![\"Led](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/4JTQF9Z_AFP__20260203__94YG8ZT__v2__HighRes__BuddhistMonksOnWalkForPeaceFromTexasToWashingto_jpg.jpeg\")
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\nThe group is walking from Fort Worth, Texas, to Washington, DC to promote peace, compassion and nonviolence.
\nPhoto: AFP \/ Aaron Mathes\n<\/p>\n
By Michael Mathes, AFP<\/p>\n
Buddhist monks walking from Texas to Washington to promote peace have become a surprise popular hit as they near the US capital — attracting crowds of thousands who line the route or join in for a few miles.<\/p>\n
At a time of strife and political tension in the United States, the monks offer a change of tone on their 2300-mile (3700-kilometer) odyssey across eight states through freezing temperatures and along ice-covered roads.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, north of Virginia’s capital Richmond, Louella Glessner stood on a mound of plowed snow, flowers in hand, hoping the robed monks and their mission might somehow begin to heal America’s toxic divisions.<\/p>\n
“I am a Christian, but this whole concept, I think it’s great,” Glessner, a 62-year trust administrator, told AFP ahead of the monks’ arrival at a Buddhist temple where people gathered on the roadside and in the pagoda grounds.<\/p>\n
“It’s what the country needs. We need to have peace and we need to find commonality between all people,” she said.<\/p>\n
Since launching their ambitious trek 101 days ago from a Buddhist center in Fort Worth, Texas, the group of about 20 monks have spread a message of unity, compassion, mindfulness, healing and peace.<\/p>\n
It has resonated in unexpectedly dramatic fashion, with thousands of people turning up to share in the experience. Last month, 20,000 well-wishers greeted them in Columbia, South Carolina.<\/p>\n
The mission’s Facebook page tops 2.5 million followers and its videos have garnered over 100 million views.<\/p>\n
The group’s peace dog Aloka, a former stray from India that has accompanied the monks on the trip, has also become a celebrity in its own right.<\/p>\n
The monks, who often stay overnight at churches or university campuses, hail from Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday in Glen Allen, onlookers kneeled and offered fruit, police officers shook the monks’ hands, and the monks presented people with blessing threads and other gifts.<\/p>\n
Children shyly offered flowers or waved as the group walked past.<\/p>\n
Leading the procession has been Bhikkhu Pannakara, a Vietnamese monk whose saffron sash is adorned with sheriff badges from the many counties that have hosted them and secured the roads.<\/p>\n
‘In the moment’<\/p>\n
Despite the bitter cold, and the fractious state of US politics during the first year of Donald Trump’s presidency, the monks are accomplishing something few others have: bringing people together.<\/p>\n
Two weeks ago in North Carolina, 10,000 people packed a baseball stadium to hear Bhikku Pannakara speak.<\/p>\n
“It’s been crowded like this for the last couple of states,” he told those in attendance, urging listeners to avoid “chasing materialism” and to abandon thoughts of greed, anger and hatred.<\/p>\n
North of Richmond, Sarah Peyton and her two young sons stood quietly contemplating the monks who walked briskly past.<\/p>\n
“Right now I think we just need something positive,” the 38-year-old Black woman and Virginia native told AFP moments later in a hushed voice.<\/p>\n
“It doesn’t matter where you’re from, you can come stand here and just witness a peaceful experience.<\/p>\n
“There’s nobody dragging anybody out of cars, nobody’s yelling, nobody’s angry. Everybody is just here in the moment.”<\/p>\n
The walk has not been without anguish. One monk was struck by a vehicle in a November traffic accident, and his leg had to be amputated. He reportedly reunited with the group in Georgia.<\/p>\n
“Our walking itself cannot create peace,” the monks wrote in an early blog post.<\/p>\n
“But when someone encounters us… when our message touches something deep within them, when it awakens the peace that has always lived quietly in their own heart — something sacred begins to unfold.”<\/p>\n
The monks are expected to arrive in the capital on February 10 and visit the Washington National Cathedral before holding a meditation retreat the following day.<\/p>\n
Will the “Walk for Peace” change much? Perhaps it could help Americans to think with more compassion and humility, Glessner suggested.<\/p>\n
“If it takes 20 monks walking from Texas to DC,” she’d be thrilled, she said. “People want to try something.”<\/p>\n
– AFP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The group is walking from Fort Worth, Texas, to Washington, DC to promote peace, compassion and nonviolence. Photo:…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":267042,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[48,47,42,43,49,46,44,45,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-267041","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-audio","9":"tag-current-affairs","10":"tag-headlines","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-podcasts","13":"tag-public-radio","14":"tag-radio-new-zealand","15":"tag-rnz","16":"tag-top-news","17":"tag-top-stories","18":"tag-topnews","19":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=267041"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267041\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/267042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=267041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=267041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=267041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}