The invisible work of peace: Buddhist monks’ journey comes to Columbia

Hundreds of people had gathered at Lenoir-Rhyne University’s Columbia location by the time the Rev. Dr. Melanie Dobson stepped to the front of Beam Hall. 

It was after 6 p.m., and the crowd stretched far beyond the steps, its energy beginning to shift. They had come to see the Buddhist monks’ Walk for Peace. To walk with them. To witness their evening prayer.

“You could feel a sense of restlessness, almost a sense of longing,” said Dobson. “Some of these people had been there for hours. So I stood there holding the mic and praying, what do these people need right now?”

Inside, the monks were receiving medical care for the physical and emotional strains of their long journey — their feet wrapped, their bodies tended, their exhaustion quietly addressed after another day of walking.

“As I was listening in, I thought, they don’t need scripture or a mini-sermon. These people need a practice,” Dobson continued. “They need a way to open their hearts up to the peace they came here to experience."

As Dobson led a meditation to calm their minds and bodies, the crowd couldn’t have known that the moment itself was something of a minor miracle.

Just 24 hours earlier, the Columbia stop was still uncertain.

The monks’ route had not originally included Lenoir-Rhyne, but the logistics of the Walk for Peace shift constantly. The monks adapt to distance, medical needs and the realities of walking day after day across hundreds of miles. When one of the monks reached out late the night before, searching for a place that could offer rest, space and care, it was Perry Bradley who answered.

Bradley, associate director of public safety and facilities for Lenoir-Rhyne’s Columbia location — including the former site of Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary (LTSS) — had been following the Walk for Peace from its earliest days. Weeks earlier, he had responded to a general call for support, offering LR as a possible stop. When the request finally came, he didn’t hesitate.

Drawing on years of connections and relationships across Columbia, from the police department to the mayor’s office to local safety officials, Bradley reached out to coordinate support for the monks’ arrival. The next morning, the city was alive with activity from the State House all the way down Main Street to LR — with barricades going up, streets coordinated and spaces cleared for both the public and the monks.

“Watching everything come together so smoothly was humbling,” Bradley said. “I remain grateful for the trust, collaboration and shared commitment that made this historic moment possible.”

When the monks arrived at the LR Columbia location that evening, Perry found additional assistance from local LTSS faculty. The Rev. Kermit Moss helped set up tables for donations and crowd engagement outdoors.

Moss’s wife, the Rev. Antoinette Gaboton-Moss, joined Dobson inside Beam Hall to tend to the monks’ needs and the needs of their support team, carrying luggage and directing medical personnel to private rooms to create space for treatment and rest.

“Antoinette and I immediately connected with the team,” Dobson explained. “We met Nanika Mi, who has been coordinating site logistics. She hadn’t eaten, so Antoinette got on the phone to a vegan restaurant to order a meal for her. Meanwhile, I was showing the kitchen to the women who cook for the group, so they could prepare for meals the next day.”

Dobson later reflected on the behind-the-scenes effort: “The walking is remarkable, but the walking is made possible by what is happening here, in these moments, with the women making this event run.”

The work of peace has become more challenging as the walk has progressed, which became evident in Columbia. The events have drawn far more attention than anyone had anticipated, which increases the spiritual and emotional demands on the monks and their support team.

“They had no idea that this many people would be drawn to this practice of the holy,” Dobson said. “And so, quite frankly, they were overwhelmed. Some of what Antoinette and I were doing was offering pastoral care — asking, ‘How are you doing? What is this like for you? These monks are human. And peacemaking is hard work.’”

The growing number of followers for the Walk for Peace reflects a hunger Moss said is often neglected in today’s fractured society. “I saw young people, probably high school to college age, just hanging out on campus, walking the prayer labyrinth, trying to draw closer to the holy,” he recalled. “Even the ones who weren’t sure what they were doing were participating intuitively, breathing in peace, breathing out peace.”

Reflecting on the full spectrum of attendees he had seen at the State House and along the route earlier that day, Moss added, “The monks are spearheading this, but there’s something bigger happening — something that speaks to the need for connection, mindfulness and empathy in our culture. This walk is bringing that to the surface and that’s powerful.”

This same instinct guided Dobson as she held the microphone and asked what do these people need right now? Her meditation gave the crowd a way to open their hearts to peace — a practice in presence, reflection and calm — and Moss’s final words underscore why moments like this matter: “Now the question is, how do we hold onto this moment, before it slips away?”  

Follow the Walk for Peace live here.