Buddhist monks in America are setting a wonderful example with walk for unity, compassion and healing
On Oct. 26, a group of Buddhist monks began a 2,300-mile walk from Fort Worth, Texas, to our nation’s capital. They are walking for “unity, compassion and healing” in the country. (God knows, we are desperate for those blessings these days.)
They are walking through 10 states, with stops at state capitols, historic sites and community gathering places. They hope to arrive in D.C. on Feb. 16, where they will hold a ceremony and offer prayers for healing at the U.S. Capitol.
During the walk, the monks intend to follow ancient traditions. They will eat one meal a day. They will sleep outside. They will depend on goodwill and donations along the way. From what I’ve been able to tell through posts on the internet, they are being met with hospitality by hundreds of people along their route.
One video showed people lining the streets, with children offering gifts and others bowing in reverence. Another post showed a newly constructed shelter in someone’s yard, overnight cover for the monks, with tents scattered around the grounds for those who wanted to be in their presence overnight.
The monks recognize that walking so far on our highways can be challenging and dangerous. Some confess to tired legs and sore feet. On Nov. 19, two of them were injured when a truck ran into their support vehicle and pushed it into the monks. One of them lost his leg. It had to be amputated. He spent a month in the hospital but was able to meet the others later in their walk and intends to be in D.C. at the conclusion.
He confessed it was difficult losing his leg. “The doctor told me my bone and my muscle, it’s missing … it’s gone. It’s not broken. It’s gone.”
But he has still maintained a positive attitude, seeing some good in his misfortune. “Before the accident the Walk for Peace movement was still unknown and not too many people knew about it, but after my injury it sparked a lot of interest in many different communities and brought a lot of attention to not only Walk for Peace but to Buddhism as well. Now I’m at peace with what has happened.”
I’m reminded by this walk of an earlier one. In 1953, in Pasadena, Calif., Peace Pilgrim started walking across the country, the beginning of a 28-year-long journey. When she died in 1981, she was on her seventh cross-country journey.
Like the Buddhist monks, she depended on the hospitality of strangers. And her mission was one of peace, sharing ideas of peace with all who would listen.
Fortunately for us, we were advised by a friend that Peace Pilgrim would be traveling through our community. Could we be her hosts? We agreed, and thus we became friends and part of her scheduling network, planning and arranging hospitality for her next destination.
Peace Pilgrim was a grateful guest and helpful storyteller. I will always remember her advice to couples who may have arguments that escalate now and then. Her advice was to have an understanding that before either party blows up, you agree to take a deep breath and walk around the block.
But you walk in different directions, until in passing the other person, you are able to smile or otherwise signal an end to the conflict. You return to your home together.
There’s something significant about the relationship between walking and peace. When you walk, it’s one step at a time. You can be in a hurry, but your legs will only carry you so far and so fast, and your breathing and pace eventually slows. Your sense of time slows as well, from the normal pace of contemporary life. Try being angry and hateful while you take a walk. How long does it last? How long must you walk?
Jesus walked! There weren’t any motorbikes or automobiles or helicopters. The only option Jesus had to walking that I recall in Scripture was when he rode a donkey into Jerusalem toward the end of his life.
His life and ministry, the life and mission of Peace Pilgrim and the walk of the monks today, all suggest that walking and encountering persons along the way, is an effective and meaningful act of peacemaking. Lives are changed, one by one, step by step!
What a difference Jesus and the others provide to our social norm of faster and warmaking! We find it difficult to walk, to greet and engage an opponent. Instead, we use our machines to accomplish raids in the middle of the night, with strategically placed bombs and helicopters, to whisk our opponents away.
Would that the Christian community in this country take the walk of Jesus seriously, and begin walking all across this land, till we understand the power of One and the steps to peace!
Carl Kline of Brookings is a United Church of Christ clergyman and adjunct faculty member at the Mt. Marty College campus in Watertown. He is a founder and on the planning committee of the Brookings Interfaith Council, co-founder of Nonviolent Alternatives, a small not-for-profit that, for 15 years, provided intercultural experiences with Lakota/Dakota people in the Northern Plains and brought conflict resolution and peer mediation programs to schools around the region. He was one of the early participants in the development of Peace Brigades International. Kline can be reached at carl@satyagrahainstitute.org. This column originally appeared in the Brookings Register.
Photo: Buddhist monks in Thailand, public domain, wikimedia commons
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