12/02/2026
This is my second time sending my love and admiration, talking about the Buddhist monks doing the peace walk in America from the Huong Dao Vipassana Bhavana Center in Fort Worth, Texas. They're part of the Theravada Buddhist tradition and come from monasteries around the globe.
Led by Venerable Bhikkhu Pannakara, the group of 19 monks started their 2,300-mile journey on October 26, 2025, aiming to promote peace, unity, and compassion. They're accompanied by Aloka, a lovely rescue dog who's become a symbol of their mission. Even the animal dog unconditionally follows good deeds for the benefit of the world that we live in.
As you might have already known, these Hero monks have walked through 10 states, sharing their message and inspiring crowds along the way. Despite facing challenges, including a traffic accident that injured two monks, they've remained committed to their goal.
We as Buddhist monks, no matter which school you may be practicing, are actually recommended to follow the steps of these Theravada monks. They are practicing the fundamental teaching of Lord Buddha without talking too much praising individual philosophical statues and spending whole life with domestic Samsara, not reaching to the point of True Buddha Dharma — practicing compassion through action. This is in fact, my humble request to my fellow friends and students.
I am truly amazed by these unprecedented, transcendental practices of the true nature of Lord Buddha’s simple instruction. Walk the talk. I am sure you still remember, we have, with hundreds of my beloved friends and students, walked a few thousand kilometers across the Himalayan region at a time for the Eco Padyatra and Peace Padyatra. (Eco and peace walks).
We are now looking at these monks, who are walking for months, covering many thousand kilometers with bare feet and no comforting fancy equipment. Not like us, we had all the fancy equipment such as backpacks and comfortable shoes, yet we had lots of sores on the shoulder and blisters on the foot.
We had a lot of ego, and thought that we were heroes. But look at Venerable Bhikkhu Pannakara and his team from Theravada tradition. We realize that our effort was a drop in the ocean. While we have appreciation and rejoice in what we have done, this is a good teaching to encourage us further for future missions. This is my humble request, for us all to have this encouragement to follow the path and instruction of Lord Buddha without talking too much as we always do. To try to follow the example of these monks by putting together another fresh effort, form another team, and lead peace in a new way. This is better than just using social media and pretending to be a part of that team of all the venerables. I don’t think that is a good moral if you do like that.
~ The Gyalwang Drukpa
