Today is going to be my Peaceful Day (part 2)
The Venerable Monks - Walk for Peace
“Today is going to be my peaceful day.”
I hope you are continuing to follow the venerable monks from Dhammacetiya in Fort Worth, Texas on their Walk for Peace to Washington, D.C. (and of course, Aloka the Peace Dog :) ).
The Venerable Monks are making their way through North Carolina, just leaving Raleigh (after an event that drew thousands to the state capitol), and continuing through the snow and ice — here’s the update. Thankfully, they continue to ask folks to prioritize their safety during the winter storm and have cancelled their talks for today to keep everyone safe. And yet they continue walking …
It has become part of my nightly ritual to check in and listen to their latest talk at their night rest stop. I’m grateful they won’t be having visiting hours today due to the weather, both for their own need for rest and also because I have a few talks to catch up on!
As I watched them offer their blessing and closing prayers to their recent hosts and town, I noticed frost on their robes — and here I am in my warm house, huddling against a winter storm that brought over 12 inches of snow / ice the past two days. Venerable Bhikkhu Pannakara consistently speaks of their discipline, practice and determination — that many of them have been practicing mindfulness for decades. This gives me pause.
We are amazed at their ability to walk 20-30 miles per day, every day since October 26th — there is a venerable monk walking with the group who is almost 70 years young — and yet they have been preparing for this journey not just physically (many have done walks like this before in India and other countries), but more importantly, I think, they have been preparing mentally for YEARS. They practice daily, consistently, over time.
And I imagine you’ve had the similar self-criticism pass through your mind that I have, “Oh my goodness, I could never do something like this … they are amazing … how can I make a difference with all this peacemaking?”
I’m so heartened by Venerable Bhikkhu Pannakara’s daily peace talk — he’s been giving them daily for 92 days, after walking the whole day! — and his consistency of message:
We don’t have to walk 2,300 miles to Washington, D.C. to bring peace. We don’t have to meditate 3 hours a day to bring peace to ourselves and others. And he is clear that “this mission,” as he calls the Walk for Peace, is not about religion, skin color, politics or language.
Venerable Bhikkhu Pannakara simply teaches, over and over and over again — come back to your breath.
That’s it.
We remember Peace when we come back to our breath. One breath at a time.
Of course, there are additional practices — and yet most of us have so much going on in our lives — or we are so overwhelmed already — we may want to “do more,” but anything more would seem an impossible task.
And Pannakara reassures us that “more,” at the moment, is unnecessary. However, we must do SOMETHING for our own peace.
We remember Peace when we come back to our breath. One breath at a time.
The invitation he offers is to take 1 minute of every hour we’re awake to pay attention to our breath. No need to change it or do anything heroic. Just pay attention to breathing for 1 minute (which may be a heroic feat for most of us chronic multi-taskers!) and then go on with life.
1 minute every 59 minutes.
If Peace can begin with us attending to our breath 9-16 minutes per day (our waking hours), why WOULDN’T we practice?