Since Oct. 26, 2025, about two dozen monks from have been on a pilgrimage, dubbed Walk for Peace, to spread a message of peace throughout the United States.
Starting in Fort Worth, Texas and headed to the White House, the group — which consists of monks from around of the world, along with an Indian pariah named Aloka — is led by Bhikku Pannakara, a former engineer turned monk.
He started planning the 2,300-mile journey last March. Now, the monks walk in rain or snow with a team of support personnel by their side, who coordinate everything from their meals to their lodging at local hotels in the cities they visit.
We had a group of monks respond to it. We have monks from Thailand, Vietnam, France and the USA. We’ve recently had a Burmese monk and a Sri Lankan monk also join, says Chien Lee, secretary of the Huang Dao Vipassana Bhavana Center in Fort Worth and coordinator of the walk.
And while that may be true, for folks like Greene, it still feels like a spiritual encounter. On social media, thousands of users have offered prayers of safety for the monks in the comments, while sending information to one another regarding next locations and their personal experiences attending in their respective cities.
The reason we walk on that path is because we want to walk to all the state capitals to whatever state we can enter, It’s also the shortest path to Washington, D.C. but there’s no political or religious motivation, say Lee”
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Source: Rolling Stone magazine
