After walking roughly 1,300 miles on foot, a group of 18 Buddhist monks traveling from The Huong Dao Vipassana Bhavana Center in Fort Worth, Texas, to Washington, D.C., stopped in Decatur on Dec. 30, drawing thousands to a peace gathering that blended spiritual reflection with civic engagement.
The Georgia stop required a significant detour from the monks’ direct route, according to Munir Meghjani, a volunteer coordinator for the walk and a board member of Atlanta Way 2.0, who helped with local planning as the pilgrims moved through metro Atlanta.
“Atlanta is not on the way from Fort Worth to D.C.,” Meghjani said. “They intentionally come out of the way to be here, because they believe Atlanta’s diversity makes it a perfect place to demonstrate that people of different faiths and backgrounds can come together in peace.”…