The Buddhist Monks and Their Dog Walk

On 26 October 2025, a group of Buddhist monks and their dog began walking from a Buddhist temple in Texas to Washington, D.C. They are still walking today and are expected to reach Washington sometime in the middle of February. See this Religion News Service article here.

A few facts about the walk:

• The leader of the group is walking barefoot and now has heavily bandaged feet after stepping on rocks, nails, and glass along the way.
• The monks sleep in tents during the nights.
• Their dog, named Aloka, was rescued in India on an earlier long walk.
• The entire walk will be about 2300 miles.
• One of the monks was injured by a distracted driver passing by the walkers; the monk lost one of his legs and had to discontinue his participation in the walk.

Why are they walking, you ask? The leader, the Venerable Bhikkhu Pannakara, explained that they want to promote peace, and that converting people is not their goal. A spokesman for the Texas temple stated that, once in Washington, the monks will ask that Vesak, the day marking the birth of Buddha's enlightenment, be recognized as a national holiday.

This long walk is a good example of a credibility-enhancing religious action discussed in chapter 5 of the MM book. A credibility-enhancing religious action is a costly action that provides a strong signal of an individual's religious belief. Costly actions reveal much more about a person's beliefs that cheap action, and this long cross-country walk is a very costly action. The monks have given up months of other activities and suffered physical discomfort and even injuries while walking.

Yet, the walk itself is communicating to others the strength and convictions of the monks, and this has already yielded some positive results in the form of substantial interest and goodwill. Multiple (non-Buddhist) churches have hosted the monks along the way, thereby creating a sense of solidarity, community, and peace... just like the monks wanted.