A group of Buddhist monks traveled through Charlotte in mid-January as part of a 2,300-mile, 120-day peace walk from Texas to Washington, D.C. Through every town and city on their journey, the monks attracted large crowds of people eager to share in their message of compassion, mindfulness and unity.
Poet and author Eddie Bell followed the monks’ journey and watched their visitation event at the Marion Diehl Recreation Center, where the monks slept overnight. Bell, who is also a retired educator and U.S. Air Force veteran, reflects upon their visit below:
The Buddhist Monks Visit Charlotte
By Eddie Bell
Did we honor them during the American War in Vietnam like we are doing as their footsteps fall in ever-moving rhythm on American soil walking for peace? We thousands hurry to catch a glimpse of their quiet spectacle if only for a moment, or stand for hours awaiting their arrival at their place of nightly rest. What does it mean? How does it change us?
They appear as ordinary men dressed in their simple saffron-dyed orange and earth-tone robes that reflect their humility. Their heads covered in wool-like skull caps against the cold of winter. Their feet shod with many types of walking shoes, or none at all. Traveling loads slung over shoulders or carried in arms or upon their backs while holding walking sticks tall and purposeful.
The miles taking their toll on joints, legs and feet tortured by unforgiving pavement.
I heard their leader, draped with a sash emblazoned with ornamental symbols, speak of pain and injury, yet they walk and walk and walk. Aloka, their canine faithful companion, it too, damaged by the arduous journey needing therapy and care along the way. It is a hard and difficult march but, yet, they persist, all the while encouraging us to chase the invisible leaping, mindfulness-monkey attempting to purify our hearts.
The monks instruct us to stop three times a day and cease the tasks we are doing, and as we relax, be quiet and feel our breath as it flows in and out. Taking time to love ourselves the way no other can. Wanting us to seek peace as our daily goal; change ourselves into mindful beings that do not wait, but become participants in changing the world from violence and inhumanity, replacing it with charity and love for each other. Unlock the box of status quo and free the peace it holds inside.
What we hear from their leader is not different from Christian teaching that requires believers to love our neighbor as we do ourselves.
The monks do not accept donations. They only want our love. Their message is a simple one: Peace is not a momentary pause, but a never-ending endeavor. The pursuit of long-term peace is the reason for their walking. Their chanted blessing is to help make it so.
After we have experienced their quiet spectacle, will we only await the next peace walkers to parade our streets once more, enchanting us unchanged; or has these monks’ message taken root deep in our hearts and changed us from being those who wait to those that choose to become the new warriors of peace?
Eddie Bell lives in SouthPark with his wife of more than 60 years, Wilhelmina.
Photo by Richard Israel
