When Buddhist monks leave their monasteries and temples, it’s with good reason. So when about 20 monks with roots around the globe started walking in late October last year from Ft. Worth heading in the direction of Washington, D.C., people took notice.
And by the time they arrived in our nation’s capital this week – after travelling 2,300 miles through eight states plus the District of Columbia on foot – their message of “unity, compassion and healing” for our divided world had touched millions.
The ongoing challenges
The daily grind on their “Walk for Peace” was far from easy.
Clothed in orange and maroon robes, some barefoot, the monks walked 20+ miles every day, through unusually cold and icy winter conditions across the American South. Despite the physical exertion, though, they kept their tradition of eating only once a day.
Incredibly, when a car plowed into their caravan in Texas in mid-November, one monk’s leg had to be amputated. Their faithful canine companion Aloka – which means “light” in Sanskrit – even needed orthopedic surgery in South Carolina before he could rejoin them again.
But still, they kept walking.
Coming together
Accompanied by support vehicles and police escorts through busier areas, the monks relied on the generosity of strangers along the way. In addition to food and (mostly) tent shelter, many who came to see them offered flowers, which the monks then gave out one by one to others they passed – a simple act of spreading encouragement and love.
After walking all day, they stopped at houses of worship or government buildings to give lectures or just talk casually to the thousands of people who came out to see them pass by. At the end of their long journey, the monks even joined in an interfaith gathering at the Washington National Cathedral to help those of different beliefs come together.
All to show our divided world a better way.
Why they walk
They walk “not in protest…not in anger…but for peace.”
And yet they aren’t trying to force it. They walk quietly to gently remind the rest of us what peace looks like. What walking alongside each other looks like, even if we come from different backgrounds. What compassion for fellow humans looks like.
As the New York Times reported, one Maryland onlooker in a crowd greeting the monks said, “It’s such a simple thing, just walking…[But] look around at all the people it’s touching.”
One Virginia local noted “there was something moving in joining the crowd and finding a measure of community.” She and her friend helped another woman who was struggling with mobility. Strangers helped each other cross ice-covered streets.
Another Maryland resident spoke aloud what she thought many who came to see the walk felt: “Our country needs this. We feel divided and people want more kindness and more compassion and more peace.”
What happens next
For those who wonder what will happen to this renewed sense of harmony now that the physical walk is over, not to worry, say the monks.
“Peace is a path we walk together every single day – in every choice we make, every kind word spoken, and every compassionate action taken…Everyone has welcomed us with open hearts and shown us that peace is alive and possible.”
Even when it’s hard, we just have to choose it.
What’s the message the monks want us to take away from their walk?
In an early January blog post, they wrote (in part): “Everything that has ever mattered began with something impossibly small. A single seed. A quiet decision to take one step, then another.”
“Our walking itself cannot create peace. But when someone encounters us – whether by the roadside, online, or through a friend – when our message touches something deep within them – something begins to unfold. That person carries something forward they didn’t have before or had forgotten was there. They become more mindful in their daily life. They speak a little more gently to their child. They listen more patiently to their partner. They extend kindness to a stranger who needed it desperately.”
“And that stranger, touched by unexpected compassion, carries it forward to someone else. And it continues – ripple by ripple, heart by heart, moment by moment – spreading outward in ways none of us will ever fully witness.”
“The Walk for Peace alone [cannot] do this, but all of us together [can]…One step becomes two. Two become a thousand. A thousand become countless. And slowly, gently, persistently – not through grand gestures but through ten thousand small acts of love – we can help make the world” a better place.
One word, one action, one person at a time.
(Photo/walkforpeace.us)
Please share this post with everyone in your life who needs the reminder: your words and actions matter! Thanks for being part of this community of people willing to plant seeds of compassion out in the world.
