HistoryConsecration of the Slovenian Daoist Temple of Supreme Harmony
On October 23, 2024, the Temple of Supreme Harmony in Koper was consecrated by Abbot Song Chongdao of Chongdao Gong. The ceremony was attended by the Rector of the Slovenian Daoist Temple Jure Čeh, Vice-rector Darija Mavrič Čeh, Dean Miha Virant, and other members of STD and teachers from the Qilab Vital Energy Laboratory Tamara Ćopić, Emina Trstenjak, Maj Dolšak Fabris, and Rudi Bučar.
After the consecration, Abbot Song Chongdao, President of the Yichun Daoist Association, gave a lecture at the University of Primorska on The Impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on the Ethics of Daoism. See the link: https://fhs.upr.si/kitajska-delegacija-menihov-iz-daoisticnega-templja-obiskala-univerzo-na-primorskem/
The following day, on October 24, 2024, Professor Li Shaohua, President of the Jiangxi Daoist Association, presented reflections at the Faculty of Theology in Ljubljana on The Positive Role of Daoist Culture in Shaping a Shared Future for Humanity. See the link: https://www.teof.uni-lj.si/mednarodni-dnevi-daoisticne-kulture-2024
On the final day, October 25, 2024, the International Daoist Days 2024 took place in Celje. The local St. Joseph’s Home hosted an international scientific symposium on the theme Ethics and Religion in the Age of Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence / Digitalization and AI as Challenges for Ethics and Religion. Abbot Song Chongdao, as one of the international lecturers, gave a lecture on “The Impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on the Ethics of Religion.” See the link: https://www.teof.uni-lj.si/uploads/TEOF_MZK%20Celje%202024-10-21%20kor%202.pdf
With Abbot Song Chongdao, we signed a cooperation agreement for 2025 on Bled Island.
We established good relations and cooperation with the Faculty of Theology of the University of Ljubljana in the scientific field. We contributed two articles to the scientific journal Edinost in dialog .
The title of the first is A Brief Meditation on Taoist Prayer by Stephen R. Bokenkamp, and the second is A Brief Review of Taoist Blessings and Rituals Drawing from the Example of the Spring Festival by Dr. Song Chongdao and Jure Čeh. The article offers a brief presentation of Daoist blessings and rituals through the example of the celebration of the Chinese New Year (Spring Festival). It was published in the journal Edinost in dialog, 2024, no. 79/2. See the link: https://www.teof.uni-lj.si/zaloznistvo/edinost-in-dialog/edinost-in-dialog-79-2024-2
During the visit of the Chinese delegation from Chongdao Gong and representatives of Jiangxi Province, we took a photograph in front of the monument to the Slovenian missionary Ferdinand Hallerstein, former head of the Astronomical and Physical Laboratory in Beijing during the reign of Emperor Qianlong.
The events were also attended by high representatives of the Catholic Church (Ljubljana Auxiliary Bishop Msgr. Dr. Anton Jamnik, Assoc. Prof. Mari Jože Osredkar TEOF, Dr. Urška Jeglič TEOF), the University of Primorska (Dr. Neva Čebron, Prof. Dr. Dragan Marušič), the Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to Slovenia, Mr. Wang Shunqing, State Secretary at the Ministry of Culture Matevž Čelik Vidmar, and Mojca Hardi.
We brought the three-day series of events together under the program titled International Days of Daoist Culture 2024. All events were well attended and received considerable attention in Slovenian and Chinese media.
