After 15 weeks and 2,300 miles, 19 Buddhist monks who began a journey on foot from Fort Worth, Texas, arrived in the nation’s capital on February 10. They traversed nine states to complete a Walk for Peace with the goal of promoting peace through mindfulness.
The monks came from various Theravada monasteries across the globe and were led by the Venerable Bhikkhu Pannakara, vice president of the Huong Dao Vipassana Bhavana Center in Fort Worth, where their journey began on October 26, 2025. Also joining them was a rescue dog named Aloka, an Indian Pariah whom Pannakara found in 2022.
The monks ended their walk the way they began: in single file. Along the way, they confronted harsh weather and protests, and in Houston last November, an accident left two monks injured, one of whom had a leg amputated. Their message resonated with millions at a time when the country is experiencing intense political and social divisions.
The Walk for Peace Instagram account amassed 1.9 million followers. A separate account for their canine companion has 420,000 followers.
On the afternoon of February 10, the Rt. Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde, Bishop of Washington, and the Very Rev. Randy Hollerith, dean of Washington National Cathedral, welcomed the group on the cathedral steps. Joining the Episcopal clergy were leaders from various faith traditions, including more than 100 Buddhist monks and nuns. Budde offered a prayer before a crowd of hundreds gathered outside the cathedral to await the monks.
“Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there is hatred, let us sow love. Where there is injury, pardon. Where there is discord, union. Where there is despair, hope. Where there is darkness, light. Where there is sadness, joy,” Budde said, reading a prayer attributed to St. Francis.
In a nearly 30-minute message, Pannakara spoke and interacted with the crowd. “We are not walking from Fort Worth, Texas, to Washington, D.C., to bring you any peace, but to raise the awareness of peace,” he said. He likened peace to an item locked in a box.
“You have left it somewhere. You’ve forgotten it,” he said, adding that mindfulness is the key to unlocking it. At one point, he led his fellow faith leaders and the crowd in a ritual, asking them to place their hands on their chests and take deep breaths. The goal was to feel their heartbeat.
“Imagine, if we practice every day to feel our heartbeat, if we practice every day to see our breath going in and out with mindfulness, with awareness, how wonderful our life is,” Pannakara said.
An interfaith service followed inside the cathedral.
Over his saffron robe, Pannakara wore a sash filled with pins, representing the support the group had received along the way from law enforcement, first responders, and government officials. A post from the Walk for Peace Instagram described the pins’ symbolism as a reminder that “we do not walk alone—we are surrounded by the care, protection, and encouragement of so many who serve with honor and dedication.”
During the service, Budde and Hollerith presented Pannakara with pins. Budde’s token represented the ministry of the Diocese of Washington, while Hollerith’s pin signified the monks’ visit to the cathedral.
According to the Rev. Chloe Breyer, a priest in the Diocese of New York who leads the Interfaith Center of New York, her fellow clergy in Washington “showed enormous imagination and a fidelity to the gospel by welcoming the Buddhist monks and nuns.” Breyer said the monks’ journey “embodied peace and nonviolence.”
Since March 2025, the Interfaith Center and its partners, including the Buddhist Council of New York, have held a vigil called “Multifaith Mondays: Moral Witness for Democracy” in Manhattan’s Columbus Circle. The vigil calls attention to issues threatening democratic values and serves as a platform for multifaith community-building.
Breyer said Episcopalians’ involvement in interreligious events is consistent with the Baptismal Covenant. “Our tradition often stresses the importance of the Incarnation and embodied beings that honor the incarnation of God with us,” Breyer told The Living Church. The interfaith leader emphasized that such commitment must lead Christians to pay “special attention to the world around us, both to our fellow Christians and those of different faith traditions.”
The monks’ trek, which they did largely barefoot, took 108 days. The figure is a sacred number in Buddhism, as it connotes overcoming all unhealthy desires in man.
The group is now en route to Texas by bus and is scheduled to arrive in downtown Fort Worth on the morning of February 14, Valentine’s Day.
Caleb Maglaya Galaraga is The Living Church’s Episcopal Church reporter. His work has also appeared in Christianity Today, Broadview Magazine, and Presbyterian Outlook, among other publications.
