Walking for Peace

"You're all geniuses, & you're all beautiful. You don't need anyone to tell you who you are. You are what you are." ~ John Lennon

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Amidst the onslaught of injustices parading across our screens, there has been a quiet revolution happening. A band of monks walked 2,300 miles for peace from Texas to Washington, DC. While politicians and pundits were duking it out, the monks kept their steady pace of about 21 miles per day. One of the monks was hit by a car and lost his leg, their dog needed surgery, the head monk got sick and needed IVs at night for a bit, but they didn’t stop. Not in the snow or in the bitter cold. And the crowds coming to see them grew larger every day.

Their path took them through Texas / Louisiana / Mississippi / Alabama / Georgia / South Carolina / North Carolina / Virginia / Maryland and ended in the nation’s capital. In some areas they were yelled at: "You’re going to hell for not accepting Jesus Christ as your Savior!” In one of his evening talks broadcast over Facebook, the head monk − the astronomically energetically powerful presence that is the Venerable Bhikkhu Pannakara − acknowledged that there were people who cussed at them or spun their tires to throw road gravel and black smoke into their faces. The former IT engineer for Motorola, with his usual humor, said, "If we cussed back, that would be odd. We’re monks!”

Every day, Venerable Pannakara delivered the same message: wake up each morning with a stated, written intention that “Today Will Be My Peaceful Day.” This not a Pollyannaish “I’m peaceful and I’m ignoring the world” New Age advice. This is the hard work of cultivating an internal presence of peace, regardless of our external circumstances. It also involves profound self- acceptance and self-love. The Venerable Pannakara asked us not to abandon our inner child but to love ourselves because “…when you love yourself, you do wholesome things.”

The folks badgering the monks because they aren’t following “Christian” religious values aren’t big on self-love and compassion. I came home from our recent trip to find a card on my doorknob from a local “Bible Church” listing five key points for me to follow so I can “have assurance” that I’ll go to heaven when I die: #1. Realize you are a sinner; #2. Understand you deserve to go to a burning hell; #3. Jesus Christ died for your sins; #4. Confess Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior; #5. Rejoice knowing for sure you will go to Heaven when you die (emphases are mine).

I heard a recent interview with one of my favorite teachers, Richard Rohr, who was asked to name the core of what he’s been teaching over the years. He said releasing our collective obsession with sin, which he says is not an individual event but a cultural, communal and intergenerational brokenness that’s transmitted from parent to child over and over throughout history. “It doesn’t deserve judgement,” he said, “it deserves sympathy and healing.”

Healing is clearly what the masses of people coming every day to the Walk for Peace were seeking. Many in the videos are quietly crying as the monks walked by them; I cried every day watching their peaceful progression online. But if the monks had brought fire and brimstone down on these folks instead of their peaceful presence, would it improve their lives? Focusing on our inner sinfulness certainly isn’t supported by research, as negative self-talk undermines self-control and takes a toll on our mental health (read more here). And focusing only on ourselves has never been a recipe for our good or the common good.

I believe we are on the cusp of a seismic change in awareness and consciousness. I believe there are prophets in our midst – like Venerable Pannakara – leading us towards a deeper, truer connection with ourselves so that we can create the beloved community that Dr. Martin Luther King and his teacher, Howard Thurman, envisioned.  

We have great momentum in this new lunar New Year that began February 17. We've entered the Year of the Fire Horse, which promises energy, passion and rapid change – so buckle up! The journey of the monks and its simple but profound message of internal peace leading to widespread unity and understanding gives me great hope – hope that, as Buddhist teacher Rev. Angel Kyodo Williams says, “The false divisions between personal and social awakening has come to an end.” We are all in this together. Every day we can choose peace in our hearts, noticing our breath and being “with” ourselves. From this steady place, we can radiate out care in concentric circles to our neighbors and around the world.
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Peace, 
Anne

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Two of my friends who saw the monks were both astonished by how quickly they walked. This was not a leisurely stroll but a focused, intentional passage by a sangha, which is the community that provides support and guidance in Buddhism.

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Venerable Bhikkhu Pannakara speaking to a group in the Carolinas with Aloka, the Peace Dog, at his feet (Aloka has his own Facebook page!). Notice the bandages on Pannakara’s feet as he walked barefoot as often as he could to ground and feel the earth because presence is a sensory experience. The badges on Pannakara’s robe were gifts from the many police and sheriff departments that provided escort services to the monks following an accident at the beginning of their trip in Texas where a truck ran into some of the monks, including the Venerable Phra Ajarnh Maha Dam Phommasan, who lost his leg. He accepted the injury, saying it was his purpose to “serve joy, walk for peace.” (Gratitude to Mary Lynn Princic, who visited the Walk for Peace, for these photos)

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