Invited for the First Time to Co-organize an International Daoist Seminar in China

The Slovenian Daoist Temple of Supreme Harmony was invited to co-organize the first International Seminar Quan Zhen Yun Gao Gong Xue / 江西省首届(2024)道教全真正韵高功学(国际)研修班 (The First International Study Program of the Quanzhen Daoist School for Liturgical Chanting (zhenyun) and Advanced Priest Training (gaogong) in Jiangxi Province).

The seminar took place from July 10 to October 6, 2024, at Chongdao Gong, in the Xuhuashan mountains above the city of Yichun. Under the auspices of the World Federation of Daoism and the Jiangxi Provincial Daoist Association, the main role in organizing the training at the international seminar was taken by Chongdao Gong and the Yichun Prefecture Daoist Association, while the Slovenian Daoist Temple of Supreme Harmony was invited as co-organizer. Our logos appeared in the headers of the documents.

Those who completed the study requirements received the Jiangxi Provincial Daoist Complete True Rhyme High Gongxue (International) Training Course Completion Certificate in Chinese and English, issued by the Jiangxi Daoist Association, the Yichun Daoist Association, and the Slovenian Daoist Temple of Supreme Harmony from the Republic of Slovenia.

For the first time in history, Slovenia, through its Daoist religious community, participated on an equal footing in an international training program held in China. 

All of this was made possible by the sister-temple agreement we signed at Maoshan in September 2023, which committed us to three years of cooperation.

From the instructor team responsible for the seminar program, the following were present throughout: Abbot Song Chongdao (宋崇道), who coordinated and led the entire program; master Tian Chongqi (田崇其), who taught ritual chanting and Daoist recitations; ritual master Huang Chengxian (黄诚显), who taught Daoist ritual and work with instruments; and Jure Čeh (袁微琪), who led the participants’ daily morning physical practice.

Who is a Gaogong 高功:

Within Chinese Daoism, especially in the Quanzhen Daoism tradition, the term “高功” (gaogong) denotes a high-ranking ritual specialist who serves as the principal leader of liturgical rites (zhaijiao 斋醮). 

In contemporary religious studies, especially within the anthropology of religion, a gaogong is understood as a ritual mediator between the human and transcendent worlds, and at the same time as a bearer of institutional
authority within a monastery or wider religious community, as well as a guardian of orthopraxy—that is, the correct and normatively defined performance of rituals. 

It is essential to emphasize that the legitimacy of a gaogong does not arise merely from acquired knowledge or
technical skills, but above all from lineage transmission (传承), which ensures the continuity of the tradition, and from appropriate ritual initiation, which places the individual within a valid religious and symbolic hierarchy.