On Saturday, May 16, 2026, at the Casa del Tibet, Lama Thubten Wangchen led the Vesak ceremony together with Zen master Lluís Nansen and Lama Ani Kunga. Vesak is an event where Buddhist communities from different traditions gathered to celebrate the birth, enlightenment, and parinirvana of the Buddha. The gathering also marked the farewell of Lama Wangchen, who is leaving Barcelona after 40 years among us. He is moving to the Americas and take charge of the Dalai Lama’s office in Ibero-America.
Vesak Celebration with Lama Wangchen and Master Nansen
After the welcome speech by Xavier Artigas, representative of the Tibet House Foundation. The event continued with talks by three representatives of Buddhism in Catalonia: Lama Thubten Wangchen and Lama Ani Kunga from Tibetan Buddhism, and master Lluís Nansen from Zen Buddhism.
Nansen expressed his gratitude to Wangchen and to the Tibet House for their presence in Catalonia. He recalled that for many years, while going from work to the Zen Kannon Center, he would park his Bicing bicycle at Plaça Universitat and, while crossing the square, pass near the Tibetan gathering that took place there every Wednesday, where he almost always saw Wangchen. Although he did not stop to speak with them, Nansen would offer them a silent glance and accompany them in his heart.
Farewell to Lama Wangchen at Casa del Tibet
This was one of the things that inspired his sympathy toward Wangchen and the Tibetan people. Because they are a people who, like ours, mobilize peacefully for their people, their language, and their culture. Nansen added that this may be one of the reasons why Casa del Tibet has been so warmly welcomed in Catalonia: because we are sister peoples in peaceful mobilization.
Nansen recited a text deeply cherished in the Soto Zen tradition. Its author, Master Dogen, is a foundational teacher of the Zen school. Nansen explained that Dogen is, for Zen, somewhat comparable to Tsongkhapa of the 14th and 15th centuries for the Gelugpa school (the school of Lama Wangchen). Dogen, like Tsongkhapa, renewed Buddhist monastic life in his time and restored a more rigorous practice. The work of Dogen, like that of Tsongkhapa, remains centuries later a central reference point for the Zen school. He then read several passages from the Genjo Koan, which means “Awakening with the Whole Universe.”
The event concluded with remarks by the Director General for Religious Affairs of the Government of Catalonia, Ramon Bassas, who compared certain aspects of the Buddha’s life with those of Ramon Llull, who also lived in the 13th century, like Dogen. The Vesak celebration was organized by the Coordinadora Catalana d’Entitats Budistes.