On October 8th, Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh led over 3000 people in a mindful Peace Walk around MacArthur Park in downtown Los Angeles
Hanh called upon people to “walk in such a way that each step we make becomes a realization of peace; each step becomes a prayer for peace and harmony…walk together in silence with no banners and no pickets…not a petition addressed to anyone, nor a demonstration against anyone… walk to unite our hearts, to nurture our togetherness and to dissipate fear and separation…learn together that wrong perceptions of self and others are at the foundation of separation, fear, hate and violence, and that togetherness and collaboration is possible.”
That walk initiated Peace Is Every Step (PES), a Sangha (community of peace) , which now sponsors Peace Walks on a regular basis. The second march took place on December 18 in Long Beach.
The third walk is scheduled to be held in Santa Monica on Sunday, January 22 at 2 p.m.
It will begin at Reed Park, at Lincoln and Wilshire Boulevards and move through the city to the Santa Monica Pier and onto the beach to the field of crosses honoring the American soldiers who have been killed in the Iraq war dead at Arlington West.
These peace walks are a spiritual practice available to persons of any faith or of no faith.
Among the co-sponsors of the Peace Walk are Americans for the Department of Peace, The Peace Alliance, All Saints Episcopal Church of Pasadena, Military Families Speak Out, and a number of Yoga studios.
For more information about Peace Is Every Step, visit: www.peaceiseverystep.net.
