Monks March For Peace While Politicians Make Crazy Wars

We are taught to “read the signs of our times.” One sign of our times is that many, many human voices from popes to everyday citizens are calling humanity to its capacities for peace. At the same time, exploding budgets built by scurrilous politicians are bloated with more and more weaponry—as if war is what humanity is all about.

Currently we have a crazed president, supported by soulless sycophants and fellow republicans, dropping bombs on the capital city of Venezuela and kidnapping its president and first lady (granted, their “election” was most likely stolen). He promises to “run” the country of Venezuela, even though the country that elected him regrets it more every day—and is being run mostly into the ground.

The reasons he gives for invading a sovereign nation and deposing its president seem to echo Vladimir Putin’s excuse for invading Ukraine almost four years ago.

Meanwhile, something else is making the news and naming the “signs of our times” besides war. And that is the 2300-mile march for peace by 19 Buddhist monks trekking from their monastery in Fort Worth, Texas, to Washington, D.C. Their journey covers ten states and should conclude after about 120 days. Currently, they are more than halfway through.

They have more than one million followers so far across social platforms, and they are accompanied by their companion, Aloka the Peace Dog. You can follow their route HERE.

Their official Walk for Peace Facebook page gives the purpose of their journey: To promote the “awareness of peace, loving kindness, and compassion across America and the world.”  So far, their movement has attracted around 600,000 Facebook followers and 620,000 Instagram followers, and their Peace Dog has attracted over 200,000 followers on Facebook.

They walk 20 to 30 miles per day, and many crowds have come out to support their work along the way from Houston to Atlanta and in many small towns, too.  A price has been paid for their pilgrimage already, as 30 miles east of Houston, two monks were hit by a car, and one elderly monk had his leg amputated as a result.  Now, local police departments are volunteering along the way to escort the monks as they carry on their march.

And what about our journeys? Are we doing all we can to resist the noise of War and to work for peace?  Can we join the monks if not in person, at least in attention and devotion to peace, whether we be Buddhist or atheist or humanist or Christian, Jew or Muslim or indigenous or pagan or Wiccan?

Ours is a time for all humans and all religions to put aside their differences and to march together for what matters: Peace and Justice, Compassion and Kindness—these are as basic to our survival as breathing in the common air and protecting our common Mother Earth.

If our faith traditions are not teaching this, they are failing us, and we must move on from them. Practice and orthopraxis are far more important than orthodoxy.

Might Christian monks leave their monasteries and join these Buddhist monks? There are times when a “vow of stability” needs to be suspended. Thomas Aquinas wrote about the virtue of epikeia, which is the virtue of knowing when to suspend the rules.

We celebrate Deep Ecumenism and Interfaith such as I wrote in the November 4 DM on a new two-part book titled Interspirituality*.  But actions speak louder than words.

Thank you, monks, for demonstrating and bearing witness to that other way: The way of peace, loving kindness, and compassion that also mark us as humans.

*See Interspirituality: The Heritage (Volume 1) and Interspirituality: The Future (Volume 2). Opening Message by H.H. The Dalai Lama; Foreword by Matthew Fox; Afterword by Ken Wilbur. Edited by Light on Light Press.

Banner Image: The monks are greeted by a crowd of supporters in Snellville, GA. Photo credit: The Walk for Peace. Published with permission.

To follow the monks’ progress, learn more about their mission, and donate to their march, see their official Facebook page HERE.

Queries for Contemplation

How do the monks marching for peace inspire you?

Related Readings by Matthew Fox

A Spirituality Named Compassion: Uniting Mystical Awareness with Social Justice

Creativity: Where the Divine and the Human Meet

Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul & Society

Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth

Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality

Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ

Passion For Creation: The Earth-Honoring Spirituality of Meister Eckhart

The Coming of the Cosmic Christ: The Healing of Mother Earth and the Birth of a Global Renaissance

Julian of Norwich: Wisdom in a Time of Pandemic—and Beyond