Walk for Peace monks bring their message to SWVA crowd (copy)
Friday morning, a woman presented a gift to one of the Buddhist monks who made the Walk for Peace from Texas to Washington, D.C.
Flowers were a popular gift.
Messages of thanks were evident.
Homemade goodies and messages were also given to the monks.
The Venerable Bhikkhu Pannakara led part of the ceremony sitting with his legs crossed.
Aloka got his turn to deliver a message early in the ceremony.
“Peace is possible.”
The Venerable Bhikkhu Pannakara made that declaration before a standing-room only crowd gathered in Legacy Church’s sanctuary. He and the other Buddhist monks who made the 2,300-mile, 15-week Walk for Peace pilgrimage from Fort Worth, Texas to Washington, D.C., arrived in Wytheville by bus at 1 a.m. Friday. Though the official walk ended in D.C., and the monks were making their way home, Pannakara said, “Our journey will continue…. We will never stop walking on this path will you all.”
Many of those gathered had followed the monks’ journey on Facebook. Their pilgrimage wasn’t always easy – health problems, snow and ice and bitter cold played roles. As did, people who cursed at the monks and drivers who sped up as they went by, leaving exhaust fumes in their faces.
While toxic people try to impact others, Pannakara stressed that it is up to each individual to determine how and if they will respond. He urged not reacting, saying that it only brings on suffering.
The monk offered advice on how not to suffer and how to find peace in individual lives and spread it in the world.
To find peace individually, Pannakara urged the audience to learn to practice mindfulness, which focuses on being in the present moment, keeping an awareness of the breath.
The University of Texas at Arlington graduate and former IT engineer also focused on smartphones, contending that people should put them aside an hour before bed and not turn to them immediately after getting up. He cautioned against taking cell phones to the bathroom.
With a gently chiding and teasing voice, Pannakara told of going to a public restroom and finding people in the stalls on each side talking to people on their phones or listening to music. He was amazed. “It smells,” he cautioned, offering the advice, “Don’t get yourself constipated.”
The monk could also be solemn, speaking of going to funeral homes and seeing people crying. Pannakara wondered, “Why are we crying in front of this corpse, this casket?”
That love and caring should be shown while people are alive, he said, but added, “We just care about our own things, our own world.”
With technology and multitasking, the monk said people often eat a meal without really knowing what they’re consuming, just focusing on their phones.
His advice: “Do one thing at a time.” When eating, eat; when walking, walk; when reading, read.
Pannakara acknowledged that practicing mindfulness and loving kindness can be hard. He noted, however, that a month and half of 2026 is already gone. “We don’t have much time left. Why would we waste our time doing unmeaningful things?”
“Nobody has a guarantee” for how long they will live, he reminded the group.
He urged people to not stay in the past or focus on the future but live in the present.
“Now is the time to change,” the monk said.
Pannakara urged people to write down the phrase: “Today is going to be my peaceful day.” Say it out loud every day, he challenged.
“No one can mess up our day except us,” he contended. Pannakara again urged people not to react to difficult situations and to take a deep breath to forestall reactions when they’re building.
The idea for a peace walk came to Pannakara three years ago and he sat silently with his vow to do so for three years, wanting to help others and bring awareness to live-changing practices, but waiting for the right moment.
With the Texas to D.C. walk behind them, he said seeing so many people come out, share their stories and feelings “touched my heart” as did a person telling him: “You saved my life.”
Many people in the Wytheville church, who came from all around the region and nearby states, expressed their gratitude to the monks, saying their lives had been changed.
Smyth County’s Susie Fields was among those who went to Wytheville for the 7 a.m. event.
Surprised that the monks were stopping in Wytheville, she saw it as “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” to gather with monks from all over the world. She’d been following the Walk for Peace since it began and appreciated how hard it had to be.
In this divided world, she said, the message resonated with her and her husband, David. They were excited to see the crowds grow at the monks’ stops.
Trish Boardwine, of Wytheville, said she’d been following the Walk for Peace on social media. When her sister told her the monks were coming to Wytheville, she didn’t believe it until she saw the stop on their map. Then she celebrated.
She reflected that this pilgrimage touched many hearts. Just walking up the hill to the church, Boardwine said, she saw a number of disabled people making the walk.
She also expressed an affection for Aloka, a stray who joined monks on a pilgrimage in India. Friday morning, Aloka, who had surgery during the walk, was quite vocal. According to Pannakara, his barks conveyed, “This is my show.”
Susie Fields, a longtime animal rescue advocate and a leader of Smyth Animal Rescue and its sister organization, Smyth County Humane Society, laughed about Aloka’s excitement, saying people got to see that he’s a regular dog.
Sally Archibald from Marion also attended the gathering, joining friends from Blacksburg in the church. She was excited to see the monks but was surprised by the tears that came to her eyes when they entered the sanctuary and walked by her.
Brett McCleary, Legacy Church’s senior pastor, said when he asked by local officials to host the monks, he was happy to. Of the Friday gathering, he looked around the sanctuary and reflected, “This is great…. We all want peace.”
The monks left Wytheville, heading to Tennessee for a lunch stop and celebrated their homecoming in Fort Worth on Saturday with a welcoming ceremony.
From there, Pannakara said the monks will return to their temples in Vietnam, Thailand, Houston, New York, and other locations.
In Wytheville and again in Texas, he reiterated, “We will never stop walking on this path with you all.”
Pannakara, who has published one book, said another is in the works and he may offer an online meditation practice. He is a leader at the Huong Dao Vipassana Bhavana Center in Fort Worth.
As people brought flowers, messages of love, and other gifts forward Friday, Pannakara accepted many and said, “So much love.”
Saturday, he said, “…Now we move forward together, forever bound by this love.”
