Louis Komjathy 康思奇 (Ph.D., Religious Studies; Boston University), the founding Co-director, Chóngxuán 重玄 Chair, and Distinguished Scholar-in-Residence at the Foundation. The Center has a variety of projects underway, including collecting, cataloguing, indexing, and translating Daoist materials. We also plan to host and sponsor public talks on Daoism. We are further working to establish a formal Scholars-in-Residence (SIR) program for Daoist researchers and translators. Read CDS Approach to Daoist Studies.
Clarity-and-Stillness Order
The Clarity-and-Stillness Order 清靜道 (CSO) is a Daoist mountain contemplative and New Monastic order established by Louis Komjathy 修靜 and Kate Townsend 抱靜, the founding Co-directors and senior teachers at the Foundation. It is specifically inspired by the anonymous eighth-century Qīngjìng jīng 清靜經 (Scripture on Clarity and Stillness; HDP #4). Individuals who complete investiture training through our American Daoist Seminary 美國道教學院 (ADS) will receive ordination in both the Huàshān 華山 (Mount Hua) lineage and the Clarity-and-Stillness Order.
Daoist Associations
Our new and primary Daoist association (dàohuì 道會) is the Green Mountain Daoist Association 青山會 (GMDA),* which is the name of our place-specific Daoist community located on Stone Bowl Farm 石碗農場 (SBF; West Pawlet, Vermont). The community elders and caretakers of our earlier Gallagher Cove Daoist Association 葛灣會 (GCDA; Olympia, Washington) are in the process of relocating to St. Ignatius, Montana, where we hope to establish a new association. We also are in the process of reactivating our Floating Bridge Daoist Association 浮橋會 (FBDA), which is the name for our traveling retreat community. Finally, we have begun accepting networking and facilitation requests from individuals outside the United States to establish study and practice groups based on our Daoist approach, teachings, and materials.
*Note that, following early Quánzhēn 全眞 (Complete Perfection) Daoism, we use dàohuì 道會 (lit., “meeting of the Dao”), or “Way-Gathering” for short. This stands in contrast to the modern dàojiào xiéhuì 道教協會 (lit., “Daoism society”), which technically is a mainland Chinese bureaucratic designation indicating supervision by the Bureau of Religious Affairs 國家宗教事務局 and thus affiliation with the Chinese Communist state.
