The Centro de Retiros budista Arya Tara (Buddhist Retreat Center Arya Tara) in Spain has announced that it will hold its fifth annual Buddhist conference “V Jornadas de Budismo en Madrid: Budismo Theravada” in Madrid on 22 November. This year’s conference will focus on the various manifestations of the Theravada tradition.
“This year we are once again hosting our annual Buddhist Conference in Madrid . . . on 22 November 2025 at Espacio Ronda in Madrid,” Centro de Retiros budista Arya Tara said in an announcement shared with BDG. “This year’s Buddhist conference is dedicated to Theravada Buddhism, the School of the Elders, which was actually one of 18 schools that were all part of Hinayana Buddhism. . . . The term Theravada has come to be synonymous with this style of Buddhism because it is the only one of those school that has survived.”
The conference will feature keynote presentations from notable Theravada Buddhist practitioners Jerome Larmere, director of the Spanish Association of Vipassana Meditation, and Juan Manuel Serrano, co-director of the Theravada Forest Buddhist Community.
Larmere, who began practicing meditation in 1982 with Buddhadasa Bhikkhu (1906–93) at Suan Mokkh in Thailand, will give a talk on the theme “What is Vipassana Meditation?”
Having spent several years living in monasteries across India, Myanmar, Nepal, and Thailand, Larmere has been teaching Vipassana Meditation in Spain, France, and Italy since 1995. In 2007, he founded the Spanish Association of Vipassana Meditation, which organizes classes, workshops, and retreats, and has helped to establish meditation groups throughout Spain.
In his own address, Serrano will introduce Spain’s first Theravada monastery, Pannagiri, which was founded in 2024. Serrano, also known as Juanma, originally trained as a lawyer but has been practicing meditation and Buddhism for more than 25 years in the Theravada and Mahayana traditions. He has been increasingly involved with Amaravati Monastery in the UK, where he has served as librarian for the past 10 years.
Centro de Retiros budista Arya Tara’s president, María Drolma, noted that V Jornadas de Budismo en Madrid: Budismo Theravada would be sponsored by Vistare Foundation, thus ensuring that admission is free for all attendees.
“Vistare Foundation was established in 2007 to provide education for women in Nepal, as unfortunately this is still not common in less developed countries where it’s still believed that men are superior to women and receive all the benefits of education,” María Drolma explained, adding: “Since 2021, Arya Tara Buddhist Retreat Center has been a non-profit association that organizes all kinds of Buddhist cultural activities, courses, concerts, exhibitions, and so on, as well as the Buddhist Conference in Madrid for all branches of Buddhism—Theravada, Zen, Vajrayana, Pure Land, etc.”
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María Drolma also remarked: “We have interviewed Ramiro Calle, the best known yogi from Spain, who interviewed His Holiness Dalai Lama in 1975, and has an interesting story to tell about Theravada Buddhism. He also introduced Yoga to Spain.” The interview is presented in Spanish below.
Centro de Retiros budista Arya Tara is a non-profit association in Madrid. The first Buddhist retreat center in Madrid, it is named “Arya Tara” after arya, a Sanskrit word meaning venerable and Tara, the manifestation of the feminine Buddhist aspect. As a non-sectarian Buddhist retreat center, Centro de Retiros budista Arya Tara is open to all traditions and branches of Buddhism. The center can be reached by email at [email protected].
Born Madrid in 1972, María Drolma holds a BA and MA in Japanology and non-European Art History, and a PhD in East Asian Art History. María first encountered the Buddhadharma in December 2007 in a meeting with His Holiness the Dalai Lama. She subsequently took refuge with Geshe Thubten Choden in 2009. Maria has served as secretary (and English-Spanish translator) with the Instituto de Budismo Tibetano Hayagriva in Madrid, and was ordained as a Buddhist nun from 2012–13.
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Centro de Retiros budista Arya Tara
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