<\/p>\n Bhikkhu Pannakara, a Buddhist monk who led a Walk for Peace from Fort Worth, Texas, to Washington, D.C., receives flowers from well-wishers during an event at Wat Thai of Los Angeles in the North Hollywood section of Los Angeles, Monday, July 13, 2026. (AP Photo\/Jae C. Hong)<\/p>\n Bhikkhu Pannakara, a Buddhist monk who led a Walk for Peace from Fort Worth, Texas, to Washington, D.C., receives flowers from well-wishers during an event at Wat Thai of Los Angeles in the North Hollywood section of Los Angeles, Monday, July 13, 2026. (AP Photo\/Jae C. Hong)<\/p>\n Add AP News on Google <\/p>\n Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Read More<\/p>\n An ascetic walks into the spotlight<\/p>\n Pannakara\u2019s discourses on mindfulness and kindness in churchyards, town squares and in front of the Lincoln Memorial<\/a> drew large, diverse crowds. Millions worldwide followed along online.<\/p>\n Within weeks, the Walk for Peace had propelled this obscure monk into the spotlight as a leading voice for inner peace and unity in an increasingly divided nation. His popularity continues to soar, with some drawing comparisons with the Dalai Lama,<\/a> the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and the late Thich Nhat Hanh, a revered Zen master and peace activist who shared Pannakara\u2019s Vietnamese roots.<\/p>\n Pannakara, who traveled to Southern California last weekend with Aloka for several speaking engagements, said he doesn\u2019t care for all the attention.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is no fame for monks,\u201d he said. \u201cI made a vow to walk to raise awareness of peace, loving kindness and compassion. That\u2019s what it\u2019s about.\u201d<\/p>\n As part of his Theravada Buddhist practice, he follows \u201cVinaya\u201d \u2014 a strict code of monastic rules. That means no social media accounts, personal possessions or handling money, and the practice of celibacy and modesty. <\/p>\n He doesn\u2019t eat after noon and, according to Le, sleeps sitting up, which is not mandatory for Theravada monks, but adopted by some as an ascetic practice to deepen mindfulness.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Bhikkhu Pannakara, a Buddhist monk who led a Walk for Peace from Fort Worth, Texas, to Washington, D.C., pets his dog, Aloka, while waiting for an event to start in the North Hollywood section of Los Angeles, Monday, July 13, 2026. (AP Photo\/Jae C. Hong)<\/p>\n Bhikkhu Pannakara, a Buddhist monk who led a Walk for Peace from Fort Worth, Texas, to Washington, D.C., pets his dog, Aloka, while waiting for an event to start in the North Hollywood section of Los Angeles, Monday, July 13, 2026. (AP Photo\/Jae C. Hong)<\/p>\n Add AP News on Google <\/p>\n Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Read More<\/p>\n The pivot from engineer to monk<\/p>\n Pannakara was born in Dak Lak, Vietnam, in 1981, the youngest of 10 children. He says his family was Buddhist in \u201cname only.\u201d He immigrated to the U.S. in 1997 and graduated with a degree in information technology from the University of Texas at Arlington. He said his first exposure to Buddhism<\/a> was in the U.S. through temple summer camps and youth leadership.<\/p>\n Pannakara stepped away from his engineering career to become a novice monk and became fully ordained in 2010 by his teacher, the Most Venerable Ratanaguna, who he has often cited as his source of inspiration. There was not one life-changing event that prompted his decision, he said, but the cumulative effect of seeing his loved ones suffer and people trying to step on each other to move up.<\/p>\n \u201cTo me everything just seemed fake,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n Le recalls that Pannakara\u2019s parents were inconsolable.<\/p>\n \u201cEven on the day he was ordained, his mother came, and she cried a lot,\u201d he said, adding that they eventually accepted it.<\/p>\n Le said Pannakara was a quick learner, completing several projects on their campus including landscaping, a new kitchen, homes for the monastics and a memorial hall for deceased members.<\/p>\n At his teacher\u2019s direction, Pannakara traveled to Myanmar between 2018 and 2020 to study and practice Vipassana meditation, an ancient technique taught by the Buddha himself as core for attaining enlightenment. When COVID hit, he returned to Fort Worth and organized food drives, said Amanda Phan, a temple member.<\/p>\n \u201c(Pannakara) is a rare human being,\u201d she said. \u201cHe is an embodiment of kindness, compassion, wisdom \u2014 a bodhisattva \u2014 a being whose purpose is to relieve others from their suffering.\u201d<\/p>\n \n Bhikkhu Pannakara, a Buddhist monk who led a Walk for Peace from Fort Worth, Texas, to Washington, D.C., and his dog, Aloka, walk to Wat Thai of Los Angeles in the North Hollywood section of Los Angeles, Monday, July 13, 2026. (AP Photo\/Jae C. Hong)\n <\/p>\n Bhikkhu Pannakara, a Buddhist monk who led a Walk for Peace from Fort Worth, Texas, to Washington, D.C., and his dog, Aloka, walk to Wat Thai of Los Angeles in the North Hollywood section of Los Angeles, Monday, July 13, 2026. (AP Photo\/Jae C. Hong)<\/p>\n Add AP News on Google <\/p>\n Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Read More<\/p>\n \n Bhikkhu Pannakara, a Buddhist monk who led a Walk for Peace from Fort Worth, Texas, to Washington, D.C., poses for a portrait in the North Hollywood section of Los Angeles, Monday, July 13, 2026. (AP Photo\/Jae C. Hong)\n <\/p>\n Bhikkhu Pannakara, a Buddhist monk who led a Walk for Peace from Fort Worth, Texas, to Washington, D.C., poses for a portrait in the North Hollywood section of Los Angeles, Monday, July 13, 2026. (AP Photo\/Jae C. Hong)<\/p>\n Add AP News on Google <\/p>\n Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Read More<\/p>\n Transformative journey tracing the Buddha\u2019s steps<\/p>\n In late 2022, Pannakara joined about 100 monks in a 2,100-mile (3,380-kilometer), 112-day pilgrimage tracing the footsteps of the Buddha \u2014 from his birthplace in Lumbini, Nepal, to Bodh Gaya where he attained enlightenment; Sarnath, the site of the first sermon; and Kushinagar, where he died. The monks emulated Buddha\u2019s journey \u2014 walking barefoot, eating one meal a day, and sleeping under the stars.<\/p>\n \u201cI had learned the Buddha\u2019s teachings from the Tipitaka (Buddhist canon),\u201d Pannakara said. \u201cBut with this walk, I experienced it.\u201d<\/p>\n He also learned about himself \u2014 about his strength to bear adversity and pain.<\/p>\n \u201cI learned that we can do much more than we think we\u2019re capable of,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n That journey also brought Aloka into his life. Aloka means light in Pali.<\/p>\n \u201cEven when he faced challenges and almost died he walked with us,\u201d Pannakara said of his dog.<\/p>\n It was on a previous trip to Bodh Gaya \u2014 under the Bodhi tree where the Buddha attained enlightenment \u2014 that Pannakara said he had a vision to build stone stupas to preserve the sacred teachings for generations to come. Seven years later, he told Ratanaguna about his desire. With his teacher\u2019s blessing, the plan for the $200-million Dhammacetiya project was born \u2014 840 stupas bearing Buddha\u2019s teachings in 10 languages, built to last 4,000 years.<\/p>\n Pannakara knelt before an assembly of monastics and visitors during the temple\u2019s 2022 International Vesak Ceremony and vowed that if he is unable to complete the project in this lifetime, he would \u201cbe reborn to continue this project until its completion.\u201d This project and the peace walks \u2014 which he plans to do more of \u2014 together uphold his vow to promote peace and preserve the Buddha\u2019s teachings, he said.<\/p>\n Ajahn Nisabho, a Seattle-based Theravada Buddhist monk, said he was moved by Pannakara\u2019s authenticity and commitment.<\/p>\n \u201cThe story of his quilted robe that he stitched it together from pieces of cloth he picked up during the walk in India \u2014 he was honoring that past and that ethos,\u201d Nisabho said. \u201cAs a fellow monk, it was inspiring for me to see floods of people walking behind him during the peace walk.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Bhikkhu](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1784358805_707_.jpeg\")
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