Buddhist Monks’ Walk for Peace Continues Despite Tribulations

A group of Buddhist monks who are walking across the southeastern US to raise awareness for peace, kindness and compassion are projected to reach Charlotte today, Jan. 14, and pass through the city on Thursday. 

The walk has proven extremely popular with the public on social media, with the monks’ official Facebook page reaching 1 million followers on Jan. 11. Interested parties can track the monks’ progress on an interactive map that’s updated every 15 minutes to an hour on the Walk for Peace webpage.  

The order of monks, called the Shangha, have drawn enthusiastic crowds transcending religion and culture along their route. People have lined highways, rural roads and rest stops across Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina to encourage, cheer, pass along flowers or simply watch in silence as the monks stride past in their flowing traditional earth-toned robes of saffron, brown and orange. 

An estimated crowd of 10,000 people lined the streets of Columbia and West Columbia as the monks trekked to the State House in South Carolina’s capital city on Saturday. A similarly large crowd is expected in the Queen City though officials have not yet posted any road closings due to the peace walk. 

The monks’ more than 2,300-mile journey will traverse nine states before concluding in Washington DC on Feb. 11. When they arrive in the nation’s capital, the monks will ask the US government to recognize Vesak, the day that marks the Buddha’s birth and enlightenment, as a national holiday, says Dr. Long Si Dong, spokesperson for Huong Dao Vipassana Bhavana Center in Fort Worth, Texas.

The center, which also serves as a Vietnamese Buddhist temple, is where 20 monks led by the temple’s vice president and monk Bhikkhu Pannakara set out on Oct. 26. They were accompanied by their faithful rescue dog Aloka, whose name means “divine light” in Sanskrit. 

Aloka has his own Facebook page that has garnered more than 600,000 followers. On Wednesday morning, two and a half months after leaving Forth Worth, the monks departed Rock Hill on their way to Charlotte. 

The monks strive to make themselves available to the public during their daily visiting hours from around 10:30 a.m-1 p.m. and approximately 6-9 p.m. They pitch tents and stay out in the open during their overnight stops, and are expected to do so at Marion Diehl Recreation Center at 2219 Tyvola Road in Charlotte on Wednesday night. From there, they will pass through the city on their way to Greensboro.

The monks, some still barefoot in the wintry air, are members of the Theravada Buddhist practice. The oldest existing school of Buddhism, the practice follows the original teachings of Gautama Buddha.

“The Walk for Peace affirms that lasting peace is not imposed,” Dong says. “It is cultivated, step by step, heart by heart.” Dong notes that mindful walking is part of the monks’ practice, which advocates mindfulness in all things. 

The monks have undertaken such walks before in Southeast Asia, mainly India, but this is their first walk in the United States. The walk was launched in America to respond to the country’s growing need for healing, unity and inner stability amid social division, historic wounds and contemporary stress, Dong offers.

The monks press on despite injuries

The journey has not been without hardships. On Nov. 19, the monks were walking along the highway outside Dayton, Texas, accompanied by their escort vehicle, which had its hazard lights on. The driver of another truck failed to see how slow the escort car was going and slammed into it from behind. The escort vehicle, in turn, collided with two monks and injured them. 

One monk suffered minor injuries that were treated at a hospital in nearby suburban Houston. The other monk, Bhante Dam Phommasan, suffered far more substantial injuries to his leg and was airlifted via helicopter to a Houston hospital. Faced with a series of leg surgeries, Phommasan opted instead to have his leg amputated on Dec. 3.   

After the accident, the monks’ numbers were reduced to 18, but Dong says they are often joined by additional monks when they pass through or near an area where other members of their order are located. On one such occasion on Dec. 31, Phommasan, now in a wheelchair, reunited with the monks in Snellville, Georgia.

On Feb. 12, the monks’ Facebook page announced that Aloka, dubbed “The Peace Dog,” would be undergoing surgery for a knee injury. A subsequent video revealed Aloka recovering from surgery at Charleston Veterinary Referral Center (CVRC) in South Carolina. 

In the video, Dr. Sophy Jesty, medical director at CVRC, explains that the dog’s chronic lameness in his right hind leg had worsened in the course of the peace walk. The monks opted for Aloka’s knee surgery despite the fact that the operation and recovery would force a difficult period of separation between the monks and their beloved dog. 

Aloka has captured the hearts of the monks’ followers, becoming an indispensable partner for Pannakara in 2022 when the monk was undertaking a 112-day peace walk across India. 

“Aloka just kept walking with him,” Dong says. “He never gave up.” 

Pannakara eventually brought the stray dog with him to the Dao Vipassana Bhavana Center in Texas, where Aloka has become a constant friendly presence. When the monks undertook their current peace walk there was no question that Aloka would accompany them.

Dong has even written a song about the dog called “Aloka’s Road.” Dong’s lyrics tell the canine’s story while setting the stage for the peace walk:

“I was born where the dust meets the sun/ No name, no home, just the road to run/
Every day was a questions/ Every night a test/ Till i saw a man walking, calm in his breath/
They say I’m following a man/ But I think we’re following something bigger than that/
A dream where no one walks alone, where even a stray can find a home…”

The peace walk has inspired an outpouring of public support

Dong says he, Pannakara, the Dao Vipassana Bhavana Center and the monks have been surprised by the intensity and volume of public interest, compassion and joy engendered by their Walk for Peace. Dong reckons much of the response is due to the walk’s timing, at a point in the nation’s history that is fraught with uncertainty and peril.

He hopes that the people who follow the journey on social media, come out to meet the monks wherever they stop, and throng the streets and byways where they pass come away with one message. 

“The journey is dedicated to cultivating peace through compassion, loving kindness, and mindfulness,” says Dong, emphasizing the power of mindfulness.

“It’s working from the internal out, cultivating peace,” he continues. “I hope that people take time for themselves. If we can’t take care of ourselves first, then we can’t take care of anything else or anybody else.”

Dong’s song about Aloka concludes with a few lines that address the peace walk’s broad appeal:

“Peace doesn’t ask who you are/ It only asks, ‘Will you take the next step?’”

Though it may not be consciously intended, their call goes out to a world poised on the cusp between the current balance of power and a better place.

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