The Zen Centre of Barcelona is directed by the monk Pedro Taiho Secorún. He has received the dharma transmission (Shiho) from the zen master Dosho Saikawa Roshi who is responsible for the Soto Zen School in Latin America and is also the abbot of the Busshinji Temple, in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Pedro Taiho Secorún was born in October 1955 and his zen practice began in 1979 after knowing the teachings of master Taisen Deshimaru (1914-1982). In 1983 he was ordered monk by Etienne Mokusho Zeisler (1946-1990), one of the successors of master Taisen Deshimaru. Pedro Taiho Secorún was his disciple until its death in 1990.
He was a founder member of the Zen Center of Barcelona and has been also the publisher of the Zen Magazine that was published during ten years disseminating Zen teachings in Spanish.
He graduated in History and Information Sciences by the Autonomous University of Barcelona.

Dosho Saikawa  is Superior General of the Soto Zen School in South America since may 2005. He was born in Nagasaki, Japan. He was a Theravada monk in Thailand and after returning to Japan he embraced the Soto Zen tradition. After receiving the dharma transmission, he undertook two years of training as Maetzumi Roshi’s assistant at the Zen Center located in Los Ángeles, EUA. He also collaborated in the construction of the Zen Mountain Monastery in the state of New York. After returning to Japan, he was an official teacher at the Soto Zen School Soji-ji Temple headquarters in Yokohama.
He is currently the Abbot of the Hosenji Temple in Yamagata, Japan and of the Busshinji Temple in Sao Paulo, Brasil.

Étienne Mokusho Zeisler (1946- 1990) was one of master Deshimaru’s first disciples. He was his translator and followed his teachings until his death in 1982. He became one of his successors.
Étienne Zeisler was born in Hungary and when he was three years old his parents moved to France. He studied law  and during that time in 1967, he met master Deshimaru who had just arrived in France. He was one of his first students. After master Taisen Deshimaru’s death, he naturally became one of his successors until his own death in 1990. He received the Shiho certification from Niwa Roshi who at that time was Eiheiji’s superior. He translated and commented many fundamental Zen texts and leaded many retreats where he passed  the teachings he had received, many of them in the Zen Centre of Barcelona, which he frequently visited and had a close relationship with its community.

Taisen Deshimaru was responsible for introducing Zen in Europe during the 20th century. He was born in 1914 in Saga, Japan. Following the advice of his master Kodo Sawaki, he arrived in Europe in 1967 and remained there until his death in 1982. He settled in France and started spreading Zen Buddhism that is rooted in daily life and is present in society. During the fifteen years that he remained in Europe, Deshimaru created a hundred spaces devoted to practice (dojos) in several cities. He visited Barcelona in 1981 where he supervised a retreat and helped with his presence to the small community present at that moment.  He founded the first great Zen Temple in Europe, the Gendronnière, located in the Loira Region, about two hundred km from Paris.  
He made known one of the main Zen schools of Japan: the Soto Zen School, that is based in the practice of “here and now” in daily activities. He also devoted himself to the translation and edition of the main Zen Buddhism texts.
He established great relationships with philosophers, artists, spiritual leaders and therapist from all over the world with the aim to connect western and eastern thinking and favoured several intercultural meetings.
His main aim was to make known the practice of Zen Buddhism since he was convinced that it could be of great help to overcome the crisis which our civilization is going through.