Daoist Foundation美国道教基金会（Daoist Foundation）

Type

Overseas Daoist Temples

Location

United States · California · San Diego · Founded in 2007 on Chicago's North Shore, Illinois; later relocated to San Diego, California, with its founder

First built

2007 · Founded in September 2007 by Louis Komjathy (Kang Sixi) and Kate Townsend

Overview

The US Daoist Foundation was founded in September 2007 by the Daoist studies scholar Louis Komjathy (Kang Sixi) and Kate Townsend, registered as a 501(c)(3) religious and educational nonprofit corporation. Its purpose is to promote serious study and practice of Daoism and to preserve Daoist traditional culture and knowledge; its organizational structure is built around the Three Treasures of Dao, scripture, and teacher — the Dao as cosmological foundation, the scriptures as the basis of doctrine, and the transmission from teacher to disciple as the channel of continuity. Louis Komjathy is the author of monographs such as The Daoist Tradition and Cultivating Perfection, and has long compiled the Daoist Organizations in North America directory, making him one of the few scholars in the English-language academic world who combines research with actual practice. The foundation maintains no temple and performs no image worship, and is an academically and practice-oriented Daoist organization, belonging to a system distinct from the incense-and-altar temples of Chinese communities — a distinction that should be observed in this entry.

Highlights

• Founded in 2007 by the scholars Louis Komjathy and Kate Townsend
• Organized around the Three Treasures of Dao, scripture, and teacher
• Compiles the Daoist Organizations in North America directory
• Academically and practice-oriented, with no image worship