Every step we take brings peace
Monks from Thailand, Malaysia, and Laos started their thudong pilgrimage May 9, carrying only basic belongings and relying on community donations along the route. The Indonesia Walk for Peace 2026 aims to demonstrate that peace-building happens through simple daily actions and community interactions, not just individual efforts.
- 50 monks from Thailand (43), Malaysia (4), and Laos (3) began walking May 9, 2026
- 666 kilometers to cover in 20 days, at 30-40km per day
- Destination: Borobudur Temple, arriving by May 31 for Vesak Day
- Monks carry only basic belongings and a patta (alms bowl) for community donations
Fifty Southeast Asian monks began a 666km spiritual pilgrimage from Bali to Borobudur Temple, walking 30-40km daily over three weeks to promote peace ahead of Vesak 2026 celebrations.
Fifty Buddhist monks from across Southeast Asia stepped onto the road from Bali on the morning of May 9, 2026, beginning a walk that would carry them 666 kilometers north to Borobudur Temple in Central Java. They left from Brahmavihara Arama, a monastery in the hills of Buleleng Regency, with nothing but the clothes on their backs, a single bowl, and three weeks ahead of them. Their destination was the ancient temple complex in Magelang Regency, where they would arrive in time for Vesak Day on May 31—the Buddhist celebration of the Buddha's birth, enlightenment, and death, observed this year as Tri Suci Vesak 2570 BE.
The composition of the group reflected the pilgrimage's regional character. Forty-three of the monks came from Thailand, four from Malaysia, and three from Laos. Indonesian monks were also part of the effort, and organizers anticipated that others might join along the route. The walk was formally titled Indonesia Walk for Peace 2026, and it was structured as a thudong—a traditional Buddhist practice in which monks travel on foot while maintaining strict simplicity and discipline. The monks would cover between 30 and 40 kilometers each day, a pace that would test both body and spirit over the course of twenty days.
Tosin, the chairman of Indonesia Walk for Peace 2026, framed the journey not as an act of individual spiritual achievement but as a statement about how peace is built. "Our message is that this walk for peace isn't just for certain individuals, but we can all contribute," he explained. "Every step we take brings peace." The monks' reliance on alms—on the patta, the bowl they carried to receive food donations from villagers and townspeople along the route—was itself part of the message. By accepting the generosity of strangers, the monks created opportunities for ordinary people to participate in an act of compassion. A monk's life, Tosin noted, requires only three things: a robe, a set of clothes, and a place to eat. Everything else is excess.
Bali Governor Wayan Koster attended the send-off ceremony and called on residents and local officials throughout the route to support the monks. "We all have a responsibility to support the smooth and successful journey," he said. "We pray for the smooth running of this 20-day journey, ensuring a safe and uneventful arrival." Koster framed the pilgrimage as aligned with the Bali Provincial Government's broader vision of Nangun Sat Kerthi Loka Bali—a concept centered on maintaining harmony between people, culture, and the environment. The monks' walk, in this view, was not separate from civic life but woven into it.
What made this pilgrimage distinctive was its scale and its timing. Fifty monks walking together across an entire island and into another, sustained by the kindness of communities they had never met, was a visible assertion of Buddhist values in a region where Buddhism coexists with Islam, Hinduism, and Christianity. The walk would take them through towns and villages, past rice fields and markets, through the ordinary geography of Indonesian life. By the time they reached Borobudur—one of the world's largest Buddhist monuments, built in the eighth century and now a UNESCO World Heritage site—they would have walked themselves into a state of profound simplicity. The temple would be waiting, and so would thousands of Buddhists gathered to mark Vesak. The monks' arrival would be not the end of a journey but the culmination of one.
Notable Quotes
Our message is that this walk for peace isn't just for certain individuals, but we can all contribute. Every step we take brings peace.— Tosin, Chairman of Indonesia Walk for Peace 2026
We all have a responsibility to support the smooth and successful journey. We pray for the smooth running of this 20-day journey, ensuring a safe and uneventful arrival.— Bali Governor Wayan Koster
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why walk at all? Why not travel by bus or train and arrive fresh for the ceremony?
The walk is the point. In thudong, the discipline of moving on foot, the dependence on others' generosity, the exposure to the landscape and the people—that's where the spiritual work happens. It's not about efficiency.
But 666 kilometers in three weeks is grueling. What happens if someone gets injured?
That's a real risk, which is why the governor called for public support. The monks are trained for this—it's a traditional practice—but they're also vulnerable by design. That vulnerability is part of what makes the walk a genuine offering.
The bowl, the patta—that seems almost theatrical. Is it really about receiving alms, or is it about being seen receiving alms?
Both, maybe. In Buddhism, the act of giving is as important as the act of receiving. By carrying the bowl, the monks give the community a chance to practice generosity. It's not theater; it's a transaction of grace.
Why Borobudur specifically? Why not another temple?
Borobudur is the largest Buddhist temple in the world. On Vesak, tens of thousands gather there. The monks aren't walking to a quiet place—they're walking toward a moment of collective witness. The journey and the arrival are inseparable.
Do you think people along the route will actually support them, or will they be indifferent?
In Buddhist-majority regions of Southeast Asia, monks are deeply respected. But even beyond that, the walk itself is a kind of invitation. When you see fifty monks walking past your village with nothing but a bowl, you understand something about what they're doing. Indifference becomes harder.