Update at 4:55 p.m. — Arlington County police have released the walk’s expected route and road closure guidance.
A group of Buddhist monks on a 2,300-mile journey on foot is expected to arrive in Arlington next week for one last stop before their final destination.
A map of the “Walk for Peace” pilgrimage, which began on Oct. 26, 2025, at a Vietnamese Buddhist temple in Texas, indicates that the monks will arrive in Arlington on Monday, Feb. 9.
The monks and an accompanying dog, Aloka, are on the way to D.C. from a Vietnamese Buddhist temple in Texas. Following a meditative tradition of walking more common in South Asian countries, they plan to ask Congress to recognize Buddha’s day of birth and enlightenment as a federal holiday.
Beyond promoting peace, their highest priority is connecting with people along the way.
“My hope is, when this walk ends, the people we met will continue practicing mindfulness and find peace,” said the Venerable Bhikkhu Pannakara, the group’s soft-spoken leader who is making the trek barefoot. He teaches about mindfulness, forgiveness and healing at every stop.
More information on the monks’ plans in Arlington is still to come. The Arlington County Police Department anticipates “traffic impacts” but is still coordinating with the group, a spokesperson told ARLnow.
Preferring to sleep each night in tents pitched outdoors, the monks have been surprised to see their message transcend ideologies, drawing huge crowds into churchyards, city halls and town squares across six states. Documenting their journey on social media, they’ve racked up millions of followers online.
As of yesterday afternoon (Thursday), a live map located the monks near Fredericksburg in Spotsylvania County.
Hailing from Theravada Buddhist monasteries across the globe, the 19 monks began their trek at the Huong Dao Vipassana Bhavana Center in Fort Worth.
Long Si Dong, a spokesperson for the Fort Worth temple, said the monks, when they arrive in D.C., plan to seek recognition of Vesak, the day which marks the birth and enlightenment of the Buddha.
“Doing so would acknowledge Vesak as a day of reflection, compassion and unity for all people regardless of faith,” he said.
But Pannakara emphasized that their main goal is to help people achieve peace in their lives. The trek is also a separate endeavor from a $200 million campaign to build towering monuments on the temple’s 14-acre property to house the Buddha’s teachings engraved in stone, according to Dong.
The monks practice and teach Vipassana meditation, an ancient Indian technique taught by the Buddha himself as core for attaining enlightenment. It focuses on the mind-body connection — observing breath and physical sensations to understand reality, impermanence and suffering. Some of the monks, including Pannakara, walk barefoot to feel the ground directly and be present in the moment.
Pannakara has told gathered crowds that they don’t aim to convert people to Buddhism.
Brooke Schedneck, professor of religion at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee, said the tradition of a peace walk in Theravada Buddhism began in the 1990s when the Venerable Maha Ghosananda, a Cambodian monk, led marches across war-torn areas riddled with landmines to foster national healing after civil war and genocide in his country.
“These walks really inspire people and inspire faith,” Schedneck said. “The core intention is to have others watch and be inspired, not so much through words, but through how they are willing to make this sacrifice by walking and being visible.”
Last month, Becki Gable drove nearly 400 miles from Cullman, Alabama, to catch up with them in Saluda, S.C. Raised Methodist, Gable said she wanted some release from the pain of losing her daughter and parents.
“I just felt in my heart that this would help me have peace,” she said. “Maybe I could move a little bit forward in my life.”
Gable says she has already taken one of Pannakara’s teachings to heart. She’s promised herself that each morning, as soon as she awakes, she’d take a piece of paper and write five words on it, just as the monk prescribed.
“Today is my peaceful day.”
