In 2019 the Dojo Zen Barcelona Kannon launched the project Zen Action in the City, with a series of meditations in different parts of Barcelona. With this type of action, the aim is to bring meditation closer to people, and that is why we go down to the street, where the people are, because we believe that this is the social action of the Zen practitioner, this is the compassionate activity of the bodhisattva, this is the engaged Buddhism of the Zen monk: to teach meditation to people, so that each person, through their own practice, according to their abilities and field of action, may give the best of themselves to society and to the whole world. Gassho!
Meditation for Peace — Dreta de l’Eixample Festival, May 2025
Zen Meditation at the youth camp in Plaça Universitat, November 2019
Zen Action at Plaça Universitat. Monday, June 10, 2019. Street Meditation
Zen Action at MACBA. March 17, 2019. Street Meditation
A Zen Action of Silence and Presence — Plaça Castella, February 2019
In the heart of the city, Plaça Castella stopped for an instant. At the appointed time, a group of practitioners from Dojo Zen Barcelona Kannon gathered in silence, opening an inner space amid the urban noise. No banners, no shouted words, only a cold morning, soft light, and breaths visible in the air.
They laid out mats and cushions, took their seats (zazen), and allowed time to unfold without impositions. Passersby approached with curiosity; some stayed, some joined in, others continued on their way observing. The distant sound of cars, the murmur of conversations, the wind barely stirring the leaves — all of it became part of the collective breathing, part of the shared silence, a silence of street meditation.
The action had no proselytizing or spectacular purpose. It was a reminder: that within the outer chaos there is a place of calm, accessible, not dependent on ideology or external circumstances. It was a silent invitation to look inward, to see what is there, to accept it, and to return to the world with a little more clarity.
At the end, the practitioners stood up. No one shouted: “Thank you!” They folded their mats and slowly walked away. The square resumed its usual rhythm. But for a few moments, it had also been a temple of street meditation.
