RALEIGH, N.C. -- For 108 days, 19 Buddhist monks walked about 2,300 miles from Fort Worth, Texas, to Washington, D.C., on a pilgrimage they called the Walk for Peace.
What they drew along the way was as striking as the distance itself. Drivers pulled over. Families waited on bridges. Crowds gathered in towns, suburbs and city centers just to watch them pass. Some cried. Others stood quietly, hoping for a blessing or a few words.
The monks message was simple. Peace has to begin within. Venerable Bhikkhu Pakra, who became the public face of the journey, told supporters that world peace would remain out of reach if people could not find peace in their own lives first.
The walk also carried real hardship. Two monks were injured in a highway crash in Texas, and one later lost a leg before rejoining the group in Washington in a wheelchair.
Along the route, churches and local communities opened their doors, helping turn a Buddhist pilgrimage through the South into a wider story about faith, suffering, discipline and the search for peace.